I am going to post my blog every Wednesday. This is Wednesday so, here goes. Today's subject is AIG Insurance Company. You ask, "What do I know about insurance?". I worked in the insurance industry for 35 years as a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) which is the premier designation in the insurance industry. I was a marketing vice president for a very successful insurance agency. There is much in the news about the bailout of AIG but little of it is factual. I am going to tell you the truth. AIG, which was founded in Shanghai, China, is about as American as a Chinese firecracker. Yes, they are huge, but, if they were allowed to fail, there are literally thousands of other insurance companies who would love to take over a piece of them. In my opinion, the failure of AIG would have very little, if any, impact on our current recession. In fact, it would be better for our future to have them fail. In a free market economy, greed, dishonesty, and incompetence should be penalized by failure. Certainly, we should not reward failure with a bailout! If we really want to give away billions of dollars, let's use it to help the people who were screwed by AIG. I am losing faith in our elected officials. How could they do something as stupid as the bailout of AIG?!
The Freelance Thinker
I agree with Mr. Thinker that something must be done.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, though, the correct answer probably lies between the two extremes posited in WashDC. (It seems to be a truism that the best way to find the right position is to take whatever one is opposite of the most popular notion on Capitol Hill.)
While we should, in my opinion, strive to broaden the availability of affordable health care, we shouldn't do it at the expense of the generally high quality of care available today to many Americans.
One way to strike a better balance is to emphasize illness prevention. Many of those unable to obtain adequate health care are suffering from self-induced problems resulting from poor choices and an unhealthy lifestyle.
Another way is to prevent the pollution of our environment and bodies by entities such as the mining and drilling industry and sludge haulers. Allowing the former relatively free reign is criminal; doing so for the latter is insane.
Unfortunately, as long as solutions depend upon our cravenly greedy politicians, the likelihood of improvement is remote.
I can't agree more. I have no experience in insurance, but have never understood why we didn't let them fail. I cant see the reasoning for a bailout. And not just large insurance companies, but auto industries too!
ReplyDeleteI hate to think there may be so many conspiracies, but without the proper information, what else are we suppose to think?