[Grovenet] Answer on 42.

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Steven wrote:

Insurance has become quite a business. typically, you don't insure for
things you know will happen. Would you insure your tires against wearing
out? ...

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Actually people DO insure their tires and many other things they buy.
Sometimes it's built into the purchase price; it's called a warranty. In the
case of tires it's a pro-rated warranty, meaning that you buy a tire that
will last a certain number of miles and if it doesn't, you get a refund of
part of your purchase price. (I notice that the opposite is not true: the
manufacturer doesn't get to bill us if the product lasts longer than planned
<G>). That warranty raises the price of those tires. It's how you pay the
premium for the 'insurance'.  

And, of course, we are hustled to buy "extended warranties" in everything we
buy these days. They are a good buy if the price is to provide peace of
mind, but they are not a good "cash investment". We won't, overall, get more
money back than we paid in.

But that's good business in a "free market". We've destroyed that for basic
auto insurance by making it a law that all drivers carry it. Now we have to
have a very complex (and expensive) set of rules to create and enforce. It
turns insurance into something akin to a privately-owned utility company. 

Ron D'Eau Claire