More taxpayer aid

[Skud]

To bail out insurance companies, not taxpayers. But we know insurance companies bend over backwards to help us when problems arise...oh, wait, now they're savings banks!:

Indeed, several insurance companies took extraordinary steps to qualify for taxpayer money, which has become even more attractive as the economic environment has worsened.

For example, Lincoln National and the Hartford both bought up smaller banks to qualify as savings banks, which made them eligible for government support.

The insurers followed investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which received emergency waivers from the Federal Reserve to become bank holding companies last fall.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/business/economy/15insure.html?hp

[Trooper110]

Actually, from what I've read the rationale is that they hold a lot of corporate bonds, which is where companies get spending money, so if they went down, the economy could be in trouble because companies can't pay their payrolls, make purchases, etc.

Honestly, at this point we're in to deep to really let anyone fail. Shoulda let them die off starting back in the beginning, this current economy is not a super healthy one.

[Hammy]

actually:

State Farm to lower auto insurance rates in California - Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-statefarm-ratecuts15-2009may15,0,353118.story)

My car and renters insurance going down 8% is a fairly big deal.

And- while being suspicious of insurance companies is a natural thing, they actually invest quite a bit into our economy.

The fact of the matter is, that while the most entertaining insurance stories always surface, it is usually the policy holders' fault that they are getting "screwed".

FOR EXAMPLE:

California passed a law saying that Insurance Companies need to have their policy holders pay for Earthquake Insurance and distinguish it. I recieved a notice saying I am not covered under the new rules by California, and I need to pay an additional $6 a month.

I have not opted in.
If there is an earthquake and we lose our belongings we are not covered in our claims.

Many people in my position will CLAIM to be screwed out of their benefits from their insurance company rather than admit that they decided to save $72 a year and not adhere to the policy change.

After writing this post I am going to call my provider - being that the recent rate reduction actually balances out and I will get more for same now.:2thumbs:

Jealousy warps perception into hatred and resentment :D

[Duke{CLR}]

Honestly, at this point we're in to deep to really let anyone fail. Shoulda let them die off starting back in the beginning, this current economy is not a super healthy one.

So we should keep spending the countries future an bailout after bailout? Even the mighty BHO say its not good.

This is great now he is trying to sound financially responsible.
Obama Says U.S. Long-Term Debt Load ‘Unsustainable’ (Update2) - Bloomberg.com (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJsSb4qtILhg&refer=worldwide)

[Hammy]

Insurance companies are the single largest investors in our country.
Sincerely.

So what do you think happens to the marketplace when they lose?

[{CLR}geneSW]

Easy... it re-forms into a stable (or at least semi-stable) state before inflating again because people end up putting too much credit into one item. Take both the credit card and housing bubbles that popped.... People put too much faith in the value of their house (which they are actually paying on so there really wasn't any true "value" in it from their end to begin with), and put too much on their credit cards while only paying back the balance. There isn't just one side to blame here... Everybody needs to say "well, we F'd up.... Guess we better not make the same mistake again" and move on as best we can.

I also agree with Trooper on the fact that the US Government shouldn't have given out any bail-outs in the first place. It just isn't how the free market is supposed to work. Those companies messed up big time, over time, and they where about to fail (as they should have). Sure, some people would have lost jobs, and there would have been a slump... but we can't be in inflation for forever... some people will loose jobs, some people will become flat out broke... it's just how this economy works. There are up's and there are downs. With every down we try to take what we learned from that down to prevent it from happening again.

Heck, often times deflation causes people to come up with cheap and reliable ways of doing things that where once time consuming and labor intensive. Necessity is the mother of all invention as they say. Just as how the US is mainly reliant on foreign oil and there is a push (be it not a large one yet) towards getting our energy from here. There's a demand, and short supply. Eventually the demand and supply will even out to some decent degree....


In any case I'm now simply rambling on and on. lol. There are just the thoughts that go through my head when I hear such things.