POLITICS: Re: state vs. insurers (was: Libertarian theory breaking down)

From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Mar 25 2003 - 07:01:12 MST

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    --- Wei Dai <weidai@weidai.com> wrote:
    > On Mon, Mar 24, 2003 at 05:38:30PM -0600, Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:
    > > That doesn't make sense to me at all--that would be an incredibly
    > > stupid thing for insurance companies to do. If the agressive state
    > > announced its intent, then /demand/ for insurance would go up and
    > > people would be willing to pay more, and insurance companies would
    > > be stupid not to take the business.
    >
    > The insurers would be stupid to not take the business only if the
    > premiums are high enough to cover both their expected military
    > costs and the indemnities they'll have to pay off if any insured
    > properties are damaged.
    > If the targeted area is small enough, the people in it simply won't
    > have enough money to pay for the expected costs and damages, even
    > if they give all of their incomes to the insurance companies.

    Furthermore, if insurance companies in a libertarian society are the
    same sort of weasels they are in the real world, an insuror faced with
    such a 'hostile takeover' would be far more likely to seek a
    settlement, i.e. appeasement, which would result in the de facto
    imposition of taxes on an ungoverned area by the insuror(s) in that
    area acting as collection agents for the agressor.

    =====
    Mike Lorrey
    "Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                                         - Gen. John Stark
    "Pacifists are Objectively Pro-Fascist." - George Orwell
    "Treason doth never Prosper. What is the Reason?
    For if it Prosper, none Dare call it Treason..." - Ovid

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