J. Clarke wrote:
HeyBub wrote:
rangerssuck wrote:
Public policy made on the basis of ancedotal or apophrycal instances
or the "how would you feel if..." mantra is virtually guaranteed to
be bad public policy.
Guaranteed by whom? The entire concept of insurance is based on "what
if."
Guaranteed by the laws of unintended consequences. "How would you
feel if your grandmother was run over by an 18-wheeler?" would be a
ghastly reason to ban interstate trucking.

Insurance is NOT based on single episodes (unless you're talking
about a Lloyd's policy on the size of Pam Anderson's tits).

A real world example was the guy who took out a policy with Lloyds that paid
off if they put a man on the Moon the year the Mets won the pennant. Who'da
thunk . . .


Like most of the Credit Default Swaps, this isn't really insurance. It
is pure gambling and should be handled through bookies.

If a person wants insurance, they ought to be required to show how the
event they are insuring against can actually hurt them. And the degree
to which they can be hurt should be the limit of their insurability.

Otherwise they should see a bookie.