David Hoggard is a small business owner in Greensboro who also happens to be a blogger.  He recently posted his insurance costs for the last year and asked how it is that insurance companies need a bailout.  Here are the numbers:

• Life insurance -  $7,548.00
• Personal Disability -  $2,830.00
• Health policy -  $8,100.00
• Homeowners – $1,349.00
• Personal Umbrella – $550.00
• Personal Auto – $3,098.00
• Worker’s Comp – business – $31,689.00
• General Liability – business – $2,687.00
• Inland Marine Cargo – business – $2,847.00
• Fire and Casualty – business – $365.00
• Auto – business – $5,650.00
• Additional Liability – business – $565.00
• Unemployment (Fed/state) – business – $2,165.00

All told, that is a whopping $69,443.00 paid to insurance companies by me and my little business within just the past twelve months.  And they are the ones in need of a bail out??????  Puleez.

Now add the amount in bailout money we individual taxpayers are on the hook for and you'll get the true number.  If all were right with the world the people who perpetrated this mess would end up wearing bracelets and eating institutional food for years to come, rather than being allowed to scurry to their 12 bedroom second homes to lament the fact that they're now worth millions instead of billions.  Obviously it ain't gonna happen.

Meanwhile to pay for this fiasco the true business builders in this country, like Hoggard, will be facing premiums and deductibles in the future that will make today's numbers look positively reasonable by comparison.  Happy, happy, joy, joy!