4 ms·

Insurance is a Casino. Losses are covered by the dupes playing the games. It's a state-mandated scam perpetrated on all. Yay US.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> Insurance is a Casino. Losses are covered by the dupes playing the games Unless you can do the actuarial math yourself, going uninsured is the gamble. My go-to story is of a friend whose fire--in an apartment he rented--caused claims to be made against him by the owner, owners of adjacent units and the building. Not only was the risk uncapped. But now the litigation cost was his. Insurers combine a team that calculates risk, pools that risk and then fights it for you with a team of litigators with practically unlimited budgets.
- AnimalMuppet 3y ago
  > Unless you can do the actuarial math yourself, going uninsured is the gamble. Yes. But "not gambling" (= getting insurance) also means that you are slowly losing (by the amount of the insurance premiums, year after year). "Gambling" (not being insured) means that you avoid losing slowly, at the risk of losing massively (losing the entire house, and bearing the entire cost of that). I don't like a "low odds but catastrophic cost of losing" game. So I don't play that game.
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > also means that you are slowly losing In the way I'm losing every time I buy food. > don't like a "low odds but catastrophic cost of losing" game. So I don't play that game. If you have assets, you're playing the game. If you're alive, you're playing the game. (Civilization can be modeled as insurance.) Unless one has an incantation that makes risk disappear, not playing the game is ignoring one's place in it.
ejb999 3y ago
I don't believe the vast majority - if any - home insurance is 'state mandated' - it is almost always mandated by the banks that are lending you the money to buy - i.e. the folks who actually own your house until they get paid back.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

> Insurance is a Casino. Losses are covered by the dupes playing the games Unless you can do the actuarial math yourself, going uninsured is the gamble. My go-to story is of a friend whose fire--in an apartment he rented--caused claims to be made against him by the owner, owners of adjacent units and the building. Not only was the risk uncapped. But now the litigation cost was his. Insurers combine a team that calculates risk, pools that risk and then fights it for you with a team of litigators with practically unlimited budgets.

AnimalMuppet 3y ago
> Unless you can do the actuarial math yourself, going uninsured is the gamble. Yes. But "not gambling" (= getting insurance) also means that you are slowly losing (by the amount of the insurance premiums, year after year). "Gambling" (not being insured) means that you avoid losing slowly, at the risk of losing massively (losing the entire house, and bearing the entire cost of that). I don't like a "low odds but catastrophic cost of losing" game. So I don't play that game.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > also means that you are slowly losing In the way I'm losing every time I buy food. > don't like a "low odds but catastrophic cost of losing" game. So I don't play that game. If you have assets, you're playing the game. If you're alive, you're playing the game. (Civilization can be modeled as insurance.) Unless one has an incantation that makes risk disappear, not playing the game is ignoring one's place in it.

ejb999 3y ago

I don't believe the vast majority - if any - home insurance is 'state mandated' - it is almost always mandated by the banks that are lending you the money to buy - i.e. the folks who actually own your house until they get paid back.