I think you are misunderstanding the counterfactual. Right now, it would be hard for an amateur to make a living starting up a new life insurance company, beca

I think you are misunderstanding the counterfactual. Right now, it would be hard for an amateur to make a living starting up a new life insurance company, because there's lots of competent competition. However, _if_ all existing life insurers went bankrupts, then, yes, you could easily make a killing by starting a new slightly less incompetent life insurance company.