Paranoia in the Hen House

Insurance is one of those hot button topics when politics get involved - normally they are only referring to health care but there is insurance for just about everything now from car and home to any pets that may be working against a dealer in Vegas who is showing an Ace at the Blackjack table.

For the most part I've always looked at insurance as being closer to the old analogy of the fox guarding the hen house. It's a classic gamble with in many cases what looks like a point spread (deductibles). However with the shift in how we live and do business on the 'Net this story makes me a little nervous:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7326736.stm

About the messed up state of affairs that Simon Bunce is dealing with. Which really drives home those lines from Shakespeare:

Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls:
Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed.

"Othello", Act 3 scene 3

It's easy to discount one person - in a world of over 6 billion souls now, but sometimes I wonder is it taking the wager with an insurance company or the odds someone will use me as a scapegoat for some nefarious deed that scares me more. . .

Maybe it's the idea of piece of mind that insurance tries to sell - sadly I've heard more stories where the cure was more painful than the disease.

Gotta think on this one. . .