We're Not You're Good Neighbor. State Farm is Goonne

thank you Mr. Manilow

It’s been a banner day in the Sunshine State. Gov. Crist made sure board certified teachers would get the bonuses they were promised, and State Farm bailed on the homeowners. I haven’t checked the bulletin boards for bonus chatter, but I did take a look at what was being said about State Farm. One good thing is that Liberals didn’t get blamed until about the tenth post, and the poster got flamed for it. What made me laugh is that people are screaming for deregulation of the insurance industry in the state so the market can set a fair price. The insurance companies have been screaming for this since before Hurricane Andrew, but the fine citizens of Florida elected only representatives who swore never to let that happen. State Farm asked for permission to raise their rates 47%. Florida said no. State Farm said adios. Now Floridians are crying about it. There’s nothing free about a free market. Strangely enough in the market this and market that discussions, no one has said, “Hey! I’m going to start an insurance company!” We are a state of problem spotters not problem solvers. Maybe I missed the day in economics class when they taught that the job of the free market was to force companies to make people happy. Apparently, I should be able to live in a house in South Beach that I don’t have to have inspected by anyone; the insurance company should trust that I didn’t cut corners when building it to save money, and insure my house at its lowest rate. When a hurricane destroys my glorified shack I should get my money immediately so I can rebuild, and there shouldn’t be a rate hike. We really are just children in this country. I wonder if this is going to reduce Charlie Crist’s chances of getting reelected from 100% down to 98%. After all, we wouldn’t want a big government Liberal in Tallahassee.