In <1a6.106ed38e.2b7717c3@aol.com>, on 02/08/03
   at 09:32 PM, Bill Marshall <Willolyn99@AOL.COM> said:

>Someone said:
>"So any savings have just gone straight to their profit margins."

>What, a business making money??? How dare they!!  And in a Capitalist
>nation, no less.

>Why is a company evil if it makes money?  Isn't that the whole point?
>They can charge whatever they want.

Ahh, the capitalism idea rears its ugly head  :-) If only there was a real
definition of capitalism that all could agree on......

Anyone should be allowed to  charge any amount they choose. I think the
problem arises from the fact that the product they are selling in this
case, is something that we are forced to buy, since the law requires it.

It seems to me that if everyone is forced by law to buy a product, there
is something inherently wrong with overcharging and making ridiculous
amounts of money. Insurance is not really a free market. You can go
search, but in the end, its pretty much working under collusion and there
are no great deals for the masses. We are captive consumers and we are
getting robbed because we have to buy the product, and we have to pay
whatever they charge. Yea, we could choose not to drive, but my mortgage
company demands that I have insurance, and so I can either live in my
house, or my van (required vanagon content) but either way, I have to have
the insurance by law. I do not believe that the lose definition of
capitalism applies in the case of this kind of insurance.

If the product one sells is not a government requirement, the lose idea of
capitalism seems to apply, but if the federal government says you have to
buy product A, then there should be some sort of controls on the companies
that sell that product.

Just IMO

John