Declarations

Overblown Uncertainty

“Greece has the economy of somewhere like Alabama. I think the high degree of uncertainty coming out of Europe is overblown.”

—Insurance Information Institute President and Chief Economist Robert Hartwig. During his talk at the annual Professional Liability Underwriting Society Conference in San Diego in early November, Hartwig pointed out that Greece’s economy is the 32nd largest in the world. By comparison, if California were a nation, its economy would rank 8th in the world.

An Unseen Statistic

“One statistic I’d like to see that no one has kept is, how much I’ve paid out in auto insurance in the past 25 years and how much I’ve collected. The insurance company didn’t get the perfect driver when they got me but they haven’t done badly. I guess we’ve paid out a total of more than $20,000 and I doubt if they’ve paid out $2,000, mostly in dents.”

—The late Andy Rooney, who recently passed away after working as a curmudgeonly commentator on CBS “60 Minutes” for more than 30 years, in his last book titled “Andy Rooney: 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit.” On camera, he often expressed his frustrations with everyday subjects, and paying for insurance was no exception.

Things Aren’t Right

“It’s not OK at all. We aren’t scientists or anything but we are out there all the time and we can tell things aren’t right.”

—Kenneth Collins, who rents fishing poles to tourists and spends his days with local fishermen at the Pensacola Beach pier in Florida, reacted with skepticism to the news that the cleanup phase for the BP Gulf oil spill is winding down. Collins said he doesn’t think the effects of the spill are over. Red fish, cobia, grouper and other species caught off the beach pier have oily deposits in their intestines when they are carved up for cleaning, he said. AP