Mayer Street
 |
 1803 Aquatint Principal Street in Bethlehem Luigi Mayer $200.00 Time Remaining: 24d 2h 38m Buy It Now for only: $200.00 |
 Graffiti Dog Installation by Peter Mayer new york street artist $850.00 Time Remaining: 19d 21h 6m Buy It Now for only: $850.00 |
Mayer Street
Gender equality and premium rates
Whenever you ask a talking head paid by the insurance industry, "How do you calculate the premium rate?" the answer is always the same. There's a big smile of sincerity and that reassuring voice says, "We look at the driver. It's all about who you are and what you drive." And that, of course, is how it should be. Actuaries are paid to estimate the risk of accidents and, as they keep telling us, the statistics never lie. These actuaries are like pack rats. They collect every last detail of every accident that gets reported. It doesn't matter whether it's a police report, a claim to the insurers from a hospital for treating accident victims, or reports in local newspapers. They have information about accidents going back to the time we were switching over from real horses to horse-powered engines. So ask how many men aged 33 have had an accident at 2 a.m. while driving a red Ford Contour in the rain with a new moon and, with the click of a mouse, you will have the answer by return. It's the detail that's so impressive. More importantly it shows exactly how many claims are made by male as opposed to female drivers, and what the average value of the claims is.
All around the world, the statistical evidence shows women making fewer claims and, when they are involved in accidents, the amount claimed tends to be lower. The reason for this is that, in general, women drive within the law. They do not try to beat the lights or drive too fast on city streets so, if there is an accident, they are traveling more slowly and the impact is less damaging both to the vehicles and the people inside. Not surprisingly, this excellent safety record has been rewarded by lower premiums. Where the risk is lower, drivers pay less. Except, in Europe, this will change next year.
The European Court for Human Rights has just ruled that men and women must pay the same premiums. At the end of 2012, there must be a new system in place to calculate premiums without relying on gender as a key factor. So what's going on? Well, ask yourself, is it fair to charge someone more to insure their vehicle just because they are male. No one asks to be born male or female so why penalize all those who have the bad luck to be born male? Keeping this real, men don't crash because their sexual apparatus gets caught in the steering wheel. People get into accidents because they drive badly. There's no point in forcing people to pay more because of something they are powerless to control. There's every reason to base auto insurance quotes on actual driving records because, if the record is bad and the premium rate is high, it gives those drivers an incentive to improve their driving. Calculating premiums should be very personal, looking at how well each individual drives. Grouping everyone together on the basis of their gender for issuing auto insurance quotes is arbitrary and unfair (at least, in Europe).
About the Author
Find David Mayer's other contributions at http://www.insurpolicies.net/articles/gender-equality.html where he gladly shares his opinion on many different subjects and helps people around the globe find a better understanding of the things they're interested in.
Democrats, FoxNews & these guys finance the Tea Party. Do you believe the GOP is in bed with the Devil himself?
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer
The Koch Brothers, various anti-environmentatlists, the coal industry, FoxNews, and the Chamber of Commerce (anti-mininum wage, pro CEO) fund the Tea Party. They underwrite the Tea Party Express, and have giving millions to individuals campaigns as well as the GOP.
So, is this grass roots movement concerned that all their money comes from (quite literally) what they are fighting against? I thought they're against Wall Street & to big to fail mentality?
I actually don't understand that Y'ALL don't understand something.
You don't bite the hand that feeds you.
So if Fox, Koch Brothers (pronounced Coach & not c0ck, I stand corrected), etc are financing then you'd understand they will want ROI (return on investment).
Your 'grassroots' movement is being funded by the biggest of BIG of corporate America. Even GE has turned against the Dems. It's a sad day for Democracy, indeed.
They all take bribes from various interests. The only way to stop it is to go for public campaign financing, but nobody wants to pay for it, so we allow widespread corruption and bribery to exist.
Vivian Maier, street photographer and nanny
Tags: blog, blogs, duane mayer street customs, john-mayer, mayer street hanley, music, travel