A View from the Press Box

Jay Fishman, chairman and CEO of Travelers, buys his homeowners insurance from a rival carrier! He said so during a speech in New York last week on catastrophe risk at NU’s annual Executive Conference for the Property-Casualty Industry. Am I the only one who thinks that’s a little weird?

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One of the most fascinating takeaways from NU’s Property-Casualty Executive Conference last week is the fact that contrary to conventional wisdom, the party controlling the White House has little or no effect on the industry’s bottom-line profitability.

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I had a feeling I was in for an interesting day when I was almost run over by a herd of camels while crossing Rockefeller Center yesterday on my way to National Underwriter’s 20th Annual Executive Conference for the Property-Casualty Industry. Read on for a recap of some of the highlights.

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I never thought of myself as a party pooper, but that’s how I feel after the hammering I’ve taken over my Oct. 20 NU column and Oct. 10 blog posting, in which I not only slammed AIG for taking top producers on junkets right after getting a federal bailout, but challenged agent acceptance of such incentive compensation on principle. Read on for a summary of reader feedback, and feel free to add more comments of your own before we lay this controversy to rest.

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I’m not comfortable with recent verbal attacks by some of the biggest names in insurance about the pricing decisions of American International Group. Indeed, I’m surprised consumer advocates and members of Congress haven’t lambasted industry leaders for trying to browbeat AIG into charging more for its coverage.

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Am I the only one who thinks Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s handling of the government’s $700 billion bailout fund is totally out of control? He appears to be making it up as he goes along, and what’s worse, no one is minding the store, with key oversight provisions not yet implemented, even though $290 billion has already been spent.

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Did you ever wonder how David might have felt had Goliath gotten to his feet for a rematch? Of what it would be like as a Lilliputian watching Gulliver break loose from the ropes that bound him? That’s how I imagine independent agents might be feeling while reading accounts about Marsh preparing to launch a new, nationwide agency to go after the bread-and-butter business of Main Street producers—small-commercial accounts.

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With AIG securing a major restructuring of its loan deal from Uncle Sam, you have to hand it the company’s former CEO, Hank Greenberg, who after laying low for more than three years, has reemerged as a major player, having been calling on the troubled carrier’s senior management to renegotiate with federal policymakers for weeks now.

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Despite all the silly talk of “socialism” in the presidential campaign, President-elect Barack Obama will not move to nationalize the health insurance industry after he is sworn into office. However, the question remains whether he can create another massive federal program during a financial crisis–and if he does, how he’ll pay for it.

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Despite the best efforts of “Joe the Plumber,” Sen. Barack Obama will be our next president–a fact that says a lot about this country, and all for the good. Frankly, I was afraid we didn’t have it in us to rise above the nonsensical fear mongering and trash talking of the Republican ticket–to discard any lingering, petty prejudices hamstringing this great country, and vote on the merits of each candidate’s case. I’ve never been prouder to be an American.

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