There are only two things as complicated as insurance accounting and I have no idea what they are.

In short: Readily available low-cost life insurance would be a threat to the industry, and whatever threatens the life insurance industry threatens America.

The first American insurance company was the Friendly Society for the Mutual Insurance of Houses Against Fire, founded in Charles Town in South Carolina, in 1735.

One of the advantages of the book's having been out there for more than a quarter century is that there's been time for people to report back on what it's done for them.

The industry cannot long offer unneeded or overpriced insurance if people will not buy it.

Still, most people don't have much money. So finding ways to come out a couple of thousand dollars ahead every year still matters.

Not surprisingly, the insurance lobby recoils in horror at the prospect of automatic coverage (including, when it was first proposed, Social Security), no matter how efficient it may be. Automatic coverage eliminates sales commissions and profit.