Capitalism and Insurance

Insurance is an admission of guilt that something will go wrong. We hear it when we buy new phones or computers. Why should I pay $189 extra for a new phone? In case something goes wrong says the sales assistant.

This is tech robbery because the onus is on the manufacturer to make a product that is not faulty. That is why the phrase new from the box, is supposed to be reassuring. Imagine millions of customers taking up the insurance.

That $189 adds up which means the intention is to fund future phones, so-called better phones that will also need insurance, more than $189 because of the passage of time.

Insurance is also an admission of guilt when capitalism interferes with nature, like sending men down mine shafts or down the North Sea to drill for oil. Billionaires get insurance for their investment on the understanding that something might go wrong. I don’t know if that insurance covers workers, or not.

Car insurance is understandable because of human nature. We drink and drive. Talk and drive. Text and drive. Sex and drive. Take selfies and drive. Fight and drive. In some cases we say irresponsible things like, I want a divorce to the driver. All this cleverness results in death or irreparable injury.

Because capitalism equals democracy, there is no insurance for the environment when mining companies leave gaping holes, after exhausting all the gold and other minerals mined in so called poor countries, but traded on the G7 stock exchange.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.