It's no $upri$e. Was predictable, in fact.
"Auto insurance rates bounce back up in Mass.; Despite rise, state says deregulation still brings benefits" by Deirdre Fernandes | Globe Staff July 28, 2014
The deregulation of the state’s auto insurance market in 2008 resulted in immediate and significant savings for Massachusetts consumers. But it didn’t last long, according to data obtained by the Globe.
That has played out through history, all the way back to the robber barons that left lasting legacies and cultural myths behind in property and named in$titutions.
Average premiums dropped sharply in the first two years as more insurance companies poured into Massachusetts, but costs quickly rebounded, rising faster than in any other state.
We're number one again.
Five years after the state allowed insurers rather than regulators to set rates, the average premium was essentially the same as before deregulation, data from the state Division of Insurance show.
The problem isn't regulation, it is the government mandate followed by lack of regulation in favor of consumers. We are seeing that with Obummercare premiums.
“Is the consumer better off?” asked Deirdre Cummings, legislative director of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization. “If you look at rates and rates are going higher, that’s not in the consumer’s favor.”
Weird how deregulation in AmeriKa seems to do that, same as regulation. I gue$$ that is what you get its corporate governance.
Auto insurance premiums in the state dropped by about 12 percent between 2007 and 2009 to an average of $861 a year. For drivers, that meant an annual savings of $122.
But by 2012, the latest year for which statistics were available, the average annual premium had climbed to $974, just $9 below the average in 2007, the year before the state opened the market to competition.
In 2012, the average premium increased by 3.7 percent — more than double the rate of inflation in the Boston area, according to the US Department of Labor.
If in$urers profits were bol$tered then it's all good.
State insurance officials said the trend followed the pattern of deregulation in other industries, including airlines, in which prices fell at the outset, then quickly rebounded before the market stabilized.
They have another crisis on their hands.
But, they added, the increased competition that came with deregulation provided benefits other than price to consumers, including more choices, the ability to buy policies online, and more discounts for everything from good driving to good grades at school. All of that makes deregulation, on balance, a good idea, they said.
Is that ever something or what?
Talk about shoveling propaganda. The airline fees have soared as they cut services and raise fares and the propaganda pre$$ here is pu$hing it as a good $olution. It is for $omeone, and it turns out it is the $ame old intere$ts.
“It’s clear that the change in regulation has been a win for consumers,” said Joseph Murphy, the state insurance commissioner....
SIGH!
What do you do when state government shovels a huge steaming stinker of lie right under your nose?
Many of these new entrants slashed prices to grab a piece of the Massachusetts market, forcing established companies to follow, insurance industry officials said.
But as newer companies developed experience in paying claims in the state, the premiums started to go up to reflect the actual costs to the insurers.
Plus profit.
The costs of repairs and medical care are increasing in Massachusetts faster than in the nation as a whole, which helps drive insurance premiums higher, industry officials said....
Because of the wealthy inequality in this state, combined with it being a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, that means many residents are simply not replacing aging vehicles as they once were. Thus repairs are more often and more expensive. I know car sales have been soaring through the ceiling, new$paper is full of that, but look around you.
But consumers are not complaining about costs as loudly as they did when the market was highly regulated, said Frank Mancini, president of the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents, a trade group based in Milford.
After a while you can no longer feel them picking your pocket.
One big reason: If an insurance company boosts a premium, a driver can shop for a better deal somewhere else — an option that wasn’t available before the industry was deregulated....
Meanwhile, the shopper's impre$$ion of the entire indu$try is one of a bunch of f***ing thieves.
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Time to step on the ga$:
"Rules have diesel enthusiasts fuming; Defying environmental regulations, fired-up drivers spew their clouds" by David Abel | Globe Staff July 28, 2014
The Environmental Protection Agency and advocates say diesel vehicles contribute to global warming and exacerbate health problems. Their emissions are known to cause cancer and have been linked to premature deaths from heart and lung disease.
“Just because you don’t like the laws, it’s not your right to break them without punishment,” said Conrad Schneider, a spokesman for the Clean Air Task Force, a Boston-based environmental advocacy group. “It’s like someone walks into a public place where smoking is prohibited and lights a cigar.”
Is that why the cost of goods are so high? Delivery trucks?
Btw, that whole $y$tem was $et up to benefit a $elect few, what with the rubber and the roads and the cars needing replacement. Before then trains brought the stuff in, but that system was soon neglected.
Now the same people that set it all up are belching at your truck, redneck (in Massachusetts?).
But Craig Wedge and others grumble that the government has gone too far in its crackdown on diesel vehicles, which they revere because their engines last longer and offer greater fuel efficiency and torque than conventional gas engines.
Many of them air their gripes on pro-diesel Facebook pages, where they joke about how climate change is a hoax or overblown and voice a litany of grievances against the government, especially the EPA.
Okay, global warming is a joke given the record-setting winters of the last few years, the static temperatures over the last 15 years, and the cool summer 'round h're.
At least the gas bags are letting the NSA keep track of their movements. These guys -- rev, rev -- close to being domestic -- rev, rev -- terrorists.
Among their complaints: the ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel mandated by the federal government costs significantly more at the pump and corrodes older trucks’ expensive fuel injectors; particulate filters required on new vehicles sap about 30 percent of their fuel efficiency; and other rules about air flow and special injections lead to premature engine failure.
It's the corn ethanol being burned for fuel in a hungry nation(??).
EPA officials and environmental advocates say the regulations are vital to reducing the amount of soot and carbon dioxide emitted by the nation’s estimated 11 million diesel vehicles — including about 200,000 in Massachusetts....
Don't the military fighter planes and tanks run on diesel?
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It is an act of protest against environmental regulations....
“It might have something to do with being a rebel . . . and trying to prove something to other people.”
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The movement, if one can call it that, includes....
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