Do we need Records made like this for the hard earned money!!!

Nowdays it is nothing new to hear about one or the other US company declaring its loss since the time Lehman Brothers has initiated since they filed bankruptcy in Sept 2008. I cna understand that Lehman and other such companies & manufacturers have been buying something in tangible assets and giving out in finished products in material.

What I am stunned of is what are these Insurance giants upto when it comes to declaring losses in billions and almost heading towards newer records of losses as this one....

American International Group Inc. managed to lose $62 billion in just 92 days. That's nearly $470,000 a minute. And it's more money than Bill Gates' net worth.

The insurance giant's quarterly loss reported Monday was the biggest in corporate history, topping the previous record of about $45 billion set by Time Warner Inc. during the fourth quarter of 2002.

That news came as the government said it would plunge another $30 billion in taxpayer money into the ailing New York-based company, which already has received some $150 billion in U.S. aid since September.

But that hasn't stopped the losses at AIG. (I want to ask why?) There are so few a times that one could hear the stories of medical insurance getting cleared without any legal fight where the amounts go into millions whereby the client tends to sue the insurance agency.. But most of the times the money is just coming in as premium continously without break, since if one defaults on payments there are chances that you might have to forfeit the amount you have paid in premiums and your coverage is also gone for a toss.

If any of you there remember the time you sign up for the insurance policy, you are shown a projection of 10-20 years down the line about what the scenario can be and that it would be wise to have an insurance policy.

I am just wondering is this just a gimmick to get money for the insurance companies to get money from you since only some people in the world finally end up with large villas and islands and huge money & the normal middle class person who is saving his hard earned money in the form of insurance policy is left at the mercy of its government when it comesto times when the insurance company are on the verge of declaring bankruptcy and one doesn't know where to go to recover the money he has paid in insurance premiums. Phew!!!!

AIG lost more in the fourth quarter of 2008 than it made from 2001 to 2007, when net income totaled more than $58 billion.

Beyond just financial markets, this super-sized loss stands out.

AIG's loss is more than Bill Gates' net worth of $57 billion as of last September, according to Forbes magazine's "400 Richest Americans" list that had Microsoft Corp. founder Gates as No. 1.

_The U.S. government provided $62 billion for immediate relief and rescue efforts in the months after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. If $62 billion was spread across the U.S. population, Americans could each get about $200.

AIG's loss amounts to 92 percent of the $67.4 billion that Americans spent at world's largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the fourth quarter, which includes the holiday season.

It would take a person spending $1 million per day, everyday, the next 169 years to spend as much money as AIG lost during the fourth quarter, which lasted just 92 days.

Well I am starting to be of the opinion that it is time to think if we really want to put money into insurances if it is going to be ugly like this one fine day or rather use this money in some other way...since it is really becoming too uncertain about the insurance companies itself rather than your own existence in the near future.... I am looking forward to complete my basic tenure of contract for my policies and maybe withdraw the amount for good.. !!