What does your insurance agent's lifestyle have to do with catastrophic insurance losses? Digest these figures: 2004 insurance losses topped $30 billion 2005, they exceeded $61 billion dollars. 2006 and 2007 were quiet - together, they only totaled $16 billion First nine months of 2008, almost $25 billion....then the Witch Creek fire flared up in San Diego County...that brought it up to almost $27 billion. With the current storms ravaging the Midwest and Northeast, we'll top $30 billion this year too. Your point about losses in the market is true, but guess what - it has no bearing on their current need for cash other than to make it more pressing. They can't pay out WHAT THEY DON'T HAVE. Got it? Between the catastrophic losses they have had to pay out and the decreased value of their traditionally conservative portfolios, the cupboard is bare! If they don't rebuild their cash reserves and we get hit with another major disaster any time soon, victims won't be paid.