Postscript thought on the insurance business

Late last night in reflecting on yesterday's post, I remembered a quote attributed to Carl Lindner, the Cincinnati financier who parlayed his father's Depression era dairy and egg home delivery business into a multi-faceted empire that puts him today into the middle of the various 400 richest people in the world lists. This quote may not be widely known, but it was told to me in the early 1980's, in an admiring way, by someone very close to him. Lindner's comment, roughly remembered, is as follows:

"First I started a bank, a business where people give you their money but you have to give it back. Then I discovered savings and loans, a business where people give you their money and then pay you to give it back. But finally I discovered insurance companies, a business where people give you their money and you don't have to give it back."