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Chinese broadcasting satellite SinosatII appears to have gone tits up. I doubt that this was featured in any of the newspapers. But show us a minor storm in Llandudno and the news is all around about the insurance cost.
Let's get this straight; most UK property storms don't dent insurers' bottom lines more than a smidgeon. But, well, a satellite failure is $80m if it's a penny. That's a lot of damaged roofs.
The tedhnicalities of satellite failure insurance are that, generally, if it blows up when it launches, you get your money back. If it fails within 90 days, you get your money back. After that it amortizes down to zero over the next nine months. After that, well, not my problem, mate.
Given the bad publicity surrounding the extended warranty sector, it struck me that this would be a good area for the scum suckers such as AmTrust who sell this high-margin shit to move into a more ambitious area.
When Sino Broadcasting goes to buy its satellite, perhaps the salesman could say "and would you be wanting the five-year warranty with that, sir? Yes? That will be $30m please." Well, that's an awful lot of toasters.
Obviously the response to the question when you are asked this is in Curry's Digital (aka Dixons) is: "why, is it going to break down?" To this the salesman replies "well, that's very unlikely, but it gives you peace of mind".
"Why, is a broken-down toaster going to cause me to have a nervous breakdown?"
"I'll put you down as a no, shall I?"
"I think that might be best."
+++++++++
Titmus directed me to the mad Butler's new blog, which is built around sustainability. For those of you unaware of James Butler's history, he quit Reuters and the Barbican and poker around 2003, moving to Kerry and embarking on a self-sustainability crusade. Part of his manifesto (accessible in the blog, referenced by Titmus in comments on the previous entry)), notes in good Marxist fashion that all wage-earners are slaves and none of them receives a true reward for their labour. Of course, James misses the point that 50% of a hundred grand is better than 100% of ten grand. But what he doesn't miss is something that Adam Smith did mis -- that even though doing something yourself is a lot less efficient economically than paying someone else to do it, while you focus on what you are best at (and he pays you to do that), knowing that you have done something yourself is a lot more satisfying. In addition to that, as James points out, he now knows how his house works, because he learnt how things worked via trial and error (and the web).
I have a lot of sympathy with what Juimmy Butler is up to because I can see where he is coming from. Adam Smith was right in terms of most things, but he missed some very important points.
Let's get this straight; most UK property storms don't dent insurers' bottom lines more than a smidgeon. But, well, a satellite failure is $80m if it's a penny. That's a lot of damaged roofs.
The tedhnicalities of satellite failure insurance are that, generally, if it blows up when it launches, you get your money back. If it fails within 90 days, you get your money back. After that it amortizes down to zero over the next nine months. After that, well, not my problem, mate.
Given the bad publicity surrounding the extended warranty sector, it struck me that this would be a good area for the scum suckers such as AmTrust who sell this high-margin shit to move into a more ambitious area.
When Sino Broadcasting goes to buy its satellite, perhaps the salesman could say "and would you be wanting the five-year warranty with that, sir? Yes? That will be $30m please." Well, that's an awful lot of toasters.
Obviously the response to the question when you are asked this is in Curry's Digital (aka Dixons) is: "why, is it going to break down?" To this the salesman replies "well, that's very unlikely, but it gives you peace of mind".
"Why, is a broken-down toaster going to cause me to have a nervous breakdown?"
"I'll put you down as a no, shall I?"
"I think that might be best."
+++++++++
Titmus directed me to the mad Butler's new blog, which is built around sustainability. For those of you unaware of James Butler's history, he quit Reuters and the Barbican and poker around 2003, moving to Kerry and embarking on a self-sustainability crusade. Part of his manifesto (accessible in the blog, referenced by Titmus in comments on the previous entry)), notes in good Marxist fashion that all wage-earners are slaves and none of them receives a true reward for their labour. Of course, James misses the point that 50% of a hundred grand is better than 100% of ten grand. But what he doesn't miss is something that Adam Smith did mis -- that even though doing something yourself is a lot less efficient economically than paying someone else to do it, while you focus on what you are best at (and he pays you to do that), knowing that you have done something yourself is a lot more satisfying. In addition to that, as James points out, he now knows how his house works, because he learnt how things worked via trial and error (and the web).
I have a lot of sympathy with what Juimmy Butler is up to because I can see where he is coming from. Adam Smith was right in terms of most things, but he missed some very important points.
