Declarations

Swimming in the Buff

“You always find out who’s been swimming naked when the tide goes out. We found out that Wall Street has been kind of a nudist beach.”

—Warren Buffett, who has been named the world’s richest man by Forbes magazine, says the U.S. economy is still in a recession and will remain so until 2009, Reuters reported. Buffett told CNBC television some housing-related businesses in his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. conglomerate are struggling as the economy works off past excesses in making credit available. He also said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has no “magic wand” to boost an economy facing weak growth prospects, mounting inflation and deteriorating credit, according to Reuters.

Understand and Know

“The reason people need to understand their homeowners insurance is because it’s the only way to know if you have the right amount of insurance and the right type of insurance.”

—Carolyn Gorman, vice president of the Insurance Information Institute, comments on a survey by HomeInsurance.com, which found that more than half of the nation’s homeowners know very little about their home insurance policies and coverages. Some 54 percent of all homeowners surveyed admitted to knowing, “not much at all” about their homeowners policies. According to the survey, some of the most dangerous aspects homeowners often ignore on their policies are: replacement value, deductibles and covered losses.

No Place for the Unauthorized

“Oklahoma consumers and businesses rely on the Oklahoma Insurance Department to continually scan the marketplace for companies offering insurance products without authorization.”

—Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland recently ordered Underwriter Reinsurance Co., also known as The Underwriter Group, to refrain from selling unlicensed, unauthorized insurance in her state. The Oklahoma Insurance Department reported an investigation found The Underwriter Group, headed by Dr. Larry Wright and M. Shane Dickens, provided an unauthorized business performance bond to an Oklahoma entity seeking to secure a bank loan. After the entity defaulted on the loan, the bank attempted to collect from The Underwriter Group. Subsequent litigation exposed the company as an unauthorized insurer.