Readers of this column already understand the car insurance "families" – GEICO, Progressive, et al – are mafias. The only difference between them and the Columbo, Gambino and other traditional mafias is that the insurance mafias are not only legal – they are legally enforced. You can at least legally try to defend yourself against the guido enforcer who comes around demanding you pay "protection" money; but if you refuse to pay for "coverage," the government will come after you.

This has resulted – as ought to be obvious – in the cost of coverage being not just higher than it would be if you were free to decline to be covered. It has resulted in the cost of enforced coverage becoming so expensive as to approach becoming unaffordable. The effect of this – intentional or not – will be to force working and middle income people to give up owning their own vehicles. (Home owners – a sickly term in view of the fact that no one in this country can ever hope to actually own their home, by dint of having to pay property taxes in perpetuity  – are under similar and waxing pressure. The cost of home insurance is becoming so costly that a growing number of working and middle income people can no longer afford to pay for it, effectively forcing them out of the home they like to think of as theirs.)