The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

Latest woes at GE Capital:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-bad-bet-that-insurers-cant-shake-1516147700

[the]…$6.2 billion charge in its GE Capital unit is one of the biggest yet in a corner of the insurance industry that has reeled from pricing miscalculations made decades ago. About 7.3 million of the policies are in consumers’ hands, some with generous lifetime benefits… Those policies—about 300,000 of them—…pay for nursing homes, assisted-living facilities or health-care aides in people’s private residences. Such care generally isn’t paid by Medicare…

…by the mid-2000s, many insurers were rapidly ratcheting back the benefits, concluding they had badly miscalculated how many people would file claims and how long they would draw benefits before dying, among other things.

GE disclosed Tuesday that in addition to booking the charge in its fourth quarter, it would have to set aside $15 billion over seven years to bolster insurance reserves at GE Capital.

As a result of the above, GR Capital will permanently cease paying cash dividends to the parent company.