[ExI] biggest winners in the shutdown

[spike at rainier66.com]

As the nation (and the world) begins re-opening shops and businesses, I began wondering today who would be the least happy about it.  Who were the biggest winners during the shutdown?

First I thought of the constabulary: cops must have had it much easier with traffic way down.  But they don't actually make more money, just have an easier job.  

TP manufacturers?  Not really.  There was an oddball surge in demand, but it is only a temporary: sanity returns, in the long run the proles aren't actually using more of it, just stockpiling.  In the long run, they may lose, because people might be using the stuff a little more carefully.

Then it occurred to me: car insurance companies.  With traffic waaaaay the heck down, their costs would be way down too.  If some of their customers cannot pay, they cancel the policies: no ethics rules would suggest they should continue coverage on people who didn't pay their premiums.  

Insurance is a betting game: in a sense we bet we will have an accident, they are betting we will not, so if we have an accident, we win that bet (hell of a bet to win, ja?)  If you don't put your chips on the table, you cannot win.  So... their revenue would be down some, but their payouts would be down more.  So they win during the shutdown.

Anyone other big winners during the shutdown?

spike