In October of 2006 America's population reached 300,000,000.Every 11 seconds another American is born, arrives, comes home, orotherwise becomes a statistic. Net? A baby is born every sevenseconds, a migrant arrives every 31 seconds, but someone somewherein the nation dies every 13 seconds. As the average life span of anAmerican lengthens, that “net increase” may decrease to nine or 10seconds.

Unemployment, we are told by the Department of Labor Statistics(which is supposed to keep track of such trivia), is somewhereunder five percent, fluctuating up or down a tenth of a percentagepoint with the seasons. If at least a third of those 300 millionpeople are either under 17 or over 70, then there would be around200 million people eligible to be employed. (The Census Bureau saysthat 21 percent of us are under age 14, and 12 percent over 65,hence roughly one third are outside the normal employment age.)Four percent of that would be 8 million unemployed persons, forwhatever reason.

We know that statistical employment counts do not include thosewho have either dropped out of the job market for some reason, orare working only part-time, or are not seeking work; hence, actualunemployment may be closer to 10 million. Consider that at theheight of the Great Depression in 1931, only unemployed males wereusually counted. There were just under 200 million Americans then,and the Department of Labor at the time (according to the historybooks) said that 4.5 million were unemployed. Therefore, today'sunemployment is actually double that of the Great Depression.

Fewer Bread Lines?

In the 1930s there were pictures of men lined up at soupkitchens and in bread lines, trying to find food for theirfamilies. Our nation was like some third world country of today,where people must walk miles for a handout of grain or a bucket ofwater in order to survive. The cause may be civil war, as inDarfur; climate change, as in other parts of the world; or simplypolitical mismanagement in places like North Korea. But here athome our poverty is pretty well hidden. We rarely see a photographsuch as those that often ran in magazines like Life of men standingin an unemployment line or children outside a hovel, starving todeath. We have, we're told, “safety nets.” But the reality is notquite the same in most urban areas. Homeless and unemployed peopleby the millions are still lining up at soup kitchens in our innercities, and entire families are living on the streets in absoluteand utter poverty. Many live in their old cars. More than 25million Americans still need the aid of a food bank every year.That's 8.3 percent of us.

For a number of years during the Reagan and Bush I era, thiswriter, a trained social worker, had the opportunity of managing aninner-city homeless shelter several nights a month. I'd unlock thedoor in the basement of a church at 5:30 p.m. and usher in thirtymen from the cold or rain, those with “tickets” from the previousnight first. Some had waited there for hours.

The routine was fairly well organized. The men selected their“pad,” and a few took a quick shower. At 6 p.m. some local churchor organization was supposed to show up with the dinner, and assistin serving it. Occasionally the food and servers never arrived, andI'd have to raid the church pantry for cans of this and that tomake a stew. We always had enough.

After supper the clothes closet was opened if any of the menneeded a new shirt or jeans, socks or underwear, and we'd start thelaundry – two big washers and dryers. They'd usually run until wellafter 1 a.m. Meanwhile the men could read, watch television, helpclean up the kitchen and dining area, or talk with me about theirproblems.

After “lights out” at 10 p.m. I'd make 60 sandwiches. In themorning everyone was up by 6 a.m., fed breakfast, provided a bagwith two sandwiches and some fruit, and dispatched to the street by7 a.m., most heading for the day labor pools. I'd lock up, go home,take a shower, and go to work, coming back two weeks later.

Unemployed, and Unemployable

The homeless men fell into four general categories. One groupconsisted of unemployed men from elsewhere, often the Rust Belt inthe Great Lakes region, who had lost their high-paying union jobswhen America's industrial backbone broke. Many were Vietnam vets.Over the years the number of Hispanic migrants arriving each nightincreased. The second group was the winos and druggies who hadsimply blown their minds with alcohol or narcotics and were unableto hold anything beyond day labor jobs. The third group was themental patients, men who in prior decades would have beeninstitutionalized, but who, in the name of misguided liberalgenerosity, had been dumped on the street to fend for themselves.If they could obtain and would remember to take their medications,they could function reasonably well. But most could not; medicinesfor mental conditions are expensive; our county medical facilitiesdole them out very sparingly.

The final group, often as much as a fourth of our thirty men,were the ex-cons, those who had been in prison and, thus, wereunemployable. Why? Well, this is where the insurance aspect of thisparticular tale develops. If the reader has never handled afidelity bond claim, he or she may be unfamiliar with a particularclause in such documents. For example, consider the CommercialCrime Policy Employee Dishonesty Coverage Form CR 00 01 10 90,Section D. 2. Additional Conditions, reads, “Cancellation As to AnyEmployee: This insurance is cancelled as to any 'employee' a.Immediately upon discovery by (1) you, or (2) Any of your partners,officers or directors not in collusion with the 'employee': of anydishonest act committed by that 'employee' whether before or afterbecoming employed by you.”

Blame the Security Industry?

The fastest growing major industry of the 21st century issecurity. Today no typical employer will consider hiring anemployee without obtaining a complete application, resume, andbackground check, especially if that employer does any type ofgovernment work where such checking is required. The idea is toscreen out any illegal immigrants, potential terrorists, or someonewith a criminal background who might either steal from the employeror from the employer's customers. Hence, given this condition inthe fidelity bond, anyone with a criminal record is basicallyunemployable.

To what extent does this apply? Note that there is no time limiton “any dishonest act.” The condition is “dishonesty,” and that,according to the policy, “mean only dishonest acts committed … withthe manifest intent to: (1) cause … loss; and also (2) obtainfinancial benefit….” Well! Unless committed during a robbery or tohurry the inheritance from rich old Uncle William, “murder” may notfit this definition of a dishonest act, nor does smoking pot. But“shoplifting” does. If a 40-year-old job applicant answers thequestion “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?” on his or heremployment application, “Yes, when I was a teenager I was arrestedfor stealing a pair of socks from K-Mart and given a suspendedsentence,” that person is unbondable, hence unemployable, absent aspecific – by name and identity – waiver from the surety.

Other Population Statistics

Forty years ago, claim adjusters were busy with the same typesof accidents as today–fall downs, auto wrecks, workplace injuries,burglaries–but now there seem to be so many more that nobody hastime to really delve into the facts like we used to. Why is that?The answer is that now there are more of us. That means more storesor places to fall, more autos on the highways colliding (not tomention more miles of highway on which to collide), and moreworkers doing more and different things. The Census Bureau reportsthat 27.3 million foreign-born individuals entered the U.S. between1980 and 2005. Of these, 16.8 million were “authorized,” and 10.5million were illegal (only 62 percent of them from Mexico.) That'sa lot of potential insureds and claimants.

If only half those 300 million own and operate a vehicle, that'sa lot of people paying both premiums and gasoline tax. But alsoaccording to the Census Bureau, 51 percent of us live in only tenstates: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York,New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Of those, more than halflive in suburbs and another 30 percent in cities. Hence, it is easyto see where the concentration of traffic is located, and wherealternative means of transportation – regional intercity andcommuter high speed rail and urban to suburban rapid transit – aregoing to become necessary.

Consider that in 1960 there were 3.55 million miles of streetsand highways in America. Today there are 3.93 million miles. That'sa 10 percent increase. But in 1960 there were only around 75million vehicles; today there are 237.2 million vehicles on theroad, a 316 percent increase, and we average another 4 millionadded each year.

Our highways, built at far greater expense than rail, areobsolete and gridlocked. With another American arriving or beingborn every eleven seconds, our highway system cannot keep up.America is only 5 percent of the total world population, but weconsume 25 percent of the world's oil, more than Japan, China,Germany, and Russia combined.

Americans travel more than three trillion vehicle-miles a year,according to the Federal Highway Administration. At that rate anextra penny in tax for every ten miles driven would easily pay forthe alternative transportation systems needed, as well as takingvehicles off the roads, thus reducing the number of accidents, andthe resulting auto insurance premiums. Perhaps then claim adjustersmight resort to actually going out and investigating accidents–thuspreventing some of the fraud now occurring–as was the case in the1960s.

Population and Global Warming

Almost all the world's negative situations, including wars,famines, poverty, floods, wildfires, and economic chaos, can beattributed to a combination of expanding global population andglobal warming. America is not immune from these conditions, andmay well be as much a part of the problem as it must be a part ofthe solution. Our insurance industry can play a major role incontrolling these problems, largely through the underwritingprocess.

For example, as a Florida and a Colorado property owner, thiswriter does not like the idea that property insurance premiums,especially near the coastline (and more than half of Americans livewithin fifty miles of a coastline), have gone up by as much as 4000percent since 2005, depressing the real estate market topractically nothing. Neither do I like the fact that the propertytax on my unimproved forested rural land out west has steadilyincreased due to the costs of wildfire protection. But thesefactors are ultimately loss-control factors as well. Loss costs areborne by our pocketbooks through insurance premiums and taxes, soif they get too high we may all decide to do something about thelosses, like preventing fires or moving from the coastlines.

Americans create 25 percent of the world's carbon dioxideemissions, approximately 20 tons per American, compared with onlyfour tons for people in the rest of the world. Over 40 percent ofour rivers and streams are too polluted for fishing or swimming,and the world's fish supply is dwindling to near nothing. Nearlyseven thousand plant and animal species are at risk of extinctionin the United States. Still, we fill in our wetlands, build in ourwildlands and forests, and sop up the electricity produced incoal-fired utility plants.

I'm always thankful when I see little kids being hauled toschool by their parents. But I don't envy those kids the world I'vehelped to create and do my share of destroying. Hopefully thosekids will figure it all out better than their parents andgrandparents have, and can re-create a world that is stable,unpolluted, and safe.

Ken Brownlee, CPCU, is a former adjuster and risk manager,based in Atlanta, Ga. He now authors and edits claim-adjustingtextbooks.