My last blog post on the possibility of a social media backlashgot some attention — heck, it even inspired Aartrijk bloggerCharles Wasilewski to compare me to Betty White.

But whether we're branding our businesses using Facebook,Foursquare, LinkFaceTwit or speaking at the Kiwanis Club, aninsidious fact lurks under all this hoo-ha — something I wroteabout in this blog back in 2008, and made a reappearance in yesterday's NationalUnderwriter. And that is, as the headline said, “Insurance assetsnot Americans' top financial priority.”

From the May 20 news story:

Americans recognize the importance of protecting their assets,but ensuring adequate insurance coverage for homes, cars and otherpossessions ranks low on Americans' financial priority list,according to a recent Country Financial survey.

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The survey, compiled by Rasmussen Reports, LLC and based ontelephone calls to 3,000 Americans, found that just 2.3 percent ofAmericans listed having the right level of insurance protection onassets as their top financial priority…

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With respect to respondents' biggest financial priorities,having enough money to pay monthly bills far exceeded otherconcerns, with 53.1 percent stating it is their top priority(Ed: emphasis mine). Saving for a secureretirement (16.6 percent), having adequate health insurance (3.9percent), saving for a child's education (2.8 percent), and “someother priority” (5.2 percent) also topped having the right level ofinsurance protection on assets.

I know I write for a property-casualty publication whose readersprimarily insure businesses, and that this article specificallydeals with consumers. But the significance of the boldfacedstatement above — that more than half of the respondents were moreconcerned about simply paying their bills than anything else —shouldn't be lost on anyone who sells any kind of insurance — oranything else, for that matter.

This week the Dow had a hissy fit over the turmoil in the EU andan unemployment report that was worse than the so-called expertsexpected it to be. To put it colloquially, “Well, duh.” Toput it in macroeconomic terms that even Goldman Sachs canunderstand, the economy sucks because people are out of work andcan't afford to buy anything. Until that changes, it doesn'tmatter what happens on Wall Street, in housing andconstruction, in retail sales or anywhere else that purportsto be an indicator of economic health.

And it's precisely that elephant in the room that willultimately render the MySquareFaceTwit discussion as relevant asthe old “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin”controversy.

Do consumers have to buy insurance? Yes. Do consumers have tobuy more than the bare bones coverage, upgrade or cover more stuff?No. And even if they wanted to, a huge percentage of them who areunemployed – 9.9 percent of the U.S. working-age population,as of April — probably can't afford to.

Luckily for us, though, most Americans can still afford theircomputer or smartphone service so they can continue to read thelatest updates on FaceMyTwitTube — at least for now.Considering the millions of manufacturing, construction andfinancial services jobs that the Wall Street Journal says are lost forever, evenAmericans' thirst for constant connectedness might not be theinevitability it seems to be now.

In her long-awaited appearance on “Saturday Night Live,”Betty White called Facebook being a “huge waste of time,”adding that “when I was growing up we had a phonebook, but youwouldn't waste an afternoon with it.” If our crack lawmakers andbig businesses don't figure out a way to address unemployment, wemight all be sitting around marketing with the phonebook — ifanyone's phones are still connected and if there's anything left tosit on.