The Mafia Mordida

In Mexico, there is this thing called the la mordida – which means “little bite.” Which means what you pay to bribe a government worker, such as a cop, to get him to leave you alone.

If only we Americanos had that option.

Here the bite is not so little.

The liability insurance I am forced to buy to “cover” the cost of damages I haven’t caused with my old truck has just-shy of tripled over the past three years. That is quite the bite – and I expect it to get bigger.

You should, too.

Because, of course, there is not only nothing stopping the insurance mafia from extorting as much as it likes, the government is there to make sure the mafia can extort as much as it likes.  If you fail to pay whatever the mafia demands you pay, then the mafia alerts the government – which makes you pay, in different ways. It cancels your permission to drive, because the freedom to travel (and to use the public right-of-way) is no longer a right but a conditional privilege that can be withdrawn at any time, for any reason. Including your having refused to play by the government’s rules, which frequently entails paying for something you didn’t want and don’t need that is of no value to you – such as ear tags (license plates) and stickers and papers issued by the government that must be displayed to ward-off government workers, such as cops.

It was once the case that you stood a good chance of “getting away” with not handing over la mordita to the mafia because at one time there was still a wall of separation between the government and these private, for-profit mafias.

Bad enough, speaking of which, that we’re forced by the government to pay for harms we have not caused – which is not unlike the Stalin-era practice of executing whole families for the (supposed) affronts committed by one member of the family. But – as regards insurance – if it were only being compelled to hand over money that went into a shared risk pool, it would not be as effronterous as being compelled to hand over money to a for-profit, private cartel that takes in so much money it can afford to pay for big-budget ads on TeeVee pushing its “services” and munificent salaries for the executives who run the racket, too.

And – on top of all that – these cartels often refuse to pay when harm is done, as by someone else to your vehicle. They will say your vehicle’s “book value” is such-and-such, which is always less than what the vehicle was worth you to you (and what it would cost you to replace it with an equivalent).

They are scum of the worst sort, hated almost universally and for entirely valid reasons.

Anyhow, the government – the DMV – would in the past randomly demand proof that you paid la mordita, but it was a kind of lottery and you stood about the same chance of losing as you stand of winning the actual lottery. But then the insurance mafia succeeded in getting real-time access to the DMV – or maybe it was the other way around. It is immaterial which way it went because it ends up at the same place. The moment you fail to maintain “coverage,” the DMV – the government – knows about it. Instant, electronic narcing is now the practice. You will get a threat letter from the DMV/government notifying you that they know and telling you that if you do not either turn in your plates/cancel your vehicle registration or provide immediate proof that you handed over the demanded money to the mafia, they will barrage you with fines and penalties, among which are even more expensive (SR-22) payments to the mafia for years.

It is important to reiterate that all of these punishments are rained down on people who haven’t caused injury or harm to anyone. They are being punished for daring – as in how dare you! – to affront the authority of the state. This is the worst “crime” one can commit in an authoritarian system. Mere murder harms only the individual murdered but affronting the authority of the state threatens the authority of the state – and that cannot be allowed to pass.

VW discovered this about ten years ago. Some believe the German automaker was raked over the coals because its TDI diesel engines were “dirty.” Nonsense. The actual exhaust emissions differences at issue were so inconsequential, it took specialized equipment even to detect the difference. No evidence was produced to substantiate that actual harm had been done to anyone and the truth is that had an Inspector Javert-like inquisition into TDI-equipped vehicles’ exhaust emissions not been performed, no one would have known that they “emitted” just slightly more than the emissions standards (for oxides of nitrogen) allowed.

VW’s unpardonable crime was “cheating” on the government’s emissions certification tests. In other words, the same thing as “cheating” on insurance forced-buy requirements. In neither case is any harm done to anyone. But governmental authority is greatly affronted – and such disobedience must be taught a lesson.

It wasn’t so bad, for awhile. But not-so-bad things always get worse – because there’s no longer anything preventing them from getting worse. That is what’s happening with regard to forced-buy insurance. Even people who have done everything they can to keep the bite small are no longer able to avoid being bitten hard. It no longer matters that you haven’t filed a claim or had one filed against you. That you drive an old vehicle that isn’t worth much and haven’t even had a “ticket” in years. You are being told you must pay twice or three times as much because other people are buying $50,000 new vehicles and you might bump into one. Or because inflation. Or just because.

Because what are you going to do?

This is the bottom line. And a point comes when there is only one thing left to do. It is to stop paying.

If enough of us did that, in protest, it might actually result in all of us being compelled to pay less for the harms we haven’t caused.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

 . . .

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