This is something that's constantly discussed. Whereas when a global, federal regulator does not represent you, it makes it more difficult to get commonality in an approach toward certain issues. Having just one regulator to deal with, the financial services industry can concentrate their efforts and speak with a louder voice in getting appropriate bills or laws passed. The House and Senate have taken this issue under consideration, but they are leaning more towards setting some type of national standards, rather than establishing a federal regulator. Individual state-knowledgeable staffs are needed to keep up on all the unique state laws and rules. Second, the cost of managing regulation on a state-by-state basis can be significant. They feel that, as a result, the playing field is not level.

Companies like ours cope very well and are perfectly willing to work with it, but a lot of insurance companies have products that compete with banks, investment companies and global insurers that may involve other types of regulators. It is an important topic for three reasons: First, regulation is cumbersome in its current state-by-state form. One controversial issue is to try to resolve the question of state-by-state regulation versus centralized federal oversight. Because they are controversial, you may not know whether they are entirely good or bad until they actually happen. There are a lot of issues being discussed that are quite controversial. They let us know that we are focused on the road ahead. That's why we need to always be paying attention to leading indicators.

A lot of what we get from a financial standpoint is like looking through the rear window of a car while driving ahead. A year has already gone by, or two or three. It means we've already had a claim submitted. But the trouble with fact is that it is always old news. We have to do things based on fact for rating, risk selection and things of that nature. We actually went out and acquired a company to provide us with the capability to provide insurance for these types of possessions. We made a decision, based on the fact that consumers are changing, that we couldn't just offer auto or home policies without being able to cover other things just as expertly. Farmers' "baby boomer strategy" was built five years ago when we noticed that baby boomers are buying boats, homes, motorcycles, motor homes, manufactured homes, mobile homes, recreational property and other "toys." Third, as proposed laws are debated in Washington, D.C., the financial services industry generally has an advantage over insurance companies. These are all expenses we have to pass on to the consumer. And then you have to file and publish separate rates, marketing data and everything else.