Dead Peasants, and Dead Poets

Last Saturday evening I watched yet another episode of one my favorite British TV series: it was The Last Detective - Dead Peasants Society in which members of a secret lodge take insurance out against members who then subsequently die, and detective "Dangerous" Davies gets to the bottom of the mystery in his inimitable fashion.

This episode introduced to me the concept of "dead peasants' insurance" and only today did I find time to research it.

No, it's not something that many of us would regard as benevolent, like the similarly-named Dead Poets Society but something far more sinister!

If it's new to you too, scan some of the following articles to get a feel for it:

• Does your boss want you dead? ... Hundreds of companies -- including Dow Chemical, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Walt Disney and Winn-Dixie -- have purchased this insurance on more than 6 million rank-and-file workers. These policies, nicknamed “dead janitors” or “dead peasants” insurance, soared in popularity after many states cleared the way for them in the 1980s. [USA] Congress recently tried to crack down on the practice, to the howls of the insurance industry -- which earlier this year managed to derail reforms.



• And lots more via the following Google Search:
  http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=dead+peasants%27+insurance

Well now, are you covered by dead peasant insurance without your knowledge? Check up now!