Don't think insurance companies are that important to the economy? AIG was the largest insurance company in the world and when it almost failed, it cost US Taxpayers over $85 Billion dollars. Its failure was predicted to bring down the US financial system. Now that the economy has stabalized somewhat, some insurance companies are leading the charge with storing stock prices. AIG's stock price, once the company that alsmot brought down the US financial system, is up about 500% since its low last March. Insurance Companies are huge and they can help drive the economic recovery.