Like other insurers, Allstate earns much of its netincome by investing the premium money it collects, mostly in bonds or other conservative securities.
Return on equity (ROE), calculated by dividing netincome by shareholder equity during a particular period, measures the return that management has produced on the money invested into the business.
Thus, if we wish to take away this unenviable Catch-22, we can only do by completely removing the safety net, leaving low-income workers with no choice but to work if they want to have any money at all, even if it is insufficient to support a typical family of four.