For decades, the famous American poet Wallace Stevens lived a double life: He was also an insurance executive. Occasionally, Stevens would write about his day job. It may not be his most transcendent work, but the essays are revealing. “If private companies can continue to expand with profit and adapt to the changing needs of changing times, no question of nationalization is likely to arise under our system,” Wallace asserted in one 1937 piece, which he wrote while a vice president at the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company. Wallace was…
