This was inspired by London Yank's excellent Econ Diary and several follow-up comments he and others made in the companion thread. I posted this in that thread, then decided to cross-post it as a Dairy unto itself as this
specifically deals with the "Tort Reform" travesty that's
metastasized throughout the U.S. over the past 20+ years.
Note that I do not go into detail about the intricacies of the "Tort Reform" weevils that have ravaged our Nation's economic grain silos (apologies for a VERY strained metaphor there). No. 6 "below the fold" addresses this generally. Rather, this is about the Process by which the GOP and Insurance Stalinists have been Communizing our nation. I leave specifics to other attorneys.
Step by step analysis below . . .
Since 2000 I've taught legal survey and tort classes in a couple of community colleges. When I get to the issue of "Tort Reform" (a GOP b.s. frame, btw), this is, generally, my lecture:
1. Now not many of you -- except you folks returning for that second degree or career -- remember the old Soviet Union, the Communists! But, suffice to say, we all know, generally, that one of the more cornball and tragic aspects of the Soviet system was its government and government bureaucrats propping-up bloated, inefficient industries; while, in the West, we were and supposedly are, all about competition making more and better products for citizens and consumers.
2. Communism bad. Free markets and competition good. Right? Good, we're all in agreement.
3. Now, from time to time, in this fluid, free market economy we have, certain businesses cheat people, harass or otherwise discriminate against their employees, sell shitty products that hurt people, and the like. These are, by definition, company or industry inefficiencies. Sometimes these inefficiencies can be corrected by consumers just not buying the product anymore, and, other times, accountability and correcting these inefficiencies can only be addressed throught the Court system.
4. We are for accountability here in merka, aren't we? No lazy or harmful company hacks' gonna get away with messing over their employees or defrauding shareholders or ripping-off or harming consumers, right? Right. We're all on the same page here.
5. But, guess what? Over the past couple of decades, apologists for bloated, inefficient, fraudulent companies and industries -- specifically, politicos "on the take" from those industries and insurance companies who often have to pay out claims when such bloated or scandalous companies are, in fact, held accountable for their injurious acts -- have sounded the trumpet of "Tort Reform" as not just a "good", but a necessary thing, for this country.
6. Here I explain some of the aspects of so-called "reform", e.g., making it more difficult, sometimes virtually impossible, for a Plaintiff to get past "Summary Judgment" and, thus, get their case before a jury; I also tell about so-called "conservative" judges who, sitting on State Appellate and Supreme Courts, inject their personal, right-wing, biases into jury decisions (as opposed to leaving issues of Fact within the province of the Jury, which is age-old, traditional legal doctrine and precedent) and overturning verdicts -- VERY activist.
7. Now, as believers in the Free Market, we all know that if a business that provides a needed, or wanted, product or service goes out of business because it was inefficient, or, say, because, a Jury slammed it into bankruptcy for some egregious act, then a more efficient business will fill the void, the vacuum, left by the one that's just gone under -- a business which produces a better, safer product; provides a service without discriminating against it's black or female employees; offers a product or service that does what it's advertised to do. Right? Right.
8. But, as we can ALL see now, we've got this cadre of industries and politicos carrying water for them that -- through the Court system and under the guise of "Tort Reform", want to keep inefficient, unsafe, predatory, discriminatory and -- ultimately -- bloated and/or otherwise damaging and/or otherwise inefficient businesses and industries propped-up by right-wing judges (who are, after all, merely State Bureaucrats) and keep decisions about the Accountability of such businesses and industries OUT of the province of Juries, that is, We The People and, in so doing, prevent such bloated or corrupt companies from going under and being replaced by more efficient, consumer- and citizen-friendly businesses!
9. Thus, we have, in effect, a strong Communist, almost Stalinist, economic model the GOP and insurance industry have been pushing and insinuating into our otherwise Free Market System. A system where State Bureaucrats in the form of GOP Judges work like mad to keep bloated, cronified, harmful, corrupt industries and businesses unaccountable for their wrongdoing and alive -- like a cancer in the body of the American economy -- to the detriment of the American economy, generally, and consumers in particular.
10. Well, who here is for Communism, and who here is for AMERICA???!!!
The sight of eyes widening, brows furrowing, smiles and nods breaking out and, occassionally, heads exploding, is something to behold.
BenGoshi
_________________