Large companies are increasingly owned by institutional investors who crave swift profits, a feat often achieved by cutting payroll. The declining influence of unions has made it easier for employers to shift work to part-time and temporary employees. Factory work and even white-collar jobs have moved in recent years to low-cost countries in Asia and Latin America. Automation has helped manufacturing cut 5.6 million jobs since 2000 — the sort of jobs that once provided lower-skilled workers with middle-class paychecks.

“American business is about maximizing shareholder value,” said Allen Sinai, chief global economist at the research firm Decision Economics. “You basically don’t want workers. You hire less, and you try to find capital equipment to replace them.”

Source: NYT: Millions face years without jobs - The New York Times- msnbc.com

The article also touches briefly upon the diminished power of labor unions in this country.  The familiar refrain among businessmen is that labor unions are just horrible, evil, monstrous, wasteful entities that must be stopped at any cost!  Part of that hatred surely comes from the fact that unions make it more difficult for employers to replace workers with temps and robots. 

Fine.  Maybe it is more profitable for companies to make those replacements.  And sure, I want companies to be profitable.  But there’s a hidden cost that this article discusses. When a company fires its workers, those workers go on unemployment.  My tax dollars go to support the people on unemployment.  So the gain to shareholders comes (in part) out of the pockets of Americans who pays taxes. 

Apparently, socialism is when taxes are taken from the rich to support the poor, but not when taxes are taken from the middle-class to support the rich. 

"Criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their information gathering, even using Google Earth and Streetview to plan their burglaries with military precision. Insurance providers are starting to take this into account when they are assessing claims and we may in future see insurers declining claims if they believe the customer was negligent."

Source: Using Facebook or Twitter 'could raise your insurance premiums by 10pc' - Telegraph

I don’t see how using social media is any more negligent than having a listed phone number; criminals could call your house and see if you answer.  If you don’t, it’s a strong sign you’re not home.  Just goes to show that brilliant minds are always hard at work figuring out ways to deny claims.

• First, “Obama thinks like a black because he’s trying to borrow his way out of debt.”
• The reason we have so much debt is because “In Obama’s first year in office, he’s already spent twelve times as much as Bush did in eight years.”
• Where is all the money going?  “Over 4 billion is going directly to ACORN.”
• Why Acorn?  Because “Obama worked as a community organizer for ACORN for years in Chicago.”
• Where else is the money going? “Obama has given billions to labor unions since he took office.”
• Obama’s approval rate in the polls is “below 30 percent,” and Obama is now “a pariah” to the Democratic party.
• Not only has the stimulus package “failed to create or save a single job,” it’s actually “impossible for the government to create any jobs.”

Just thought I’d pass it on.

The decline of bipartisanship is lamentable; it is small consolation that fiscal imprudence is bipartisan. The parties play leapfrog when it comes to spending. From the standpoint of economic policy, the United States has only one party, and it is the party of profligacy. 

….

American political culture is sick, but the broader social culture may also impede renewed economic progress. America's growth has been promoted by the "can-do" attitude of its people, their rejection of fatalism, their individualism -- qualities conducive to innovation, ambition, and hard work. But the rejection of fatalism is also a major factor in the country's soaring medical costs, as its old people (and often their children) insist that every effort be made, at taxpayer expense, to extend their lives. As a result, 25 percent of Medicare costs are incurred in treating elderly people in the last few months of life. American individualism is also a barrier to fiscal belt-tightening through tax hikes or spending cuts. A can-do attitude can and often does express itself in a refusal to worry about looming crises. Americans can overcome any challenge. So not to worry! Qualities that promote a country's fortunes in one era may undermine them in another.

Source: The Real Danger of Debt | Foreign Policy (Emphasis added.)

Every time someone bashes the Democrats for their spending habits, I try and remind them that the Republicans spend money like drunken sailors, too – just on different priorities.  People say they want less government spending, but they don’t really.  At least, they don’t really want less government spending if it will affect their community.  Even the dumbest government project puts people to work.  And no one wants to see their neighbors out of work, if for no other reason than it might lead to higher taxes to fund unemployment, or a wave of foreclosed houses in your neighborhood. 

Posner’s next point about Medicare spending is very interesting.  Sarah Palin tapped into the American fear that the government will “pull the plug on grandma.”  That’s because people tend not to want to put a fixed value on human life such that it’s OK to say “It will cost $1 million dollars to keep grandma alive for the next three years.  That’s too much – pull the plug.”  I wonder how many of the people who would oppose such a decision support damage caps in injury lawsuits.  Isn’t it a little inconsistent to say that it’s not OK to put a cap on how much we’ll spend to keep someone alive, but that it is OK to cap how much a defendant has to pay if his or her negligence causes the death of another?

Posner’s last point about our “not to worry” attitude does worry me.  Americans long ago lost their appetite to work hard for an honest day’s wage.  I have great admiration for the guys on shows like Ax Men because they’re out there busting their asses for modest pay.  It was men like that – not hedge fund managers or day traders – who built this country.  What worries me is that there are still countries full of people willing to work very hard without the expectation of getting rich.  They’re in countries like India, and China, and Mexico.  Coincidentally, we’re shipping all of our hard jobs to those countries.  The problem is that globalization is a zero sum game.  Every manufacturing job we send from Detroit to China means an American put out of work.  Ok, it might not be a 1:1 ration.  Maybe one American gets put out of work for every 10 jobs we send overseas.  But the point is that we’re sowing the seeds of our own destruction by outsourcing our jobs in order to get cheap consumer goods.  Ten years ago, few Americans would want to setup their new business in China.  Now, plenty of American entrepreneurs are doing just that.  And the only reason they’re doing that is because China has invested the money it made from outsourcing into transforming their country into a first-rate place to do business, complete with gleaming skyscrapers, enormous factories, and an increasingly-educated workforce.

What worries me the most is that (a) we’ll become number two to China, and (b) the “solution” some politician will come up with will be to go to war with China.  After all, if we’re at war with them, we don’t have to pay our debt to them, do we?

• Be polite.  Being rude to the prosecuting attorney, or worse yet, telling them what they “have to do” isn’t a good idea.  I’m not saying that a prosecutor will go out of his or her way to be mean to you… but they probably won’t go out of their way to be nice to you if you come across as a total jackass.
• Show up on time.  There’s this little thing called a bench warrant that means you’ll be arrested if you skip your court date.  If you know you’re not going to be able to make it to a court date, call the prosecutor and inform them of such.  It may save you from a bench warrant.  It may also save you from forfeiting your bond.  Why turn a $150 ticket into a $500 ordeal?
• Don’t lie to the prosecutor about things like your driving record.  They probably have a copy of it, and it doesn’t look good for you if you claim you’ve never had a ticket in your life but your driving record shows you have three dozen.
• Don’t show up drunk.  Even if they don’t arrest you, you’ll be stuck hanging around the courthouse all day because no one will make a plea agreement with a guy (or gal) who is drunk.
• Dress appropriately.  Not everyone has a suit & tie, but I think everyone can scrounge together a polo shirt and some khakis.  (I have no clue what the female equivalent is.)  If you want the judge to treat you with respect, show him or her that you respect his or her court by dressing appropriately.
• If you got a ticket for failure to have insurance or a drivers license, try and get that squared away before you come to court.  Showing the prosecutor that you’ve already done “the right thing” will make him or her more likely to cut you some slack.  And if you did get things squared away, bring your paperwork to prove it.
• Leave your loudmouthed friends, relatives, and significant others at home at all costs. 

You’re probably thinking that every one of these tips are based on nothing more than common sense.  You’re right.  They’re certainly not offered as or intended to be taken as legal advice. 

But the jurisprudential lesson from these cases is that the free-floating, jury-driven regime of product liability is a huge mistake that contributes nothing to product safety as it lines the pockets of drivers who are often a menace to society. We can't do anything to help Toyota solve its serious problems. But we can recalibrate the product liability system so that it no longer sends out the wrong incentives to manufacturers and drivers alike.

Source: Total Recall - Forbes.com

Earlier on, he points out that traditional critiques of product liability law don’t apply to the Toyota recall because the problem (sticking gas pedals) is so obviously a defect that “no deep thinker could seriously contest liability.”  Are people who suffer from a stuck gas pedal the “menace to society” that Epstein complains of?  No, and Epstein virtually admitted as much when he wrote that “Toyota's sticky gas pedals are defective under the narrower definition [which is the one he prefers] of a product that fails in ordinary use.”

Yet that didn’t stop Epstein from trotting out two familiar arguments against suing auto manufacturers.  First, he writes about drunk drivers being awarded millions when they wrap their car around a tree at 80mph.  Second, he writes that the only way to satisfy a jury would be for auto manufacturers to sell cars that resemble tanks. 

There is no evidence that drunk drivers (or others misusing the cars) are the cause of the Toyota gas pedal problem.  There is also no evidence that the only way to fix the problem is for Toyota to stop selling compact cars and start selling tanks.  Instead, there is ample evidence that Toyota sold a product that is defective by even the strictest definition.

Considering that (a) the product failed in ordinary use; (b) safer alternative designs exist and could be implemented by Toyota at minimal cost; and (c) no jury has yet heard a Toyota recall case, one has to come to the conclusion that the Toyota recall is not an appropriate vehicle for Epstein to use to condemn the tort system. 

And no, I’m not apologizing for the pun.

"Accountability for false complaints is long overdue," said Jane Orient, M.D., Executive Director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS).

Source: Is There Accountability for Malice? -- TUCSON, Ariz., Feb. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t take issue with that statement.  But these aren’t normal circumstances.  You see, that statement was made in connection with the felony prosecution of two nurses in Texas who reported a doctor they believed provided substandard care to his patients.  The nurses in question not only followed their consciences, but also followed the law, because in Texas, nurses are legally required to report substandard care. 

Now, take a look at the doctor the nurses turned in and see if you don’t suspect that this guy did in fact provide substandard care:

Let's start by taking another look at Dr. Rolando Arafiles. He graduated from medical school in the Phillipines in 1977. In 1994, he did an internship at Harbor Hospital in Baltimore. Two years later, he finished a residency in Family Medicine at SUNY Buffalo - but I can find no indication that he has ever been board certified in FP or any other specialty. In 2007, the Texas Medical Board restricted him from supervising physician's assistants because he had failed to properly supervise (pdf) a PA at a weight-loss clinic he worked for, and had failed to ensure that the clinic protocols met standards of care.

At the trial yesterday, Arafiles reportedly had difficulty even defining "standard of care". He said that diabetics heal as easily as anyone else. He was questioned about a number of medical errors he's made, and he explained that contrary to reports, he had not in fact intentionally sewn part of a suture kit to a patients finger, but had instead done so accidentally. According to the hospital administrator, Arafiles has been reprimanded for mistakes a number of times since he was hired in 2008, which was confirmed by a surprise state inspection.

On top of all that, Dr. Arafiles does not seem to have ever seen a non-traditional remedy that he didn't like. He's been selling alkalized water and colloidal silver on his website. He testified yesterday that he - and his buddy the sheriff - have been selling the Chopra Center-endorsed supplement beverage Zrii - a 25 ounce energy drink that seems to mostly consist of grape juice, and which retails on Amazon at a little over $50 per bottle. According to woo-megasite educate-yourself.org, Arafiles was offering IV Hydrogen Peroxide and Bioluminescence Therapy in 2002. More recently - as in Christmas, 2009 - Arafiles posted something on the "no-forced-vaccination" Yahoo! group asking when he would receive materials for a homeopathy class he was interested in.

Source: The Texas Nurse Trial - How Did We Get Here? : The Questionable Authority

In case you missed it, the key part of the above is that his business partner in selling bullshit herbal supplements is the local sheriff.  No wonder the nurses got prosecuted, eh? 

Even though we’ve got a barely-qualified doctor who is pushing herbal supplements to his patients, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons is taking the position that the prosecution of the nurses is justified.  Can you blame me for coming to the conclusion that doctors don’t care about preventing medical malpractice when their trade group thinks it’s OK to send a nurse to prison for ten years if she files a complaint against a doctor?

After viewing some of the evidence from fentanyl lawsuits, it seems to me that this video hits the nail right on the head.

Yahoo Site Explorer (among other tools) lets you check to see the incoming links to a website.  I’ve used it to check out some very popular PI attorney blogs, and I’d say 90% of their incoming links are from others in the legal community.  Am I right in my assumption that no PI attorneys have a blog or website that is well linked-to outside of the legal community?

Shoot me some links if I’m wrong.  I’d like to see what they’re doing. 

But despite its flaws as a music player, it’s an amazing pocket computer.  The app store (notwithstanding Apple’s dictatorial approval process) is a perfect model of how to serve consumers.  I’ve downloaded over two dozen free applications that work very well.  I can manage my banking, order a pizza from Pizza Hut (with a 20% discount just for using the app!), find the perfect Coach gift, download cases from Lexis, and even check to see if a picture on the wall is hanging level. 

Notice how I used the phrase “pocket computer” earlier.  I didn’t say pocket pc because the Pocket PC was invented by Microsoft about ten years ago, well before the invention of the iPod or the iPhone.  Way back in 1999 and 2000, Microsoft had combination telephone Pocket PC’s.  I don’t remember much about them, but it’s important to note that Microsoft had a decade to refine them, and they still aren’t as functional as the iPhone/iPod Touch.

I don’t know how many PC developers there are compared to Mac developers, but I’m guessing it’s an order of magnitude.  How is it that Microsoft didn’t leverage that base to come up with an App store?  Sure, way back in 2000 the Internet wasn’t what it is today… but I had a Windows Mobile phone in 2006 or 2007, and there wasn’t an app store for Windows Mobile phones then, and I don’t think there’s one now.  If there is, I bet it’s not as one-click-easy as the Apple app store.

I’m still not ready to trade my Blackberry for an iPhone because (a) I NEED a keyboard, (b) Blackberry email is better, and (c) Blackberry voice quality is better.  But I’ll tell you what I am likely to do: Buy a Verizon Mifi device so my iPod Touch (and laptop) always has a Wifi connection.  My two Windows Mobile phones that can also use Wifi will stay at home in my junk box because there’s nothing they can do that my iPod can’t.