....and you thought we just scooped cattle dooky....
Mark your calendars folks, because you are going to want to remember the day you first heard of this plan. Here is the general idea - you take all the $$ awarded as "punitive damages" in any lawsuit and use them to balance the federal budget.
Think about this. Right now, in the media, some silly flight attendant is suing some silly preachers wife for assaulting her on a plane. She is seeking 10% of the preacher's wife's net worth (presumed to be millions.) The idea with "punitive" damages is to set the award high enough to "punish" the offender. In other words, in this particular case, they are not arguing that the assualt was worth 10% of the net worth, but that to be effective, the punishment should cost them 10% of their net worth. Punitive damages make sense, because if someone breaks the law, they need some sort of motivation to not do it again. Very high punitive damages serve that purpose. However, does it really make sense to give all of the punitive damages to the victims? Does it make sense for this silly flight attendant to receive millions of dollars just because she was assualted by someone rich when the flight attendant assaulted by the blue-collar schmuck with a net worth of minus $200 get absolutely nothing? No.
This system could easily be solved by simply awarding all punitve damages to a worthy cause....such as paying the federal government (lower taxes), buying better roads, importing adobtable children from poverty-stricken countries, paying for our awesome military, buying solar panels, researching aids or cancer, prop up social security, etc, etc, etc
What's the downside here? How do we get the politicians to see this?
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Farmer Joe's Plan to Solve the Nation's Problems
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6 comments:
I'd vote for ya. (And that's how you get politicians to listen to you...become one.)
You always have such brilliant ideas! I still think we can solve our energy crisis by making prisoners ride stationary bikes hooked up to a power source! I vote for you too!
Great idea... I'm with you!
Now, when and where I can send Doug to punch you in the nose? It's a easy way to start collecting our part of the deal (our "punitive damages" donation, you know) to be fast send to the government debt, etc. :)
I'm not about to punch Joe in the nose. I know in the end my nose will come away worse.
How do the fat cat lawyers get their cut? They are the engine of the puni awards. Cut them out no more ambulance chasers... no more punis.
I may have led you to the wrong conclusion. I am categorically NOT against punitive damages. They certainly have their place and function as a great deterrent to bad behavior. What I am opposed to is the awarding of the punitive damages to the plaintiff. Why should the plaintiff "win the lottery" when the purpose of the "puni" is to punish the offender, not to award the offendee.
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