[Cboldt]

Ensign's illustrations of the disaster that lawyers have created in this country are just sickening me, as they have in fact for the last 20 years. I also have no doubt that he is right when he says that, when this thing goes bust, congress will feel compelled to "fix" the mess they have created, and fix it with taxpayer money.

This asbestos damages issue has morphed from reasonable liability compensation into a racket - class action suits tend to have that quality.

Now the issue will be who has control of the racket, Congress? or the plaintiff's bar? Here's Feinstein inserting a rule that natural asbestos claimants are to be covered? What about natural radon exposure? What about skin cancer from sunburn?

I'm agnostic on this issue - either way it goes it is just an example of an arena where "the system" meets reality, and "the system" (good hearted it may be) has met its match.

[Bahbah]

it is just an example of an arena where "the system" meets reality, and "the system" (good hearted it may be) has met its match.

I'm right there with ya :) In a slightly different arean, there was a time when Social Security was a plan to keep the elderly out of abject poverty (although everyone had to be included to prevent the appearance of outright socialism). Then the disabled had to be included. But my favorite story is of a friend of mine who was very wealthy and chose to retire early. He and his wife had a child later in their life so she was 5 when he retired. She was entitled to benefits on the assumption that if her poor old dad retired, she would be driven into poverty. He had no problem collecting the money.