Subject:
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Re: Fan Thank You Letter
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Fri, 21 Jun 2002 09:07:59 GMT
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Viewed:
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1269 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, David Koudys writes:
<snip>
> I try to explain it this way. Any criminal out there stop reading now
> 'cause this is a tirade against your stupidity--
>
> You steal a car stereo, the one in my truck, for example. Was worth 300
> dollars 10 years ago... k, better example since this is a hypothetical. You
> steal a *new* car stereo. If you're a discerning thief, you may make it a
> good one, worth 300 dollars or more. So now you're ahead of the game for
> 300 bones that you did not have to pay.
>
> But you pay. 'Cause here's what happens. The vehicle has to be fixed-calim
> against the insurance. For a 300 dollar stereo guy has to get door/window
> fixed as well as new stereo. Claim is for, say 600 dollars (being *very*
> conservative)
>
> His insurance pays, but that money has to come from somewhere. SO insurance
> premiums go up, so we, who use insurance, pay more, so we have to make more
> from our jobs. So whatever company we work for has to make more money
> selling what they sell, so those prices go up. So, in the end, the consumer
> (all of us) have to pay more for *everything*.
You don't know how lucky you are. Your "sue happy" culture means that people
who ought to be careful are more motivated to be careful!
I think I get the point of your example. To take another example - my
grandmother tripped over a piece of wire carelessly left protruding from a
building site. She sued, and got a few thousand to pay for her medical fees
and a few hundred for pain and suffering Ouch! (When you are old, falling
down and breaking a couple of minor bones REALLY hurts). The legal
fraternity (lawyers+magistrate etc) would have been paid more than a few
thousand as well - even though it was pretty much an open and shut case. The
insurance company was now down by around $10K.
> No one comes out ahead in this game ('xcept maybe the lawyers ;) )
The rest of my example is from my imagination. The insurance premium was
maybe $1K. So they are now $9K down. A few more of these cases and they'd be
out of business! So, they work with the building companies to put procedures
in place to eliminate protruding wires. In the longer run everyone wins;
builders are just a little more careful, insurance goes down, and
grandmothers everywhere live in peace! Well, maybe not quite as ideally as
that, but maybe I have just a small point?
I have visited countries where my grandmother probably would not have been
able to sue. So the pavements are full of potholes, the building sites are
dangerous to both workers and passers-by, and shopping centres have slippery
polished marble floors. God only knows what's in the food and in the air!
> Yes you were attached to your cat. Yes the neighbour should have been
> watching when he backed out of his garage. But will the 500 dollars get
> your cat back?
Nope, but losing $500 (plus all those lawer's fees) might make your
neighbour more careful next time. And if he's more careful next time, maybe
he won't run over your small child on her tricycle.
> People, in general, should just take a step back and say, 'Yes I hurt today,
> but I must believe in a brighter tomorrow.' (that should be on a coffee cup
> somewhere) And the only way to have a brighter tomorrow is if we *help* one
> another, not extract vengeance. Forgiveness really is divine.
Yeah, that is so true - for some people. Other people need more tangible
"encouragement" to stop being careless.
> 'Cause that leads to my final point--what goes around, comes around. You
> sue him, he sues someone else, and that dude sues you...
Nope. The likelihood of being sued is much more related to how careful I am
not to hurt people than to whether I sued someone else.
Mark
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Fan Thank You Letter
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| (...) Oh my tirade is not directed at anyone here at all. I have agreed with these posts. Few things get my blood pressure up and this is one of them, so if I come across as yelling, my bad. Yes I stand on a soap box every once in a while. I'm not (...) (22 years ago, 20-Jun-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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