"We've got a very vigorous private market for terrorism insurance since Sept. 11"--Consumer Federation Legislative Director Travis Plunkett

I am incensed about Tort Reform, the kind of reform peddled by George Bush first in Texas, then in Saskatchewan and around the world, and now again in a stronger mode in the United States. Tort Reform include legislative changes to limit the responsibilities arising from the misbehavior of corporations.

Tort Reform also goes by the name of No Fault reform because they limit both punitive damages (non compensatory) and the right to sue for pain and suffering. No Fault/Tort reform have been supported by corporations and main stream politicians as the number of lawsuits have skyrocketed along with the skyrocketing of the related awards. But in a world already dominated by big corporations the furthering of No Fault/Tort reform will contribute to a more streamlined society where the streamlined procedures of the big corporations will produce easier expected profits, bigger executive compensation and more hardship for people doing the real work.

I am not for never ending lawsuits, and I am not for big punitive awards, but we must retain in a civil society the fundamental right to seek a vested remedy to a wrong.

Today's article "Shot in the Arm for Tort Overhaul" in the New York Times describes the pros and cons of tort Reform, however it fails to identify the real social problem of Tort Reform, that is the increasing concentration of power in corporations and the privatization of the public good.

Bush's Tort reform would eventually free big corporations such as Dick Cheney's Halliburton Corporations from asbestos liabilities, and will eventually free insurers from medical malpractices, and will eventually free the Homeland Security agency to fire at will its own unwanted employees, and will eventually free all the corporations to wrongfully dismiss their employees.

With No Fault Reform we are doomed to live a life as commanded and expected by the interest of the big corporations and their corporative politicians.

The Americanization of Europe has proceeded relentless in the last ten years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and after the privatization of public utilities Europe can expect to experience the full privatization of the right to work.

It is with sadness that I realize the fascist undermining of article 4 of the Italian Constitution: "The Italian Republic recognizes to every citizen the right of work and promotes the conditions to facilitate this right to work."

References

LIPTAK, ADAM, Shot in the Arm for Tort Overhaul, November 17, 2002, The New York Times 

Ivins, Molly, Cheney's Mess Worth a Close Look, Published on Monday, June 10, 2002 in the Baltimore Sun http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0610-03.htm