Liberty on the Rocks™ Denver

A Grassroots Freedom Movement

Insurance company profits, trial lawyers and Saul Alinsky

David K. Williams, Jr. | February 12, 2010

According to an Associated Press report, “Healh insurers’ profits surged in 2009.”
Of course, the “progressive” statists used the news to demonize greedy insurance companies.
To wit,
In a speech on the Senate floor, (Sen. Harry Reid) attacked WellPoint and other “greedy insurance companies that care more about profits than people.”

This is classic Saul Alinsky – demonize the opposition.
And it is exactly what the “conservative” statists do when they argue for corporatist legislation to protect these same insurance companies: Demonize the “greedy trial lawyers” for “demanding” a mutually agreed upon compensation.
Demonization is very effective. However, it does not address any substantative issue. That, of course, is Alinsky’s entire point.
Substance does not matter. Only achieving one’s ends matters.
Remember that when either end of the statist spectrum starts complaining about how much money someone makes.

I demand you read this!

David K. Williams, Jr. | February 7, 2010

There is more than one problem with Mark Hillman’s Denver Post column published yesterday. (Trial Lawyer Hypocrisy Act.)

One, however, really jumps out. Twice he writes how plaintiff attorneys can “demand up to 40 percent” of the eventual recovery.
How does that “demand” work?
Circle K can “demand” consumers spend $5.00 for a “fun size” Snickers. So what? Ain’t nobody gonna be meeting that demand.
I can “demand” Sandra Bullock’s appearance at dinner. That demand ain’t gonna be met either.
People that have been injured by the someone else’s negligence have a wide selection of attorneys from which to choose to represent them. Almost none will hire an attorney who “demands” 40 percent. It is called a “free market,” something Republicans usually extol the virtues of.