The CotoBuzz Journal, Community Journalism

The CotoBuzz Journal

Community Journalism, Newsletters and Blogs Covering South Orange County, CA

The CotoBuzz Journal is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and NAHJ

August 2007 Issue

We do not make jokes, we simply watch the LA Times, the Orange County Register and the Coto de Caza Board of directors and report the facts!

Chuck Chuckles: Senator Schumer, That is

Those who do not know, go to law school. Those who do not do, blame. Those who do not know and do not do, join the US Congress.

July 29, 2007

Senator Schumer has asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate if rising gas prices are the result of oil company malfeasance or even a conspiracy. Last year, he wrote a letter to ask the Federal Trade Commission to investigate. In its response, the FTC said two previous investigations into unfair business practices by the oil industry found no evidence of wrongdoing.

More recently, Chuck Schumer told Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez: “We expected more”, as Chuck goes into overdrive in efforts to appoint a special prosecutor to nail Gonzalez. So what is the honorabe senator to do, when according to the Gallup Poll: “The percentage of Americans with a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in Congress is at 14%, the lowest in Gallup's history of this measure -- and the lowest of any of the 16 institutions tested in this year's Confidence in Institutions survey. It is also one of the lowest confidence ratings for any institution tested over the last three decades”. Under these conditions, the answer is obvious: play the blame card.

So, let’s see how well we can play Chuck’s game:

Lawyers write and interpret the law. Lawyers make up the majority in all three branches of the US government

According to a March 28, 2007, United Press International story: “The U.S. legal system imposes a cost of $865 billion a year on the U.S. economy, or $9,800 a family, a San Francisco ‘free-market’ think tank reports. The costs associated with civil lawsuits, and the fear of them, is 27 times more than the federal government spends on homeland security; 30 times what the National Institutes of Health dedicates to biomedical research; and 13 times the amount the U.S. education department spends to educate children, the Pacific Research Institute says.”

Inflation: the higher a nation's lawyer density the higher is it's inflation ratio, in comparison to other nations. Inflation data 2000 period: USA 3.4% (Refer to Inflation Report ), Britain 3.2%, France 2.25%, Japan 0%.

The typical U.S. company, faces an average of 305 lawsuits and spends $12 million a year on litigation alone, not including settlements or judgments. A strong majority of companies, 63 percent, also said they had hired outside counsel to conduct internal investigations in the past year

We could offer more lawyer factoids, but an international reader summarizes it best: "One of the items in the US where we shake our heads about is the high number of lawyers taking over the whole society and literally keeping it at ransom. In Europe, if one looses a lawsuit, he has to pay all costs. This makes suing risky."

So after all, Chuck Schumer is right. Americans expect more – more from its politicians, including Senator Schumer, that is.

Paraphrasing a Mexican Senator : Poor Joe Smith, so close to the attorneys and so far from God!: