CSpan: John Stossel spouting stupidity

[linazelle]

Talking about there being no need for government at all. And that the backup system of trial lawyers is also a bad thing since the system and the lawyers get the majority of the money not the victims. What he's not saying is compensation is designed with the victim in mind.

Basically he's saying companies should be able to make any product and sell them without goverment regulation and that there should not be any trial law system available to protect injured citizen--an absolute free market society.

[JohnKleeb]

1. doesnt Stossel always spout out stupidity?

I dont watch the man that much honest, so him do a special on bullying one time in psychology class the past year seems like Stoss was 'culed as a kid, other than that I dont know much about him, can someone tell me please.

[depakid]

15. Yes, he does. And he's also dishonest

Do a google search on "stossel" and "dishonest" and you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know.

The fact that this man is still allowed on network television just underscores the dire need for media regulation and accountibility in this country.

[linazelle]

17. He was on Al Franken's show about two weeks ago discussing his

book, "Give Me A Break."

Franken confronted him about some of the lies in the book and Stossel apologized several times. Trouble was, he broadcast lies from the book on ABC's 20/20. Apologizing on Air America is like printing a retraction on page 161 of the local newspaper--nobody's seeing it. So no wonder he fessed up so readily. This just points out why Air America is important but needs help. Hopefully, help IS on the way.

[Eric J in MN]

26. His apology even within "The Al Franken Show" wasn't much.

Stossel blamed a producer for the misrepresentations.

Maybe he used the word "sorry" but Stossel didn't sound real contrite.

He spent a lot of his visit to Air America complaining that he wasn't being given enough time to answer.

[LittleApple81]

2. Why is he on C-Span? Did he write a book like O'Reilly's "Living with

Herpes?"

[Lucky Luciano]

3. Sure, while were at it let's just have anarchy...

:eyes:

[mopinko]

4. majority?

i think the standard is 1/3. even if it was 50% that's still not the majority. maybe he'll have an unfortunate incident with a penis enlarger and see the light.

[linazelle]

8. Lol @ "penis enlarger"....

He's saying the plaintiff's atty. gets a third, but so do the defendant's attorneys and the court system as well. Still, all that's taken into account when the victim's compensation is calculated.

[gmoney]

5. because corporations keep showing how trustworthy they are

always working with the best interests of the consumer in mind

asshole

[girl gone mad]

6. It's amazing that in this day and age..

there are still people gullible enough to believe that corporations will have the peoples best interest in mind, or that consumers would have any control over an unregulated marketplace.

If course, in Stossel's case, it seems like an act, or just a stubborn refusal to acknowledge the truth.

[NightTrain]

7. There's bacteria that lives in diarrhea. And then there's John Stossel.

'Nuff said!

[GOPFighter]

9. My biggest wish is that people like John Stossel...

...be condemned to live eternally in a world without government.

[hatrack]

10. Afghanistan, Congo, Iraq should all be paradise, by his standards

Funny how you don't hear too much about the booming economies of any of these particular low-government organizations . . .

Stossel hasn't had his mental oil changed since members of his high school Objectivist Society spooned cottage cheese into his skull and left it there to ferment.

[glitch]

20. LOL!

:evilgrin:

[Eric J in MN]

24. Good pont about countries without functioning govts.

Regarding the history of John Stossel, though, that's something else.

Stossel wasn't always like this.

Stossel was a consumer reporter decades ago.

Pershaps corporate speaking fees corrupted him.

[Pithlet]

13. So do I

Because, when it comes right down to it, I think that people like Stossel are talking about getting rid of all of the protections for the "little people", because in a system like they describe, they would still expect all the protections that the government have to offer.

[madrchsod]

11. john is a tool

[Hidebo]

12. in his dreaming world

we don't have pollution

[xray s]

14. The Ford Pinto. An example of how corporations behave

Imagine what the world would be like if corporations faced NO government oversight or regulations and faced NO threat of legal actions for their negligence. I give you the example of the Ford Pinto, and a case where the free market came to a deadly conclusion.

http://www.fordpinto.com/blowup.htm

The rush of the Pinto from conception to production was a recipe for disaster. Many studies have been concluded by Mother Jones on Pinto accident reports which have revealed conclusively that if a Pinto being followed at over 30 miles per hour was hit by that following vehicle, the rear end of the car would buckle like an accordion, right up to the back seat. The tube leading to the gas-tank cap would be ripped away from the tank itself, and gas would immediately begin sloshing onto the road around the car. The buckled gas tank would be jammed up against the differential housing (the large bulge in the middle of the rear axle), which contains four sharp, protruding bolts likely to gash holes in the tank and spill still more gas. Now all that is needed is a spark from a cigarette, ignition, or scraping metal, and both cars would be engulfed in flames. If a Pinto was struck from behind at higher speed say, at 40 mph chances are very good that its doors would jam shut and its trapped passengers inside would burn to death.


The financial analysis that Ford conducted on the Pinto concluded that it was not cost-efficient to add an $11 per car cost in order to correct a flaw. Benefits derived from spending this amount of money were estimated to be $49.5 million. This estimate assumed that each death, which could be avoided, would be worth $200,000, that each major burn injury that could be avoided would be worth $67,000 and that an average repair cost of $700 per car involved in a rear end accident would be avoided. It further assumed that there would be 2,100 burned vehicles, 180 serious burn injuries, and 180 burn deaths in making this calculation. When the unit cost was spread out over the number of cars and light trucks which would be affected by the design change, at a cost of $11 per vehicle, the cost was calculated to be $137 million, much greater then the $49.5 million benefit. These figures, which describe the fatalities and injuries, are false. All independent experts estimate that for each person who dies by an auto fire, many more are left with charred hands, faces and limbs. This means that Ford’s 1:1 death to injury ratio is inaccurate and the costs for Ford’s settlements would have been much closer to the cost of implementing a solution to the problem. However, Ford’s "cost-benefit analysis," which places a dollar value on human life, said it wasn't profitable to make any changes to the car.

[linazelle]

16. I met a woman whose mother was killed in the Pinto

Let's not forget the SUV tire problems recently either. It was only because so many were killed that they changed to design of most SUV's to improve the stability and balance.

[Warpy]

18. that's the looneytarian party line

One idiocy right after another. If a corporation makes something that kills people, why, people will just stop buying from that corporation and the marketplace wil magically take care of itself! The fact that the carnage will be extensive before word gets around is lost on them. These people are utterly witless and total dreamers, which is why they can't manage to get elected to much of anything. People know this silly stuff will work when the human race becomes perfect, and not before then.

I don't know who paid to get Stossel on ABC's "news" tabloids, but it's about time to take him off. His reporting is substandard, his fact checking nonexistant, and he's been caught on more than one occasion simply making things up when the facts didn't support his insane position.

Other news outfits (the NYT, the Boston Globe) have fired people they've caught fictionalizing stories. It's high time ABC do the same.

[mitchum]

19. I wish that Stossel would hurry up and join Ayn Rand...

but he probably looks a little too...uh...y'know...for Rand (even in the afterlife)

[JohnKleeb]

23. Alan Greenspan wants Ayn first mitch

but a threesome could be up Ayn's allie.

[Enraged_Ape]

33. I have it on the highest authority (our local channeler)...

that Ayn takes it any way she can get it. She and Benito Mussolini are also big into the latex scene.

[Zo Zig]

21. For those that watched,

did he appear to have had a face lift, or is that the look of the begining of AIDS?

[kwolf68]

22. Hey folks

I saw him speaking to this group, but before Joe Stossel was on Ben Stein was talking about how horrible Democrats were to the same group.

Who was that group they were talking to? and when will we see some Democratic people on CSPAN again.

[linazelle]

27. Good question

CSpan seems to be featuring the Con viewpoint more frequently.

I saw a show earlier with two young republicans, both just out of their teens and full of RW hatrred. Saw another show last week that seemed like it would be more balanced--turned out the person on "our" side was the female version of Alan Colmes. The RW'er fired off point after point while the contestor sat silent.

I don't know what group Stossel was talking to but they were attentive and receptive--applauding his nonsense

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

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[kiahzero]

28. You aren't even trying anymore, are you?

Such an amazing argument. Why, I want to vote for Bush now!

:eyes:

Freeper - just another synonym for fucktard.

[The Zanti Regent]

29. Dr D. didn't beat Stossel enough

Wrestler Dr. D should has smacked him several more times to knock some sense into asshole John's head...

[Enraged_Ape]

30. Guess Johnny thinks interstate highways fall from the sky...

and corporations (like, for instance, ENRON) can always be trusted to keep our best interests in mind.

Just one more reason why my mama told me never to trust guys with porn star mustaches.

[Jon8503]

31. John Stossel Is Fading Away

Correct me if I am wrong but if you notice Stossel is just like Dennis Miller. Their careers are going down the tubes so they are trying to save themselves by joining with the repubs. The Repubs are taking what leftovers they can get.

Can't really grade Miller's show as don't watch it. Just a couple of times when it came on. He was just as bad as he was when he tried Monday Night Football.

Stossel & Miller are past entertainers or whatever.

[johnfunk]

32. Gimme a break! When DOESN'T Stossel spout idiocy?

n/t