Republican Free Market Phony’s: Business "Certainty" Trumps Consumer Rights.

This is one of the most amazing stories I’ve read this year, and a blatant admission by Republicans that they represent business, not you and me. Here’s the prevailing Humpty Dumptyism:         

Deregulation means just what the Republicans say deregulation means! Even if it means more regulation.

The free market equation has changed. Markets=sellers + consumers. 

Problem: When a consumer wins a lawsuit, if that settlement isn’t paid right away, it’s subject to 12% interest, the same rate banks, credit card companies and landlords get when they win a lawsuit. But…

People who successfully sue for injuries would earn a lower interest rate on their judgments than banks and credit card companies who take their customers to court, under a bill Gov. Scott Walker included in the upcoming special legislative session on jobs (and) according to a draft of the bill by Republican Sen. Rich Zipperer ...  (it also) would limit the amount plaintiffs' attorneys can charge in some cases.

But wouldn’t a functioning free market permit consumers the ability to sue the pants off a company for injuries, or allow attorneys and their clients the freedom to negotiate any compensation percentage they think is fair? Attorneys are private sector business people too. Free markets depend on checks & balances.

"It's such a transparent anti-consumer bill," said Dan Rottier, a personal injury attorney. "It's just ridiculous."

A "certainty" Issue? In a free market nothing is certain. You take your chances. That’s why it’s been so bizarre to follow the free market Republicans pushing “certainty” in an uncertain free market. Remember the checks and balances that make up the free market? They're being taken out. Humpty Dumpty himself, Sen. Zipperer, sums it up perfectly:

Zipperer said the bills would give businesses more “certainty…” he was focusing on just a narrow set of claims because he believed those affected job creation, though he did not say how … Zipperer's proposal; people who successfully bring a personal injury case or sue under the state's consumer credit law would instead earn the prime rate plus 1%, or 4.25% currently. But banks, landlords and credit card companies that successfully sue people would still get the full 12%.

"It's the most unbelievably discriminatory bill I've ever seen," said Mike End, president of the Wisconsin Association for Justice. "I can't believe someone even has the nerve to actually put that together."

Walker in January signed a sweeping bill out of that earlier special session that makes it more difficult to win damage awards in civil suits. Werwie (believes) the governor backed changing the rules for lawsuits because he believed they would help the economy grow.