PRI Propaganda Author Responds to Criticism

The author of the Pacific Research Institute's bogus study on the tort system responds to criticism in the following letter to the editor:

Our calculations are based on the best scholarly studies by the nation's top economists and legal scholars -- in fact, 34 studies written by 52 scholars. If one compares direct U.S. tort costs to the tort costs of other industrialized nations, for example, one realizes that the U.S. tort system is the most expensive in the industrialized world. At 2.2 percent of GDP, direct costs are bigger than our counterparts in Germany, France, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Source: montgomeryadvertiser.com ::  Director of study defends work

OK, so we spend 2.2 percent of our GDP on the tort system.  (Maybe.)  So what?  How much should we spend?  2 percent?  1.5 percent?  .05 percent?

By stating the number and implying that it is too high, the "reformers" can always claim there's something wrong with the tort system.  What they won't do, and indeed what they can't do is state what percentage of the GDP the tort system should be, and then state what "reform" measures will lower the tort costs to that percentage.

Technorati tags: PRI, propaganda, tort costs, tort reform, Lawrence J. McQuillan, Pacific Research Institute, Ralph Cook