LETTERS
Asbestos Can Be In his June column [“Tilting at Windmills”] Charles Peters describes me as a former public interest lawyer who has fallen from grace in his eyes because my firm represents an...
...Wrapped up in the legal abstractions of a murder trial, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that someone is actually dead...
...Workers now own about 15 percent of the company--far more than the next largest shareholder...
...It is reasonable to believe that the vast majority of your readers have either seen a corpse before or could well imagine what one looks like...
...it remains in circulation...
...I shall consider this incident to be a temporary aberration, and will pray for the quick return of your usual good taste...
...Heresies on Trial The In “Ten Heresies That Could Save the Economy,” [July/ August] Jonathan Alter argues that arrangements in which employees agree to trade wages for ownership interests in their firms would help keep inflation down and productivity up, while at the same time giving workers a fair return on their efforts...
...Can you explain to me why spending would produce more favorable results in the end than saving...
...Whether the money is spent or saved...
...While occupational diseases caused by exposure to radiation, chemicals, dusts, and other substances are increasing, asbestos disease is the first to reach the level of crisis...
...Neither does trading in existing stock issues, which is what most of the recent Wall Street explosion is about...
...Even the federal government is beginning to face up to its responsibility for exposing millions of workers to asbestos in wartime shipyards...
...There is some speculation that it may become a key element in current talks between steel management and labor...
...Money in money market funds represents money that someone borrows and then spends for goods and services...
...In fact, the Chrysler Loan Guarantee Act contains a provision introduced by former Senator Donald Stewart requiring that Chrysler provide employees with $162.5 million in stock over a four-year period...
...Better yet, studies of companies owned in part or in full by their employees show that these firms are substantially more profitable and productive than their conventional counterparts...
...It should be possible to devise a legislative formula that requires all responsible parties to pay their fair share to diseased workers...
...Even much of the money in government securities goes to provide transfer payments that are ultimately spent...
...Firewater Apropos your “Ships That Melt” [“Tilting at Windmills,” July/August], I offer this bit of information gleaned from my friendly insurance agent, who is also a naval reserve officer...
...Even for those workers who do benefit, the system is grossly inefficient...
...Maine Shock Treatment Your use of the picture of a corpse with your “Trial and Tribulation” article [Hal Riedl, July/ August] was grotesque...
...This same arrangement has been used at a number of other companies, such as Pan Am and WheelingPittsburgh Steel...
...The solution, according to my friend, was to add a bit of magnesium to the aluminum alloy...
...Barring that occurrence, the staff of your publication might find more suitable employment as ghouls...
...In view .of the intolerable status quo, it seems important to try...
...rather, our task has been to find a politically feasible alternative to the wasteful tort litigation system which shortchanges sufferers of occupational diseases with long latency periods...
...I broke into the air force with the B-36 bomber, which was made of magnesium...
...I wonder if there is anything that can put out such a fire...
...the workers want bigger and faster settlements...
...Between six and ten thousand workers and former workers die from it every year, and this toll will continue to the year 2000 and beyond...
...For every dollar received by a successful claimant, $6 goes to pay legal transaction costs...
...And it’s obvious that any .politically feasible solution requires cooperation by industry, government, labor leaders, and the workers themselves...
...Rosen is executive director of the National Center for Employee Ownership...
...HARRISON WELLFORD Washington, D.C...
...We believe the public isn‘t sufficiently conscious of the true effects of violent crime...
...He says they started making the superstructures of aluminum but found it corroded on contact with salt water and didn’t look at all shipshape...
...I well remember seeing one of them burn in the snow at Loring Air Force Base after a crash...
...Crime and punishment aren’t abstract concepts, and it was our belief that this admittedly grotesque reminder of what really happens when our criminal justice system fails could best convey this...
...Let me explain what this representation is all about...
...Less than half of these workers get any benefits from the existing tort and workers compensation systems...
...With over 13;000 asbestos cases pending in the courts, this flood of litigation not only subjects asbestos claimants to years of delay, but bogs down disposition of all other civil cases as well...
...The manufacturers and insurance companies seek predictability and an alternative to skyrocketing product liability costs...
...Naturally, I could not agree more...
...In other words, the kind of saving we’re getting now does not contribute to new plants and new jobs...
...the judges want less congested courts...
...Employee ownership provides a unique mixing of free enterprise and social justice...
...Concern about the appalling waste, delay, and unfairness of the existing tort and workers compensation systems has led to a search for legislative remedies by a variety of groups...
...Estimates of future litigation costs for asbestos claims are in tens of billions of dollars...
...We do not defend asbestos claims...
...Senator Gary Hart and Congressman George Miller have introduced bills on this theme...
...Money Marketeers Does it really matter if one saves instead of spends...
...Consumer spending, on the other hand, creates the demand for products that inspires investors to make the kind of long-term commitment we need...
...For the last year, we have worked with insurance companies, court reform groups, labor unions, and the asbestos and other industries to develop legislation to create a “no-fault” compensation system for victims of occupational disease...
...COKEY ROSEN Arlington, Virginia Mr...
...If he’s right, you don’t have ships that melt, you have ships carrying a big Fourth of July sparkler on top...
...Alter writes, however, that Congress rejected exactly such a plan for Chrysler...
...Consequently, the .photo of the deceased Mr...
...MARCUS F. KOOSMANN Eau Claire, Wisconsin The editor replies: The vast bulk of money market funds ends up as short-term paper...
...The first two installments have already been distributed...
...SAMUEL PENNINGTON Waldoboro...
...If more companies go under, future victims will be denied recovery from any private sector source and will have to turn to public assistance programs for relief...
...Already these costs have contributed to the bankruptcy or reorganization of two corporate defendants...
...Indirect costs are large as well...
...JOHN WAWREK Tucson, Arizona The editors reply: We decided to use this photograph precisely because of its shock value...
...Asbestos Can Be In his June column [“Tilting at Windmills”] Charles Peters describes me as a former public interest lawyer who has fallen from grace in his eyes because my firm represents an industry he doesn’t like...
...Johnson does little, if anything, to inform the public...
Vol. 14 • October 1982 • No. 8
