Well that's the American Stupid Way or a liberal jury for you.

[Derideo_Te]

http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0309.pdf

Democrats, Republicans and Independents all strongly support large increases to tobacco
tax rates. In the more than 80 state polls that provide the data, majorities of Democrats,
Republicans and independents all support increasing the state tobacco tax. In Louisiana (2013),
for example, 71% of Democrats, 74% of Republicans and 78% of independents supported a
$1.05 increase in the cigarette tax. In Texas (2011), a statewide poll found solid support for a
one-dollar cigarette tax increase among self-identified conservatives (64%) and also among
Republican primary voters (61%)

 

[turzovka]

It's a the message sent by one jury. Relax Chicken Little, the world isn't coming to an end.

And if you are tired of a victim society, then stop playing one but there are some real ones so don't deny that there aren't any.

Your answer speaks only of your ego. You cannot stand to admit you are wrong, apparently.

The fact that I find these settlements outrageous, which only encourages more victim lawsuits and more lawyer money grabs, is not reason for me to issue a complaint, is that it? .......

I don't think you are aware of how many potential lawsuits are turned down by litigators.

Also, the fine has to fit the crime. It's not about making the plaintiffs wealthy, it's about punishing the defendant for deliberating lying to Congress about the addictiveness of nicotine and it's potential for causing terminal illnesses.

But hey, the big banks paying measly fines for mortgage fraud love stupid people like you, if that's any comfort.

No, I am not aware of that, but I am aware of how many frivolous law suits do get through and bog down the courts, and how many are ruled in the defendants’ favor yet the defendant has to pay for his legal fees. I am also aware that Dan Quayle when V.P. was scorned in congress and laughed off by the media for daring to make an appeal for tort reform because of this self-serving, dishonest system which pads legal fees endlessly for no good reason and burdens the citizens of this nation. I am also aware that the USA is the only free nation that operates this way. I am also aware that these jury/judge rewards for slander or injury are in many cases not equitable but exhorbitant. Justice should work both ways, but our congress and the lawyer association benefactors see to it that it does not.

And your example that banks and mortgage lenders got off almost scott free on the mortgage fraud matter proves what? That two wrongs make a right?

Hey, guess what?... I know what punitive damages mean. I just happen to disagree vehemently how it is handled. If you think $23billion was the right figure then those damages should go to the thousands of victims or the most needy in our nation and not these attorneys and his one client. I still say these endless billion dollar settlements waged only against tobacco companies is extortion.

 

[Derideo_Te]

Your answer speaks only of your ego. You cannot stand to admit you are wrong, apparently.

The fact that I find these settlements outrageous, which only encourages more victim lawsuits and more lawyer money grabs, is not reason for me to issue a complaint, is that it? .......

I don't think you are aware of how many potential lawsuits are turned down by litigators.

Also, the fine has to fit the crime. It's not about making the plaintiffs wealthy, it's about punishing the defendant for deliberating lying to Congress about the addictiveness of nicotine and it's potential for causing terminal illnesses.

But hey, the big banks paying measly fines for mortgage fraud love stupid people like you, if that's any comfort.

No, I am not aware of that, but I am aware of how many frivolous law suits do get through and bog down the courts, and how many are ruled in the defendants’ favor yet the defendant has to pay for his legal fees. I am also aware that Dan Quayle when V.P. was scorned in congress and laughed off by the media for daring to make an appeal for tort reform because of this self-serving, dishonest system which pads legal fees endlessly for no good reason and burdens the citizens of this nation. I am also aware that the USA is the only free nation that operates this way. I am also aware that these jury/judge rewards for slander or injury are in many cases not equitable but exhorbitant. Justice should work both ways, but our congress and the lawyer association benefactors see to it that it does not.

And your example that banks and mortgage lenders got off almost scott free on the mortgage fraud matter proves what? That two wrongs make a right?

Hey, guess what?... I know what punitive damages mean. I just happen to disagree vehemently how it is handled. If you think $23billion was the right figure then those damages should go to the thousands of victims or the most needy in our nation and not these attorneys and his one client. I still say these endless billion dollar settlements waged only against tobacco companies is extortion.

Speaking of Frivolous Lawsuits and this is the Politics forum after all!

Resolution to OK Boehner Lawsuit Against Obama Advances in House - WSJ

The House Rules Committee on Thursday approved a resolution that would authorize Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) lawsuit against President Obama over his use of executive power.

 

[NoTeaPartyPleez]

Latest figures I could find on the tax is $3.75 at the high end (New York) and $1.07 at the low end (South Carolina). The Federal tax is right at a dollar.

And a pack of cigarettes cost $14 in NYC.

 

[UllysesS.Archer]

Now that's just utter nonsense. Try again please...

No, not nonsense, it's a matter perspective.

A pack of smokes cost around 5 bucks, around 3-4 dollars of that is taxes. Seems to me that the government is making quite a killing off of smokers. Much more than tobacco companies ever have.

Where did you pull the numbers from, out of your ass as usual? That's just more utter nonsense. No wonder you guys can't deal with reality, you don't know what it is.

I forgot, you wouldn't know what reality is, you live in front of your computer in your mom's basement. Silly me.

 

[UllysesS.Archer]

No, not nonsense, it's a matter perspective.

A pack of smokes cost around 5 bucks, around 3-4 dollars of that is taxes. Seems to me that the government is making quite a killing off of smokers. Much more than tobacco companies ever have.

Where did you pull the numbers from, out of your ass as usual? That's just more utter nonsense. No wonder you guys can't deal with reality, you don't know what it is.

He's saying there's a 60-80% tax on cigarettes?

Yes, depending on what state you live in. The government uses that money to subsides many projects. Once that money dries up, it will be coming from somewhere else.

 

[UllysesS.Archer]

I do know that homeowners will love it when the government finally abolishes smoking.

There tax bill will almost double. After all, the homeowner is the real taxpayer in this country, everyone else just gives a little here and there.

Offset that with lower Medicare taxes for treating all of the chronic diseases caused by smoking.

When have you ever seen a tax repealed?

 

[NoTeaPartyPleez]

Your answer speaks only of your ego. You cannot stand to admit you are wrong, apparently.

The fact that I find these settlements outrageous, which only encourages more victim lawsuits and more lawyer money grabs, is not reason for me to issue a complaint, is that it? .......

I don't think you are aware of how many potential lawsuits are turned down by litigators.

Also, the fine has to fit the crime. It's not about making the plaintiffs wealthy, it's about punishing the defendant for deliberating lying to Congress about the addictiveness of nicotine and it's potential for causing terminal illnesses.

But hey, the big banks paying measly fines for mortgage fraud love stupid people like you, if that's any comfort.

No, I am not aware of that, but I am aware of how many frivolous law suits do get through and bog down the courts, and how many are ruled in the defendants’ favor yet the defendant has to pay for his legal fees. I am also aware that Dan Quayle when V.P. was scorned in congress and laughed off by the media for daring to make an appeal for tort reform because of this self-serving, dishonest system which pads legal fees endlessly for no good reason and burdens the citizens of this nation. I am also aware that the USA is the only free nation that operates this way. I am also aware that these jury/judge rewards for slander or injury are in many cases not equitable but exhorbitant. Justice should work both ways, but our congress and the lawyer association benefactors see to it that it does not.

And your example that banks and mortgage lenders got off almost scott free on the mortgage fraud matter proves what? That two wrongs make a right?

Hey, guess what?... I know what punitive damages mean. I just happen to disagree vehemently how it is handled. If you think $23billion was the right figure then those damages should go to the thousands of victims or the most needy in our nation and not these attorneys and his one client. I still say these endless billion dollar settlements waged only against tobacco companies is extortion.

Poor tobacco companies.....breaks my heart. They were busted in 1999 for crimes committed over an accumulation of many years in which they lied, added chemicals to cigarettes that they didn't publish on the package and injected higher amounts of nicotine into the product in order to create addicts.

When adults wised up and stopped smoking, they voraciously went after the youth market with Joe Camel, their mascot.

What they did was nothing short of genocide, so as far as I'm concerned a more fair rendering would have been to make tobacco illegal and shut those fuckers down.

 

[UllysesS.Archer]

Where did you pull the numbers from, out of your ass as usual? That's just more utter nonsense. No wonder you guys can't deal with reality, you don't know what it is.

The feds get $1.01 per pack and here in TX they add another $1.41, then they charge a 8.25% sales tax on it all. If you buy off brand smokes more than half the cost is taxes. Other States have much higher State taxes, the top is NY at $4.35.

Great. Now show where the government gets more than the tobacco companies do?

WOW, you can't do math? a pack costs 5 bucks, the government gets 3 of that, how much does that leave for the tobacco company? Come on we think you have that many fingers.

 

[turzovka]

I don't think you are aware of how many potential lawsuits are turned down by litigators.

Also, the fine has to fit the crime. It's not about making the plaintiffs wealthy, it's about punishing the defendant for deliberating lying to Congress about the addictiveness of nicotine and it's potential for causing terminal illnesses.

But hey, the big banks paying measly fines for mortgage fraud love stupid people like you, if that's any comfort.

No, I am not aware of that, but I am aware of how many frivolous law suits do get through and bog down the courts, and how many are ruled in the defendants’ favor yet the defendant has to pay for his legal fees. I am also aware that Dan Quayle when V.P. was scorned in congress and laughed off by the media for daring to make an appeal for tort reform because of this self-serving, dishonest system which pads legal fees endlessly for no good reason and burdens the citizens of this nation. I am also aware that the USA is the only free nation that operates this way. I am also aware that these jury/judge rewards for slander or injury are in many cases not equitable but exhorbitant. Justice should work both ways, but our congress and the lawyer association benefactors see to it that it does not.

And your example that banks and mortgage lenders got off almost scott free on the mortgage fraud matter proves what? That two wrongs make a right?

Hey, guess what?... I know what punitive damages mean. I just happen to disagree vehemently how it is handled. If you think $23billion was the right figure then those damages should go to the thousands of victims or the most needy in our nation and not these attorneys and his one client. I still say these endless billion dollar settlements waged only against tobacco companies is extortion.

Poor tobacco companies.....breaks my heart. They were busted in 1999 for crimes committed over an accumulation of many years in which they lied, added chemicals to cigarettes that they didn't publish on the package and injected higher amounts of nicotine into the product in order to create addicts.

When adults wised up and stopped smoking, they voraciously went after the youth market with Joe Camel, their mascot.

What they did was nothing short of genocide, so as far as I'm concerned a more fair rendering would have been to make tobacco illegal and shut those fuckers down.

They lied. Yes, I know. And they paid for their manipulations a thousand times over. What other industry has ever come close to paying for its crimes and deceptions even when found guilty? Few or none. Why? Because they either have the congress in their back pockets (think oil, banks, media conglomerates, teachers unions, even auto industries, maybe big box stores, Hollywood, etc.) or they are not a public villain in the eyes of the public like tobacco is.

So spare me your fair justice decrees, it is nothing of the sort. Tobacco companies have paid well over one hundred billion dollars to states because of their “additives” and yet, everybody knew cigarettes were bad with or without the extra ingredients. And yet, the courts and lawyers think they are so godly in demanding more and more money from them. It’s hypocrisy.

There were already a number of states awarded multi-billion dollar settlements before Minnesota took them to court. Minnesota received 5.5 billion dollars from the big three tobacco companies. What did the legal team hired to represent Minnesota get for doing this? $500 million dollars!! Insanity! By then it was like shooting fish in a barrel, but no doubt you think they deserve that kind of fee? Like I said – the whole thing is game of extortion, sinful even.

And the whole Joe Camel thing is a joke. A joke. If I felt like it I could find you studies that demonstrate cigarette advertising towards youth is almost negligible in making a difference towards them as to who decides to smoke and who does not. I recall specifically there was a large national campaign directed at young black females warning them about the dangers of smoking and encouraging them not start. You know what the findings were after about 6 months after this campaign ended? Smoking in young black females had increased! So much for advertising being such an influence. Kids smoke because it makes them feel cool and because their peers smoke. Don’t try to get too clever on us.

Too bad you do not have as much fury towards the evils of the White House and politics in general and big business and unions and planned parenthood and Hollywood and the media as you do against those “fuckers” who produce cigarettes.

 

[PaintMyHouse]

The feds get $1.01 per pack and here in TX they add another $1.41, then they charge a 8.25% sales tax on it all. If you buy off brand smokes more than half the cost is taxes. Other States have much higher State taxes, the top is NY at $4.35.

Great. Now show where the government gets more than the tobacco companies do?

WOW, you can't do math? a pack costs 5 bucks, the government gets 3 of that, how much does that leave for the tobacco company? Come on we think you have that many fingers.

That's in one state where the price is probably 7, 8, 9 bucks? Now do that for the entire country and just give me the simple number? Who got more bang for their buck? That shouldn't be so hard.