Economics: Perverse Legislative Outcomes

[Fife]

Here's a thread for discussion of all the ways the federal legislature does evil, facially in the name of saving the world.

A great case in point is the American with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Any statute that provides a gravy train for rent-seeking ambulance chasers is the enemy of free people everywhere.

Robbing Beyoncé Blind
The ADA litigation monster continues to run amok.

Is it Beyoncé’s fault that some of her fans are blind? Is the performer a “public accommodation,” like a hotel, restaurant, or department store? Is it society’s obligation to rectify all misfortunes in life’s lottery? These questions may seem silly, but they lie at the heart of a cottage industry of abusive class-action litigation against websites pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, a well-intentioned but poorly conceived—and horribly drafted—law that continues to generate unintended consequences decades following its passage in 1990. Computer users afflicted with various disabilities—blind consumers seem especially litigious—regularly sue companies hosting websites that allegedly aren’t sufficiently “accommodating” of their condition. Beyoncé and her website (beyonce.com), through her management company, became their latest target.

. . .

The lawsuit against Beyoncé smacks of cynical opportunism, exploiting society’s empathy for the disabled. However unfortunate the plaintiff in this lawsuit (and the many like it filed against other websites), it is not Beyoncé’s responsibility to remedy the disadvantages of nature or accident. Web-accessibility lawsuits seek more than the cessation of “discrimination”; they want to neutralize the negative effect of the disability itself.

[DBTrek]

Disabled people have too much damn time on their hands.

[Speaker to Animals]

Hint: you could trigger a civil war amongst the disabled population pretty easily. It's not all solidarity and understanding. You have people with genuine mobility disabilities (like wheel chair-bound folks) using their status to cut in front of everybody in lines, when it doesn't inconvenience them to sit there, whereby people with chronic pain disabilities are still standing in that fucking line -- in pain. Then you have people with non-mobility disabilities abusing the holy fuck out of disabled parking when most of them should NOT be parking close to various stores at all and should walk as much as possible. Don't even get me started on this shit.

[Speaker to Animals]

Mark my words: in ten years fully half of the parking spaces in major parking lots are going to be handicapped.

[DBTrek]

Mark my words: in ten years fully half of the parking spaces in major parking lots are going to be handicapped.

Well, at least that will help me get my daily 10k FitBit steps.

I'd audit the fuck out of disability claims if I had the power. Especially with almost 50% of Iraq/Afghanistan vets claiming that shit. How disability claims became the "Unemployment checks for the rest of your life" program is beyond me, but its extremely insulting to people who are actually disabled and infuriating to the rest of us.

It's at the point when someone tells me they collect disability and it's not obvious at first glance, my default assumption is they're committing fraud.

[Fife]

Mark my words: in ten years fully half of the parking spaces in major parking lots are going to be handicapped.

All in response to litigation filed by rent-seeking shysters. What earthly reason does Lowe's have to expose itself to the whims of some lunatic city manager or judge hell bent on saving the world (and cultivating votes)?

[Zlaxer]

For plaintiff Mary Connor, a visually impaired New York resident who requires screen-reading software to read website content on her computer, beyonce.com represents nefarious discrimination in violation of Title III of the ADA because it is an exclusively visual interface, making it impossible for Connor and other visually impaired customers to browse the site or make purchases without the assistance of a sighted companion.

[Zlaxer]

Any bets on whether the judge holds the ADA to apply to private websites or not? What about billboards? Magazines/catalogues (to the extent they still exist). Can the MRPC be used to crush the counsel? Is this a merit-less suit?

[Fife]

Amazon should have to include the Audible audiobook with every Kindle purchase; and vice versa.

... and for the learning disabled, there should be a 3rd grade edition of every book included also.

[Speaker to Animals]

Amazon should have to include the Audible audiobook with every Kindle purchase; and vice versa.

... and for the learning disabled, there should be a 3rd grade edition of every book included also.

Honest to God, I think Bezos has wanted to do that anyway for many years now. Nobody would go to a bookstore if they could get the audio and electronic print version at the same time for the same price.