FactCheck.org slams Chamber of Commerce Ad for grossly Inflated Numbers

[Land Shark]

This is not the first time FactCheck.org has found Chamber of Commerce political ads to be, uh, INFLATED in their fact claims. FactCheck.org previously did a piece about Chamber of Commerce exaggeration in 2007. (OK, in the Chamber ad slammed today, the Chamber used their arm called "Chamber Institute for Legal Reform" to be listed as responsible for this ad. Same thing - nobody lets their business name or trademarked name get used without permission or else lawyers are calling to stop it)

Well, humans are fallible -- but -- the Chamber of Commerce is composed of corporations! ;)

But corporations are run by humans, so one might understand getting the numbers a little off, or a little inflated, humans being fallible and all...

But the Chamber was caught increasing the number of actual lawsuits against small business by a whopping 650% to 1,020%? (yes, one thousand and twenty percent) What?

Yup.

THE FACTS:

Today, FactCheck.org slammed the chamber's TV ad claiming that "litigation" is primarily directed at small businesses - to the tune, the Chamber said, of (here comes the Chamber's LIE):

"52% of all litigation targets small business"

Of course, the Chamber tried to bolster its false ad with smaller type citation that the "SOURCE" of the information was the Small Business Administration. They're government and know about small business, right? It would seem so.

The TRUTH: only 5 to 8 percent of all litigation has a small business defendant being "targeted".

A good chunk of those small businesses (ahem) sued in the first 7 or so years of the last decade were sued by me personally: SLEAZY USED CAR DEALERS. Somebody's gotta sue those guys, I figured it might as well be me. Nobody else in my county would do it. It was largely but not totally a public service, because the car dealers had typically stolen the last dollar my clients had for a down payment and given them a known lemon in return, or a rolled back odometer. (Value of odometer fraud is in the BILLIONS of dollars in increased sales prices, by the way)

But, many small businesses, I'd say 90% are totally cool. But, here's the Clincher:

The FactCheck.org correction showing the true numbers of lawsuits being exaggered by 65% to 1,020% comes from the very same study the Chamber cited in support of its ad.

The video of the ad, and the full text of FactCheck's article, are at this link:
http://factcheck.org/2010/01/us-chamber-more-lawsuit-malarky/

The Chamber of Commerce doesn't know the meaning of the word Honest.

NOTE: This is the first in a series on the high and mighty corporate kingpins that don't know the meaning of the word Honest. The next is Antonin Scalia, and, believe it or not, he asserts, or argues I should say, (in direct effect and implication) that he does not know the meaning of the word Honest! "Honest" is too vague, he argues, and a word that we must necessarily guess at its meaning! I'm not kidding. More to come.

(Please PM me, or post publicly below, if you want notice when the Honesty series has its installments, with the next episode being Antonin Scalia. Thanks!)

[HughMoran]

1. Doesn't surprise me at all

The C of C is all about the C of C and promoting right-wing candidates.

[2 Much Tribulation]

2. +1

[Land Shark]

3. TRUTH: Very few lawsuits against "small business" unless there's INSURANCE (ding ding!) n/t

[Land Shark]

4. Meaning: most lawyers won't sue unless the defendant can almost surely pay the judgment, so smallest

businesses don't get sued anywhere near as often as others, though they do get sued once in a while, i.e. 5% to 8% of lawsuits.

[2 Much Tribulation]

5. What? You mean most lawyers want to get paid? n/t

[2 Much Tribulation]

8. Hope a sarcasm sign isn't needed. n/t

[hootinholler]

6. I'd like to know, Sir. n/t

[Land Shark]

7. Ok, you're on the list for Scalia et al. n/t

[2 Much Tribulation]

9. morning kick n/t

[KharmaTrain]

10. The Era Of The Big Lie...

There was a time when if you made a claim you had to provide independent verification of the claims or there'd be a fine from the FTC or other government watchdog. Well, when the facts don't like good, you make up your own facts...leading to a cottage industry of "consultants", "pollsters" and "public policy organizations" that will do it for you. They have polls that say black is white and up is down...all "documented" by skewing existing data or push polling for the answer they want.

This works just fine for our corporate media that makes money on these lies. They'll gladly sell thousands and millions of dollars in ad time to these groups and never bother to check the facts...they rush the check to the bank instead.

[Land Shark]

11. Yes, some courts have outright ruled there's a political speech "First Amendment right to lie"

arguing that political speech is the most "core" application of the First amendment it should have the greatest freedom. Yet all of fraud law and consumer protection law is based on the idea that there's no first amendment right to lie aka defraud people