If Apple wronged you, would you take them to court?
Think about what. What comes to your mind?
It’s not worth it, is it?
Because you already know the courts have been corrupted by Capitalism. Acclaimed detective fiction novelist Raymond Chandler said:
And by the way, your instinct was dead on about Apple. In 2017, they had a budget of $1 billion with 350 lawyers just working one case. Business Insider puts the total lawyers at over 500.
Why does this matter to economics?
Economics is nothing with economic justice. One of the grievances of Martin Luther against the Catholic Church was around amassing wealth through the indulgences:
“Why does not the pope, whose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of St. Peter with his own money rather than with the money of poor believers?”
Capitalism promised to deliver better than this. For example, the Enlightenment thinker John Locke “believed that reason and human consciousness were the gateways to contentment and liberty, and he demolished the notion that human knowledge was somehow pre-programmed and mystical”.
Canadian Court Situation: Better off in Turkey or Malaysia
With Church out of the way, has Capitalism paved the way to economic justice?
Not a chance. And not to the average Canadian. Though no one is selling indulgences today, one can hardly say there is justice for all. According to a Justice Canada publication, less than 10% of Canadians turned to the system to resolve their issues. More than 60% avoided the system by taking no action or resolving the problem on their own.
Professor Suzanne Chiodo at Western Law points out that “cost, delay, and inaccessibility endemic to [the Ontario] civil justice system”.
She noted this in a recent paper that debunks that magic of digitization. Simply putting things online won’t change the underlying dysfunction, despite some officials claiming how quick the legal system “modernized… by about 25 years in 25 days”.
Her paper is a great summary of the situation. I extracted the following 3 insights.
#1 A Canadian household must risk 50% of its annual income to take something to trial: As the author writes: “The average fees for a two-day trial in Canada were $31,330 in 2015 (they would undoubtedly be higher today). The median after-tax income of Canadian households in 2019 was $61,400. A household must risk half of its annual income just to proceed to trial in a legal matter.”
#2 In Ontario, it takes more than 2 ½ years to dispose of a civil case: That’s 904 days, which is nearly 40% longer than it took 4 years ago. It takes about 435 days or over 14 months to resolve small claims. This is double what it used to take 4 years ago.
#3 Canada ranked 100th out of 189 countries for contract enforceability: Contract enforceability measures the “[t]ime and cost to resolve a commercial dispute and the quality of judicial processes”. Higher score than India (ranked 163) or Pakistan (156), but far behind Turkey (24), Malaysia (35) and Mexico (43). I’d be the first to tell you that there’s a problem with the way such colonial institutions look at things. But that’s precisely the point: Canada is a settler-colonial nation and it’s doing well according to its own measures.
How bad is it in the US?
For the US, I found this study put out by a group associated with University of Denver. Not surprisingly; it’s not much better than Canada:
“The idealized picture of the adversarial system in which both parties are represented by competent attorneys who can assert all legitimate claims and defenses is, more often than not, an illusion.”
The other problem with propaganda is that big payouts seldom occur. For 90% of cases, the payout is less than $25,000. That won’t cover a year’s worth of rent in San Fran.
Think about that. We falsely believe going to court will get us millions. But that won’t happen 99.9% of the time. Capitalists are unmatched in making a pile of garbage, look like a pile of gold.
Consequently, the cost of getting justice exceeds the benefits:
“Hence, for most litigants, the costs of litigating a case through trial would greatly exceed the monetary value of the case… Only 4 percent of cases were disposed by bench or jury trial, summary judgment, or binding arbitration.”
So, if I am doing my math correctly 96% don’t make it to that point in the court process.
And how costly can it get?
A study that looked at costs by case type found that for automobile tort cases the median cost was $43,000. That’s +75% of the median household income at $56K.
The study also noted that the median costs of litigation by case type, all of which are more than 100% of the median income:
Real property: $66,000
Employment: $88,000
Contract: $91,000
What this means is ‘you must suck it up butter cup’. If the Catholic Church Apple takes away your right, just live with it. That’s how freedom works.
Why are the courts so messed up in the Capitalist system?
Many will point to money as the problem, but we need to go deeper. Courts in the Capitalists system are designed to protect liberties. Nothing else. Just like I need to buy food to live, I need $30,000 to get justice. No money, no right to live. No money, no right to justice. Consequently, the judges, lawyers and politicians look at the situation and say to themselves ‘that’s your problem’. That’s how freedom works.
Islam, in contrast, is built on the idea of accountability – not freedom. Everyone is obligated to be just, even against your own self [emphasis added]:
“O believers! Stand firm for justice as witnesses for Allah even if it is against yourselves, your parents, or close relatives. Be they rich or poor, Allah is best to ensure their interests. So do not let your desires cause you to deviate from justice. If you distort the testimony or refuse to give it, then know that Allah is certainly All-Aware of what you do.” [TMQ 4:135]
The verse forces us to think about the conflict between what we want and justice. Islam is built upon accountability. This is the opposite of freedom.
Which billionaire banker took responsibility for the financial crisis?
Capitalism teaches us to get away with as much as we can. All that matters is me. The bankers are not supposed to think about their impact on others.
That’s your problem.
That’s how freedom works.