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This pair should sound familiar. Industry lobbyists love the idea of individual responsibility. And so they will argue that individuals should be responsible for addressing a problem (paired with the 4 of Clubs or the 6 of Clubs). But in other contexts, accountability goes out the window. They need total immunity from lawsuits. |  |
Many technology companies have sought and obtained immunity for failure of anti-terrorism technologies. "'The unintended consequence of even a single failure in a well-intended system or device we might provide could result in significant legal exposure that could financially ruin a company,' Northrop Grumman president Ronald D. Sugar said in congressional testimony..." D. Ian Hopper, Tech Cos. Push Terror Legislation, Associated Press, Jul. 10, 2002. This argument could apply to any company making any product.
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On the other hand, light aircraft in the United States basically stopped production altogether for quite a while. They were being sued because of incidents in 40 year old aircraft. This industry lobbied Congress for a 20 year liability limit, and promised to start back up when this was done. They finally did get a 20 year limit, and have restarted production. Twenty year liabilty is plenty for many products.
Indefinite liability does seem warranted for the disposal of nuclear waste. I mean, the stuff is known to be lethal for hundreds of thousands of years.