Loser-pays Can Win in America?

Today I read that under Governor Rick Perry, Texas has adopted a loser-pays system!

In America, if someone sues you, you pay for a lawyer.  Even if you ultimately win the lawsuit and aren’t held liable for any damages at all, you’ve still lost thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees (not to mention the time taken out of your life, which you can never get back).  A lot of the theory behind tort law revolves around making people “whole” for the wrongs they’ve suffered.  Who will make you whole? 

Popularity and Prosperity

I was talking with a friend the other day about gas prices.  We agreed that when gas prices (or unemployment, or the economy generally) improve, that will tend to help any incumbent president’s chances of re-election—and that, by the same token, when they worsen that will tend to hurt his chances—regardless of whether they’re his fault or not.  The question, then, was whether it can fairly be said that the recent high gas prices are partly President Obama’s fault or not.

So I was interested to hear that the answer may be an emphatic Yes: