Windfall

“Lucky you! You just won the lottery and your windfall will make life very comfortable for you and your family. A windfall is a crazy bit of unexpected good fortune. First used in the fifteenth century, the word windfall originally referred to fruit that the wind blew from the trees.”

I just found that definition on line. I was looking for it because I wanted to confirm my understanding of the word. It seems only to have positive connotations, though it derives from damage to a tree. And many trees have suffered from all sorts of insults since the fifteenth century.

I heard yesterday that a woman was suing the city of New York because a tree fell on her and caused significant injury. It's a real tragedy and brings up the question of what is an accident or an Act of G-d and what is someone's responsibility. There were times when the former concept – an accident – was accepted as a reality, an unavoidable fact of life, but those days have passed. Now everything is someone's fault and the deeper his pockets the better. A falling tree can provide a real windfall, especially if its owner has a big bankroll.

Let me provide a little context:

According to The Associated Press, “[Hurricane] Harvey has so far killed at least 70 people who drowned in floods, got crushed by trees and died during power outages -- a surprisingly low toll that experts say reflects heeded warnings, swift action by first responders and volunteers, and no small amount of luck. … In 2005, Hurricane Katrina claimed more than 1,800 lives. Hurricane Ike was blamed for at least 20 deaths after hitting the Texas coast in 2008.”

Other reports tell us that the cost of the hurricane may be as much as $11 billion. That's an early estimate and it will certainly be many times higher, but no one struck by a tree is suing the United States and increasing the cost.

The tree in this case was in Central Park which is under the control of the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation. Its budget for 2017 was $480 million. “According to the Parks Department, street trees in New York City are pruned every 15 years; in the past, each tree was pruned on average every 7 years. In 2012, the tree trimming budget was $1.45 million per year … In 2013 the Parks Department had fewer than 100 climbers and pruners to maintain all of the City’s 2.5 million trees.” (That note comes from ekilaw.com, a law firm soliciting suits related to NYC tree damage – damage by trees, not to them .)

Acknowledging those facts, it's interesting to note that the woman is suing for $200 million. That's nearly 42% of the Parks Department's entire 2017 budget. The stated goal is to force the city to take better care of its trees. But I wonder if the possibility of a windfall wasn't part of the calculus in embarking on this noble crusade.

Many were killed by falling trees during Hurricane Harvey, and in other storms. No one was killed by this incident which involved one of two and a half million trees. Was it an accident or a result of negligence?

Should taxpayers bear any burden, especially one of this size, for they provide the contents of the city's “deep pockets?” The results were certainly tragic, but concern for the victim, by itself, doesn't justify a lawsuit and payoff. And if the department's budget for tree trimming is one and a half million dollars, even if is decided that the department was at fault for this accident, a suit for $200 million seems disproportionate.

Companies have been put out of business or damaged badly by this kind of vindictive lawsuit. While the suit is presented as a public service, I wonder how often it is simply viewed as a big money maker – a windfall for plaintiff and lawyer alike. And a sympathetic jury is manipulated into facilitating what some may view as extortion. (And lawsuits are sometimes used to delay or destroy projects often because of the ideology of the plaintiff, not the facts. Pier 55 in New York – a $250 million dollar project approved by both the public and political leaders – was stopped after six years of lawsuits by a few people. I read about it today.)

Life doesn't come with a guarantee. It has risks to which we're all subject. There are those guilty of acts that cause harm, but the public shouldn't always be held responsible for unavoidable acts and accidents. (Is the city to blame if someone is murdered within its boundaries?) Notwithstanding the view that it's invariably “someone's fault,” we can't always ensure happy lives or compensation for everything viewed as actionable by a lawyer.

We waste enough money on the whims of our “representatives.” We needn't do it on the whines of all our citizens and their lawyers. Their windfalls are often our losses. A windfall was originally an unexpected benefit. Now it's a business.

September 14, 2017

Fear Of Flying

I hate to fly. Yes I know that, notwithstanding Icarus's disobedience of his father and its disastrous consequence, flying is the safest form of transportation available. People say that takeoff, approach, and landing are the most hazardous parts of the air travel, but I know that the most dangerous leg of my flight is my trip to the airport. Other drivers just can't be trusted. Many more people die in automobile accidents than in those involving aircraft. Even in time of war. And the statistics are even more lopsided when the determination relates to the number of deaths per passenger mile.

Yet I hate to fly. But it's not any particular fear of flying. Certainly not a rational fear. (I'll admit that every now and then I have a fantasy about the airborne bus falling from the sky, but it doesn't really constitute fear, and the image disappears quickly in the face of common sense.) Every now and then there's a story in the media about an airplane disaster somewhere or other, but that's not because flying is dangerous. Quite the reverse. Accidents are newsworthy because they're so uncommon, and because they sound so horrible. What is not reported is that there are about three billion airline passengers each year with a total of 173 fatalities in 2013. That compares to 1,589 knife-related homicides in the United States alone that year. And over 33,000 deaths in American automobile accidents. Worldwide, of course, the numbers are higher.

Still, I hate to fly. And that's a little inconvenient since my daughter and her husband and six children live in Jerusalem. And another granddaughter with her husband and daughter live there as well. (There's also an assortment of other relatives, but I'll spare you.) So my wife and I take a couple of trips to Israel each year. Flights. And we take some other air trips as well, so it adds up.

I remember my first flight, in the late 1940's. It was just after the Second World War and my family flew from La Guardia Field in New York to Albany (NY) on a DC 3. Then I was scared, but by 1950, when we flew to Chicago, that was less of an issue. I can't even remember the flight. It made no impression on me. We took a tour of the States by train from there (train travel is very safe – only a little over ten times as dangerous as flying) and I recall that I enjoyed the trip greatly – especially the sleeping car. Clearly I wasn't devoid of awareness of the world around me, but I guess that flying no longer inspired fear. Even more pertinent, a few years later my brother and I traveled to (and from) Europe on the Ile de France. I did get seasick but I never worried about the ship sinking and all of us drowning, despite the fact that the likelihood of dying while on a ship journey is more than fifty times that of flying. But I digress.

If I'm not worried about flying, then, why do I hate it so? Well, let's start with getting on the plane. No. It begins long before that. The first trick is negotiating the airline's web site, and that of the ticketing agent. Perhaps it's my computer, but the sites never seem to work right. Choosing an airline for me is based almost entirely on the lowest price and flight times most similar to my schedule. I have no loyalty to a particular company so it should be easy. But it isn't. I guess the same is true for those who use other modes of travel however, so I won't pursue the issue. But I do blame the airlines for sometimes forgetting my seat or food choices. They solicit the information from me, but that doesn't always get translated into the right seat or the right meal.

I also blame them for wasting all my time with printing boarding passes which are then redone by them when I check in. And there are delays caused by a long line of passengers waiting to do so, along as well as secondary to the security check-in which requires me to undress first and re-dress afterward. I certainly feel reassured by the security, but I've never been blown up on the subway even though they lack the sophistication of the airlines.

I have other, more significant beefs though. Cabins on cruise ships may be small, but they're luxurious compared to the narrow seats on planes and the lack of adequate leg room. (And the available space – actually its absence – in the dirty toilets.) Each inch that they take from every seat may translate to more rows and more seats and, most important, more revenue for the carrier, but it only adds to the discomfort of the carried. (You can be sure I'm not going to pay the obscene premium that they demand for a first-class seat.) The lack of space also makes balancing a meal on the plane a real challenge. I guess that's just as well though since the food isn't very good. I only wish that they'd pick up the garbage more promptly rather than leaving it for me.

If there was a long wait to board the plane, it takes even longer to get off after the plane has landed. First you must retrieve your carry-on luggage from wherever it is. It's almost a sure thing that the overhead bin intended for your seat will be filled by the time you get there and the space under the seats is inadequate, and filling it with anything makes sitting even more uncomfortable. Then there's a lot of rushing and pushing to get into line to leave the plane, but that's not really of any consequence because it takes a long time for the line to move, and even after you disembark everyone has to wait by the same carousel for the baggage. If yours hasn't been lost, it will surely be the last to arrive.

And then there's the dangerous trip home from the airport.

I haven't mentioned a number of the problems like the crying babies, the cramping caused by the passenger in front of you who lowers his seat back, and the child behind you who kicks your seat throughout the flight. And the people standing in the aisle next to your seat so they can talk with their friends. But by now you get the point. What's a traveler to do?

So the next time I visit my daughter I'll probably … fly. What the hell. It's the only game in town.