I subscribe to the bicycle frame builders mailing list and like most good mailing lists threads can go on forever and get mired in details or tangents. Occasionally things jump out at you as important and this post by Elliott McFadden did and I thought I’d pass it along:

I listened to a product liability attorney talk about the difference
between the American and European systems of consumer protection. In
America, we keep regulations relatively light and underfund enforcement
then let lawsuits do the real heavy lifting. In Europe, regulation is
higher and enforcement well staffed and financed while large lawsuits are
relatively rare.

As a citizen and a business owner, I’d rather have the European model. It
seems more predictable and less expensive in the long run. Plus
governments are usually the only ones with the resources and time to
regularly take on real abusers with deep pockets.