Skiing

We got back late last night from a fabulous weekend skiing at Le Grand Bornand. It was more than a bit difficult to get out of Paris - 2 hours of under 60k/hr driving were more than slightly irritating, especially as this meant we didn't get to our hotel until 2 am. Waking up to vivid blue skies, with the sun reflecting off the thick snow cover, however, more than made up for the loooonng drive. After nearly six months of absorbing energy through thick gray clouds, I confess to having forgotten about the regenerative powers of natural vitamin D. The sun comes up late, so even though we slept in a bit, we were able to ski until dinner, and thoroughly explore all sides of the mountain.

The price of the lift tickets (23Euros adult.21Euros/kids) made me wonder about how (lack of) regulation of the litigation industry in the US has permeated our lives. Why should tickets at Sunday River (for example) or Loon, or...(fill in the blank) be almost twice as expensive, especially given that the price of energy (for lifts/snowmaking/grooming/lighting/...) is much less in the US, that the cost of labor is much cheaper in the US.) Could it be the insurance costs that account for at least part of the price differential? And if so, what does that mean for other areas in our lives? (recreation, food, and health care come immediately to mind.) The solution in France for medical malpractice, for example, is not entirely pecuniary, and looks more at the societal relationship between the injured and the medical (practitioner/hospital). Concretely, this means that there are a very limited number of malpractice cases that are brought before the various courts. (follow the link at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1965563## for a very interesting comparison between the French and American medico-legal system.)  Likewise, it is inconceivable that a restaurant that serves hot coffee would be forced to pay enormous sums to a consumer for a spilled drink, even if burns were the result. When stories, such as the punitive award for a spilled McDonald's coffee, cross the Atlantic, the common reaction here is a Gallic eye-roll.