An artful dodge

BRT has waxed poetic about Citizens United, the corporate power grab made manifest, courtesy the supremes, the bought and paid for court that favors business and church above the rights of the public this august entity is supposed to represent. With this crit notwithstanding comes an incendiary and well researched piece from the NY Times titled Arbitration Everywhere, Stacking the Deck of Justice

On Page 5 of a credit card contract used by American Express, beneath an explainer on interest rates and late fees, past the details about annual membership, is a clause that most customers probably miss. If cardholders have a problem with their account, American Express explains, the company “may elect to resolve any claim by individual arbitration.”

Those nine words are at the center of a far-reaching power play orchestrated by American corporations, an investigation by The New York Times has found.

By inserting individual arbitration clauses into a soaring number of consumer and employment contracts, companies like American Express devised a way to circumvent the courts and bar people from joining together in class-action lawsuits, realistically the only tool citizens have to fight illegal or deceitful business practices.

Read this piece along with its 3 section addendum titled Beware the Fine Print to see why BRT's criticism of the supremes rings true.