A Couple of Good Ideas Gone Wrong

Friend: In the 80s I invented the Unlimited Liability Corporation (ULC). It was a way for small business owners to consolidate their operations under a single business license whereby in cases of litigation there were no limits whatsoever on what sorts of things people could sue them for and for how much. People could sue you for a billion dollars just because they found a typo in your invoice. It had a slow start but I sensed it was getting ready to take off and that's when they invented the Limited Liability Corporation (LLC). It was just like my ULC except it set reasonable limits on how liable your company could be. And suddenly that was the "hot new thing" and that was the end of the ULC era. Surprise surprise--I never saw a dime of that LLC money even though whoever invented it was standing on the shoulders of giants, with me and my ULC idea being the giants. Response: How very coincidental: I once attempted to implement the BTP (Boundless Tariff Program) whereby any government agency - or at that time, any company/business/individual - could place a tariff on anything they wanted at any time in order to generate more revenue for things like bailouts or bigger prisons with better recreational facilities. I saw those dreams crushed without compensation, and now I see the government throwing my idea around willy nilly. I still try to tariff my family and close friends, but they're not even cooperating anymore.