Crazy Stable

Old-house owners of the world, there's a must-read in today's New York Times, whether you're a New Yorker or not: The lead-paint liability medicine show is gearing up to come to a town near you. If you work for a paint company, this should make you very sad, but if you (like any old-house owner) have lead paint slumbering safely in your intact woodwork, you also need to prick up your ears.  

I won't recap the dazzling breadth and daring of this evil scheme--let the Times' gutsy business columnist Joe Nocera do that. But suffice it to say that this is the lead-paint picture that the fat-cat liability lawyers would have you believe:

and this is the reality.

Images: Top: Death of Little Nell; Bottom: Boss Tweed, by Thomas Nast