Thread: Who needs regulations?

You can't rely on people to use their pocketbook for many reasons but one of the main ones are they don't care. The same reason why people on motorcycles don't wear helmets even though they know a minor wreck will cost them dearly or many people still drive without seat belts or put their kids in a car without seats. The folks in Brazil would rather spend money on a fancy radio or rims then safety equipment. Sometimes Govt has to take the unpopular part and do things folks don't want because it's vital to their interests. It's only years later they realize it.

It is always a difficult act to find a balance between being an overbearing "nanny" state and one the is wide open the way the old robber barons enjoyed it. As usual little of benefit to the majority of people lies at either extreme.

Bob

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

You can't rely on people to use their pocketbook for many reasons but one of the main ones are they don't care.

That works both ways. To further the 401K reference above - if you have money in any stocks or mutual funds that are invested in any of the "evil corporations" you are also guilty of profiting at the expense of the welfare of those less fortunate. If anyone posting stuff against the corporations has a big problem with it, I suggest you put your money where your mouth is and research your portfolio - only invest in companies that don't make evil profits.

It is a common belief that there is a bright line between corporations and government, that they are separate, hostile entities that do not commingle. This is a fallacy and always has been. In the US voting rights were limited to white property owners until 1850. Now the Tea Party wants to go back to that.

Boss Tweed said, "I can always hire half of the poor to go out and kill the other half." Today just substitute the Koch Brothers and Rupert Murdock and the attitude remains the same.

The wealthy and the rulers have always rubbed shoulders and taken care of their mutual interests. Now it's just on a global basis.

"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich and the poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

HNSB

You took the words out of my mouth. It is amazing how some conflate objecting to how a good many corporations make their profit with an attack on the hallowed free enterprise capitalist system. It is no such thing, there is nothing inherently evil with corporations or making a profit, but there is with the way in which a good many do. I am guessing a 401K is retirement plan of some sort. Personally I would prefer my retirement not be possibly funded on the dead bodies of Bangladeshi workers as an drastic example but not the only one out there. That is a preference that is nearly impossible to do today given current widespread practices used to generate profits. Basically if you won't let people a dump in your own yard why would anyone think it is OK to passively condone them doing it in somebody else s yard?

Bob

Industry hid dangers for decades | Environmental Working Group (historic)

Asbestos: The lies that killed (current events)

Judicial order: Tobacco companies have to pay for ads about their lies. - Slate Magazine

Unsafe at Any Speed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (read company response page down)

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (historic)

Pakistan Factory Fires Kill Nearly 300 In Karachi ( current events)

Responsible Investor | Domini.com

Domini has lagged the SP 500 but you can move your funds into socially responsible investments. I may not have as much when I retire but I kno that I'll have made my money in a way that helps people not just stockholders.

I would also point you to an article in the WSJ on 4/29/13.

Capitalism is killing our morals, our future - MarketWatch

Paul B. Farrell
Capitalism is killing our morals, our future
Commentary: In a Market Society, everything is for sale
April 29, 2013|Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch


SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Yes, capitalism is working ... for the Forbes 1,000 Global Billionaires whose ranks swelled from 322 in 2000 to 1,426 recently. Billionaires control the vast majority of the world’s wealth, while the income of American workers stagnated.

For the rest of the world, capitalism is not working: A billion live on less than two dollars a day. With global population exploding to 10 billion by 2050, that inequality gap will grow, fueling revolutions, wars, adding more billionaires and more folks surviving on two bucks a day.

Who knows better what's good for you than some government hack armed with a load of statistics and a free pass to tax you for your own good? How comforting....

Aren't stock holders people too?

Well I have said it before but I'll say it again: The corporation in America is beholden to the shareholder. In Europe, corporations are beholden to stakeholders... BIG difference.

But talking about America:

Back in the day when capitalism in America looked a little differently, 90% of equity's or stocks were bought by the individual. Today, 90% are purchased for the individual by corporations. 401K's are big business managed by the likes on Wall Street.

It just so happens that Wall Street also funds all those lobby groups that support government... with your money suckers lol! Hmmm. So yeah, Government bends to the will of big business, and big business bends to no ones will because no one cares or knows how to care about what's going on in their 401k's. Even the Fed (one of our biggest regulators by the way) has been handcuffed!!

The system feeds itself and off to the races America goes feeding the worlds greatest economy with little to no understanding by the people its supposed to be helping. It is what it is... But Wall Street looks very different today than it did just 30 years ago - don't think it's the same system - its not! That system that "made" America has changed. Maybe for the better - maybe not.

As for regulation! It's the backbone of a system that today has turned its back on the little guy and is there for a very good reason. Unfortunately, those same lobby groups and large corporations are being hindered by regulations, and the corps have asked their pals in government to tell us little people that its Un-American and is the death of capitalism to believe in regulations... the very capitalism they have seen to make anew. Regulation in large part helped make America great!

Capitalism was never about effing everyone while corporations got rich!! Hell!! Corporations are new to the scene! Don't fool yourself! Regulation is needed - recall that the corporations job is to make is shareholder money.

The reason people want to come to America is because you can make a go of it and still be treated with respect and believe in the things you are buying will not kill you, and hasn't killed others - including the lakes and rivers nearby. Regulation is good! It's American. The notion that it isn't good is NEW... new and corrupt.

Well that's my two cents lol.