Thread: Who needs regulations?

Yeah, corporations suck. At least, until your 401k stops growing.

Originally Posted by BobH

Oh they have with the push for a global economy and off shoring, they ain't hurtin a bit. Reason being they have found places with little to no regulations and poor enforcement of any regulation that do exist to manufacture their goods. The other side of that coin is trying to be a good consumer with no job or a substandard one, good luck.

Bob

Consumers are not without fault in this situation. We buy the crap.

Originally Posted by Mvcrash

Consumers are not without fault in this situation. We buy the crap.

Certainly, but then again a lot of people buy what they can afford eg no or substandard jobs due to off shoring. You can add to that the ever new and ingenious ways the financial industry comes up with to lend money at low rates to people who should not qualify just to keep things going. Just a vicious circle on a downward spiral.

Bob

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)

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. 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.

The big problem with 'relying on your pocketbook' to regulate business is that it simply does not work, because often, corporations will dump the negative consequences on a third party so they don't inconvenience you.

The reason the EPA had to be created was that manufacturers thought nothing of destroying the environment. And customers thought nothing of it either, because it didn't hurt them. People did vote with their pocketbooks. They voted for cheap products.

Relying on a large mass of people to 'do the right thing' out of moral or ethical consideration is bound to lead to failure.