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It was an excellent book, gripping at times. The subject of the book is an action commenced by residents of Woburn, Massachusetts, a working class town somewhat near Boston against the operators of two plants. The suits were triggered by the dumping of toxic waste and a cluster of leukemia and a variety of other illnesses.
While the case was settled successfully, the book focused on the obstruction, verging on perjury, of the corporate defendants. Their tactics ruined the lead attorneys' life as well as the lives of residents.
The "devils advocate" question for me is whether the people with Woburn are better off with their legal victory, and the polluting plants shuttered. That question makes me wonder.
It is at the core of the stance on Tariff's in a global economy. Where nation States, with less, or no regulations on pollution, or employee safety, have a massive competitive edge to corner the market, and put any and all industry in regulated nations, OUT OF BUSINESS!
Tariff's, or No Regulations.
Teaching competition and the big difference in winning and losing, at a very early age, will make the nation stronger in the long run.
This, participation awards, is counter-productive to prosperity and success.
Why be better than the rest? VALUE!
I'm with you on this. Instead of outsourcing to third world countries, which means the loss of American jobs as well as taking advantage of poor foreigners being exposed to unsafe work conditions, let's try to find another way.
I agree. Often I believe that over-regulation hurts good businesses... but if you are causing harm, then you should have to change or be shut down. However, defining what is "harmful" can get dicey.
Polluting industries need to be shut down, or moved off-planet (if the output is that valuable). We only have the one planet - & micro plastics - for instance - are turning up in Artic waters.
China momentarily has a labor cost advantage, which is slipping away. But if their population is riddled with lung & BP problems, & others yet undetermined, what is the point of piling up trade profits?
We - all the industrialized countries - need to capture the costs associated with clean water & air, healthy food - & pollutant effects on disease, lifespan, births, early & preventable deaths & so on. Those costs need to be factored into economic models - if we choose to pursue profit over the health of our society, that needs to be policy that's thrashed out in public - not taken in smoke-filled boardrooms somewhere.
Gated communities are a fantasy, when it comes to environmental degradation. The water cycle & oxygen cycle & many other natural processes run regardless of human intervention - & artificially reproducing their outputs is a costly venture @ this point, & not totally an accurate copy, either.
If a business can't do business without poisoning the air and water it should be shut down.
Read up on the dioxin spewing superfund site in Houston.
Just another cost of capitalism. Endanger the health of citizens while you employ them.
There are some things people just shouldn't do for money.
Quote:
Originally Posted by don1945
************The entire town was black, trees couldn't grow, and people and children were having strange illnesses, and everyone had a cough.
So, the EPA came in and tried to make them clean it up. You would think people would be happy, but mothers were out protesting the EPA involvement because it was going to affect their husbands jobs ! Here were mothers, who should put the health of their children first, but they were more concerned about a paycheck. They were willing to sell out their own kids for money.
That is why the government has to be involved in trying to protect us and our planet, left to our own devices, we would poison ourselves and everyone else, in the name of having a job. That is also why it is a horrible move for Trump to try to roll back some of these very needed regulations.
The first thing people want to know is how they're going to pay their rent or mortgage and property tax payments. Many people's view is that the EPA is not going to tell them how to meet their upcoming payments.
I have a son who is "special needs," i.e. high functioning end of autism spectrum. If he were alive 30 years ago or so I could have sent him down to the factory gate of the GM plant in North Tarrytown, NY to get a job. Now he's graduating a reputable college for high functioning special needs people and the factory gates of the Northeast are basically closed. What then?
Personally I'd favor some middle-ground solution but see below on why that won't happen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pknopp
Do you ask from the viewpoint of someone that read the book or the one with leukemia?
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Originally Posted by Catgirl64
You can get another job. You can't get another life.
People are great at thinking emotionally rather than rationally.
Remember when that river in Ohio was on fire, it was so polluted? Remember when LA was covered in a shroud of smog? Remember when the bald eagle was nearly extinct from DDT? All of these environmental disasters have been turned around through government regulation, yet here we are with 4% unemployment, so don't tell me its a choice between jobs or the environment.
What is missing is the higher-paid manufacturing jobs. And it was the Cuyahoga River that caught fire.
The first thing people want to know is how they're going to pay their rent or mortgage and property tax payments. Many people's view is that the EPA is not going to tell them how to meet their upcoming payments.
I have a son who is "special needs," i.e. high functioning end of autism spectrum. If he were alive 30 years ago or so I could have sent him down to the factory gate of the GM plant in North Tarrytown, NY to get a job. Now he's graduating a reputable college for high functioning special needs people and the factory gates of the Northeast are basically closed. What then?
Personally I'd favor some middle-ground solution but see below on why that won't happen.
People are great at thinking emotionally rather than rationally.
Are you disputing that it easier to replace one's job than one's life? That isn't an emotional reaction, it's a fact, unless you are aware of some new scientific development that has yet to make the news. I am not in favor of shutting industries down, but I am in favor of preventing them from poisoning the communities they serve and the people who work for them.
This is why outsourcing our production and manufacturing to poor foreign countries is so immoral. If it can’t be done without harming the environment we have to do without or find another way. Not send the job to Mexico so it pollutes their environment and poisons their children.
Mark the calendar. I agree with you. It's wrong to ask the poor in other countries to do jobs that are too "dirty" to do here, as if those folks are some expendable resource put on Earth for our exploitation.
Are you disputing that it easier to replace one's job than one's life? That isn't an emotional reaction, it's a fact, unless you are aware of some new scientific development that has yet to make the news. I am not in favor of shutting industries down, but I am in favor of preventing them from poisoning the communities they serve and the people who work for them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Catgirl64
Mark the calendar. I agree with you. It's wrong to ask the poor in other countries to do jobs that are too "dirty" to do here, as if those folks are some expendable resource put on Earth for our exploitation.
These are the definition of emotional responses. They answer nothing about how manufacturing should occur and/or earn their livelihoods.
These are the definition of emotional responses. They answer nothing about how manufacturing should occur and/or earn their livelihoods.
Let's hear your suggestions.
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Let the sun shine in
They were willing to sell out their own kids for money.
