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Unless, I missed something, the article in your original post didn't have a lot of details, there was no case of incompetence detailed. I could just as well assume that the gov't is underfunded and doesn't have nearly enough regulators to perform their assigned tasks. If that's the case, then blaming them in retrospect is ludicrous.
Look, I don't like unnecessarily large gov't or paying more taxes any more than anyone else. But when you "starve the beast"... this is what you get. You get what you pay for. So in that sense, yes, the taxpayers (voters) are culpable too. Get the rich to pay their fair share -- even just as in the days of Ronald Reagan, for example -- and we'll have a much more capable gov't able to protect the environment. I'm not a "tree-hugger", but if you think corporations won't destroy our Earth for a few $$$, you're sadly mistaken.
The professor didn't speak of incompetence. He spoke of the government not doing what it was supposed to do, which is the same thing as incompetence.
The state bureaucracy is at an all time high for numbers of people working there. The problem isn't that they don't hire enough people. They hire too many people, and misuse them. Gov. Caperton started the bureaucracy building nonsense as a means to pump up the number of paychecks being spent in Charleston, when he created a whole new layer of government there... umbrella organizations to watch other umbrella organizations. The system functioned just fine before that. Now, it functions more poorly but there are more people involved.
Joe Joe continued the pork trend by doing the same thing with higher education. Another whole bureaucratic structure that does absolutely nothing the older, more streamlined one didn't do before it, but which costs a lot more money to operate... then they whine because there isn't enough money to go around and the institutions are forced to endure budget cuts. The money is going into paychecks in Charleston. It isn't being spent where it should be... educating the students.
All these new people working, and they didn't have anybody who would take a look at the safety of storage tanks holding hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic material? That fits my definition of incompetence in state government. Feel free to offer evidence that isn't so.
Unless, I missed something, the article in your original post didn't have a lot of details, there was no case of incompetence detailed. I could just as well assume that the gov't is underfunded and doesn't have nearly enough regulators to perform their assigned tasks. If that's the case, then blaming them in retrospect is ludicrous.
They are not so underfunded that they couldn't have checked a chemical tank along the river for that many years. They have enough money to perform roadside stops which is stopping people doing absolutely nothing illegal but they couldn't find the money to inspect this tank in the last decade?
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Look, I don't like unnecessarily large gov't or paying more taxes any more than anyone else. But when you "starve the beast"... this is what you get. You get what you pay for. So in that sense, yes, the taxpayers (voters) are culpable too. Get the rich to pay their fair share -- even just as in the days of Ronald Reagan, for example -- and we'll have a much more capable gov't able to protect the environment. I'm not a "tree-hugger", but if you think corporations won't destroy our Earth for a few $$$, you're sadly mistaken.
The government will destroy to achieve their goals also.
This company is going to be sued out of business. We have no option where the government is concerned. Maybe some of the trillions the government has gave to Wall Street the last 8 years could have been used?
They are not so underfunded that they couldn't have checked a chemical tank along the river for that many years. They have enough money to perform roadside stops which is stopping people doing absolutely nothing illegal but they couldn't find the money to inspect this tank in the last decade?
The government will destroy to achieve their goals also.
This company is going to be sued out of business. We have no option where the government is concerned. Maybe some of the trillions the government has gave to Wall Street the last 8 years could have been used?
Did you want the government too take money earmarked for highway safety and send the state police to inspect the tanks? The point is that the State Police doing roadside stops has nothing to do with the Department of Environmental Protection doing tank inspections, neither of which have anything to do with the Department of Defense (federal) doing drone strikes.
If the politicians has the best interests of the people at heart, the DEP would indeed have been inspecting these tanks all along, people wouldn't be driving drunk creating a need for roadside stops, and our troops would bring all the drones home and park them somewhere.
Did you want the government too take money earmarked for highway safety and send the state police to inspect the tanks?
Checkpoints have very little to do with highway safety. The last one here netted zero DUI arrests.
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The point is that the State Police doing roadside stops has nothing to do with the Department of Environmental Protection doing tank inspections, neither of which have anything to do with the Department of Defense (federal) doing drone strikes.
Both are examples of funds that could be far better used. We could likely end the reasons all together for the tanks if we were not wasting billions of dollars killing people and blowing up their countries.
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If the politicians has the best interests of the people at heart, the DEP would indeed have been inspecting these tanks all along, people wouldn't be driving drunk creating a need for roadside stops, and our troops would bring all the drones home and park them somewhere.
So now you are blaming the government also? That's the point. Both are to blame.
Checkpoints have very little to do with highway safety. The last one here netted zero DUI arrests.
Both are examples of funds that could be far better used. We could likely end the reasons all together for the tanks if we were not wasting billions of dollars killing people and blowing up their countries.
So now you are blaming the government also? That's the point. Both are to blame.
It is fair to place a lot of blame on the politicians. It is not fair to blame the DEP for failing to enforce laws that were never created by the legislature. Both are part of the government. Which part do you blame?
It is fair to place a lot of blame on the politicians. It is not fair to blame the DEP for failing to enforce laws that were never created by the legislature. Both are part of the government. Which part do you blame?
I blame both the government and the business. Specifics are not as important. The company will hopefully go bankrupt and officials that sat on their thumbs should be replaced.
I am no bankruptcy lawyer by any means, and will leave that to those that are, but I read a few days after the spill a detailed article about this company, Freedom, after they filed for bankpruptcy. This article identified all the "players" in this outfit. Keep in mind there are a lot of LLCs involved - legal shields for personal liability or liability of one co. that a sister or parent company might otherwise be liable for. The bottom line is that there is some rich dude up in Pennsylvania who owns this company (as well as a lot of other LLCs related to this operation, and others) The company that leaked, Freedom (PA rich dude's co.) declared bankruptcy. Then the "rich dude" forms another LLC which has made a motion to allow emergency funding to keep the Freedom operations ongoing pending the bankruptcy proceedings. (in other words, rich dude pays himself to allow himself to keep raking in profits - at least until the bankruptcy is done) Once the reorganization is done, "Rich dude" continues raking in profits, avoiding all liability for the damages this carpet bagger has wrought. Cool huh? This is how corporations and the very rich keep making money no matter the dire situation, which would bring average, poor schmucks like us to ruin. You and I can't do this - we don't have the money to hire the smart lawyers who know all the legal loopholes.
I am no bankruptcy lawyer by any means, and will leave that to those that are, but I read a few days after the spill a detailed article about this company, Freedom, after they filed for bankpruptcy. This article identified all the "players" in this outfit. Keep in mind there are a lot of LLCs involved - legal shields for personal liability or liability of one co. that a sister or parent company might otherwise be liable for. The bottom line is that there is some rich dude up in Pennsylvania who owns this company (as well as a lot of other LLCs related to this operation, and others) The company that leaked, Freedom (PA rich dude's co.) declared bankruptcy. Then the "rich dude" forms another LLC which has made a motion to allow emergency funding to keep the Freedom operations ongoing pending the bankruptcy proceedings. (in other words, rich dude pays himself to allow himself to keep raking in profits - at least until the bankruptcy is done) Once the reorganization is done, "Rich dude" continues raking in profits, avoiding all liability for the damages this carpet bagger has wrought. Cool huh? This is how corporations and the very rich keep making money no matter the dire situation, which would bring average, poor schmucks like us to ruin. You and I can't do this - we don't have the money to hire the smart lawyers who know all the legal loopholes.
Yea, i caught that too. The way it sounds, is he is able to keep his cash flow coming in by creating his own credit union per se, while filing for bankruptcy under the name of "Freedom Industries"
More than likely there is a lot more involved than some rich dude in PA. These corporations have interlocking directorates and the like that probably go to financial centers in NYC or Chicago. That is the negative side of corporations. On the other hand, there is no doubt that without them massive capital investment on a scale necessary to create large numbers of jobs would not be possible, so you have to take the bad with the good. They are legal "entities", and are thus provided with every protection available to individuals all over the country in commercial law.
More than likely there is a lot more involved than some rich dude in PA. These corporations have interlocking directorates and the like that probably go to financial centers in NYC or Chicago. That is the negative side of corporations. On the other hand, there is no doubt that without them massive capital investment on a scale necessary to create large numbers of jobs would not be possible, so you have to take the bad with the good. They are legal "entities", and are thus provided with every protection available to individuals all over the country in commercial law.
You are correct - it may go much further than the guy in PA. It is likely he is a "pawn" per se of further parent corporations of which we have no knowledge. And yes, it's true that this corporate structure creates most of the employment in America which allows us "schmucks" to earn our bread. My point also, however, is that if you or I created havoc and massive damages through our negligence, we too would declare bankruptcy, and have the debt expunged - but our credit would be ruined, we couldn't get a mortgage, and would be turned down for many high paying jobs that require bonding of some sort. However, the very wealthy just "keep on truckin" Not saying we need to change the laws, they are what they are, but those of means always escape the disastrous consequences that the common folk would face. Upon further reflection, it is really the very rich, and the very poor who suffer no undo consequences from their actions. In America today, it is best to either be filthy rich...or dirt poor. The poor also face little consequence for their actions. Think about auto accidents - a welfare recipient without insurance can kill fathers, mothers, children, and they don't pay a lick - maybe a fine for not having insurance, which they don't pay. Think about retirement, nursing homes - the rich can pay it - no problem. The poor have Medicaid which foots the bills.. Us chumps who are in the middle class are the losers - we really are.
Last edited by RVAtoCNC; 01-30-2014 at 07:20 PM..
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