Regulations and government.

[OhioRules]

Originally Posted by Dane_in_LA

Dude, you have presented a youtube video with a guy saying things were much better in the 1830s, then saying "he isn't much of a historian". As I said - naive.

What he said is historical fact.

He's an economist. He was kinda joking around about the historian part.

He was clearly showing how private enterprise took better care of the environment than government.

Any of this can be verified via other sources. Including historians.

[OhioRules]

Originally Posted by JasonF

Something tells me you'll change your tune when the regulations go away and the industrial sites around your house start dumping toxic waste into the river and soil and start polluting the air. And we know that's what they'll do, because it's what they did before they were regulated, and they continue to try to get away with it even with regulations in place.

Where do you think the chemical companies dump waste right now? In the rivers. The government owned rivers. The government allows them to do it. Less regulation aint gonna change that, unless you privatize the river.

[Dane_in_LA]

Originally Posted by OhioRules

And they are still operating.

If government really cared they would have shut them down.

I hope not. I hope they're operating with a microscope up their mineshaft as regards safety. I'm not holding my breath, though.

I also like the way you found 2 or 3 examples of companies that ignored the rules. I think there are 40 million incorporated companies in the U.S. It shouldn't be hard to find a couple bad actors, while ignoring the tens of millions that are actually practicing good business principles.

The bad eggs spoil it for the rest, on that we agree.

It amazes me that people think companies are willing to kill people to make a buck. Normally killing people costs more money for a company than its worth.

Generally, they don't want to kill people. Doesn't mean that they're not at times quite happy to run some serious risks - through callousness or ignorance, it almost doesn't matter. UCIL didn't want to kill 3,000 people that day. It was just too expensive to design and run a plant that ruled out the possibility, as opposed to one that had, say, a 95% chance of stopping it. Unfortunately for the people of Bhopal, UCIL was not lucky that day.

How many deaths in the 20th Century because of capitalism? Not very many. How many because of government? At least 200 million. The same governments you trust to regulate capitalism. It's naive and foolish thinking to think government is out to do anything except to feed its own power.

As opposed to capitalists, who shy away from the slightest bit of power - I've noticed. Government I at least have a hand in electing. (Well, not I. But that's another story.)