Saturday, March 18, 2006

The good life of the corporation

A bag of dope tosses you in prison. How about these?

When a gasoline spill and fiery explosion killed three young people in Washington state, officials announced a record penalty against a gas pipeline company: $3 million to send the message that such tragedies "must never happen again."

When nuclear labs around the country were found exposing workers to radiation and breaking other safety rules, assessments totaling $2.5 million were quickly ordered.

When coal firms' violations were blamed for deaths, injuries and risks to miners from Alabama to West Virginia, they were slapped with more than $1.3 million in penalties.

What happened next with these no-nonsense enforcement efforts? Not much. The pipeline tab was eventually reduced by 92 percent, the labs' assessments were waived as soon as they were issued, and the mine penalties largely went unpaid....

Read the rest. It goes on and on. Another form of the corruption at the heart of the way this country does business and creates double standards for those who make a tidy sum. It's extremely difficult to find a way to argue that this is in the public good. Try it in good faith. When you find you can't do it, what conclusion do you make?

2 comments:

MT said...

"The enforcement of fines aids our enemies, meanwhile hurting everyone who loves freedom." Wow. I've concluded you're a freedom hating terrorist, helmut. Thanks for the interesting exercise. You're right, though, that was difficult. Gives me a lot more sympathy for those White House speech writers.

helmut said...

Good try. But you borrowed the template from the White House to do it. Those guys are indeed geniuses. Wish I could write the ever-giving one-liner and have everyone laugh at it every time.