Chemical Spill Affects Nine West Virginia Counties

[JimBowie1958]

A whole bunch of people. But had the Federal Government stepped and demanded done what should have been done to prevent this, there would have been instant crying and whining about the government overstepping the bounds.

When the feds over step their bounds it is not whining to point that out. When anyone else 'oversteps their bounds' it is usually a crime, but that's the perk of being the top dog, I guess. Still shouldn't happen.

There should be people held accountable for this. Not just fines for the companies, but managers and CEO's serving prison terms, as well as the people in the government taking money from these people.

Yeah, I get a feeling this has some cronyism behind it; that is becoming an epidemic IMO.

But who can put the genie back in the bottle when everyone wants those corporate political donations?

Well, for those that continue to whine about "government intervention" - let this be a lesson....without someone making sure that corporations are doing what they need to do to keep from endangering people, corporations will continue to cut corners and do whatever they have to save money, and then we are faced with such incidents as the BP spill, this one and others.

Well, while government regulation is needed, there is a Goldilocks zone of not too much and not too little.

With the crony capitalism going on today we have the people getting too much regulation and the connected businessmen getting little to none at all.

While we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater, a government that can do anything it damned well wants to anyone if they designate them terrorists is tyrannical no matter how many people they 'help'.

 

[Mertex]

...without someone making sure that corporations are doing what they need to do to keep from endangering people, corporations will continue to cut corners and do whatever they have to save money...

Exactly. The reason the US government has functioned so poorly as of late is we cannot agree on anything. We actually believe Republicans and Democrats are widely different. When this happens, it a bad time for everyone--except those who benefit from gridlock, which obviously corporations and politicians do. Gov't officials benefit by not making the effort to compromise. Instead they remain resolved about issues long after opposing arguments are made. This is a problem of both sides. Corps. stand to benefit because nothing new is introduced or redacted in policy and thus they continue business as usual.

I do believe that Democrats and Republicans have many differences, and lately it seems that each party decides to go against what the other party is for, just to be opposite. Oftentimes not cognizant of the fact that we're wasting time and the country is the one that ends up suffering......example, Ted Cruz causing the government to shut down. He knew that Obama was not going to agree to de-fund the ACA, but yet, he didn't care.

That brings us to the real problem: business as usual is bad for you, me, the economy and our only planet (of course there are benefits to business as usual but there are plenty of faults like this all-too-regular incident of improperly regulated facilities and chemicals). As long as we can convince one another that our petty political sophistry is the real issue, we will continue to ignore the big picture: whether corporate, government, or personal, we no longer act according to the good of humanity. No, we act on the basis of ego which is often money or personal gain--this is no way to make rational decisions. As a result these instances will not cease by any means. We can go ahead and kickstart the countdown clock till another incident drowning out life over profit.

But this is where the two parties do differ much....Dems are for regulating businesses so that citizens are not taken advantage of or hurt, while Reps are more in favor of coddling businesses because they think that because they create jobs they should be able to do as they please.

 

[mamooth]

This is a containment issue. You think the company is unregulated? You think any business/company/industry is unregulated?

That company hadn't seen a regulator for over 20 years, so for all effective purposes, it was unregulated. Regs mean nothing if they aren't enforced.

 

[Mertex]

When the feds over step their bounds it is not whining to point that out. When anyone else 'oversteps their bounds' it is usually a crime, but that's the perk of being the top dog, I guess. Still shouldn't happen.



Yeah, I get a feeling this has some cronyism behind it; that is becoming an epidemic IMO.

But who can put the genie back in the bottle when everyone wants those corporate political donations?

Well, for those that continue to whine about "government intervention" - let this be a lesson....without someone making sure that corporations are doing what they need to do to keep from endangering people, corporations will continue to cut corners and do whatever they have to save money, and then we are faced with such incidents as the BP spill, this one and others.

Well, while government regulation is needed, there is a Goldilocks zone of not too much and not too little.

Exactly.....but most conservatives are willing to kick the government out of everything, and the government is the only one in a position to be able to apply and enforce any regulations, whether many or few.

With the crony capitalism going on today we have the people getting too much regulation and the connected businessmen getting little to none at all.

I suspect that there is much "payola" going around, and we need to figure out why those government agencies responsible for regulating are not doing their job and expose them.....or expose the fact that someone has decreased the regulations and expose the culprits.

While we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater, a government that can do anything it damned well wants to anyone if they designate them terrorists is tyrannical no matter how many people they 'help'.

That's true, but if our Congress chooses to de-regulate, then we can't really blame the ones that are benefitting even if they are hurting innocent people.

 

[gnarlylove]

But this is where the two parties do differ much....Dems are for regulating businesses so that citizens are not taken advantage of or hurt, while Reps are more in favor of coddling businesses because they think that because they create jobs they should be able to do as they please.

I'm less inclined to think their words have meaning as opposed to their actions. In other words people can differ widely, but everyone eats shits and sleeps. Similarly, when the Dems and Reps say they stand for reducing the income gap and assuring us they will give it due consideration respectively; it doesn't change the fact that both sides de facto are consistently supporting broad policy that accumulates wealth at the top. This is precisely opposite of the rhetoric used because without pandering to MOST OF AMERICA you have no chance to be elected. So deception is big business for political leaders.

Moreover they accept huge contributions from among the wealthy class. This binds politics especially the "noble" leader with corporate interest which ultimately always conflicts with real human interest (too bad legally they are the same person).

Obama is deeper than any president before him in accepting billions in contributions over the years just to campaign! It's largely due to the times and the massive private spending that goes on, not his fault. Oh poor Obama having to accept all that campaign money to be president. yeah, it's also too bad spuriously regulated markets or nearly unregulated markets is our only choice. Markets concentrate wealth and so if Democrats really give a fuck about the human suffering and hunger insecurity (which few politically engaged persons really get) then we would see some concerted attempt to push against the lack of regulation and how sickening our income gap is. Don't get me wrong people make a note of it but it's mostly an intellectual point to satisfy us and keep us patiently waiting for Gadot: but he never shows.

if we want something enough we can get it done but neither side is taking any leadership. we could have eradicated poverty in America years ago with the insane military budget but the problem is we prioritize oil and deception and profit over humanity. the real tragedy that over half of America will live in poverty or near poverty for at least 1 year.

My point is to warn you that politics has almost fully succeeded from applied ethics and has nothing to do with the good of the people. It is a craps shoot for those with money to buy up the political property lying around. Whatever nudges towards civil advancement occur, they turn out to be efforts that are crushed by monied interest. Time and tme and time again. So what kinda of system do we have? A plutocracy and both parties secretly like it. Noam Chomsky is indisputable on this point.

Plus, 3 day work week with constant private invitations and funding as well as a potential 40 year gig is a cushy job that no one wants to erode through tax hikes on themselves, dem or rep. Trusting that either party will be our answer is quite naive. One may be less evil than the other but neither honeslty give two shits that say for example bankruptcy laws support wild credit card expenditures but penalize overly expensive student loans.