Dark Side of Unfettered Capitalism; Just a Reminder to you folks under 50

[JimBowie1958]

We had this taught to us when kids and in college. Working class people must NEVER FORGET what the worst corporations would do if they had no regs or oversight at all.

Johnstown Flood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Johnstown Flood (or Great Flood of 1889 as it became known locally) occurred on May 31, 1889. It was the result of the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam situated on the Little Conemaugh River 14 miles (23 km) upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA, made worse by several days of extremely heavy rainfall. The dam's failure unleashed a torrent of 20 million tons of water (4.8 billion U.S. gallons; 18.2 million cubic meters; 18.2 billion litres) from the reservoir known as Lake Conemaugh. With a volumetric flow rate that temporarily equalled that of the Mississippi River,[1] the flood killed 2,209 people[2] and caused US$17 million of damage (the equivalent of about $425 million in 2012 dollars).

It was the first major disaster relief effort handled by the new American Red Cross, led by Clara Barton. Support for victims came from all over the United States and 18 foreign countries. After the flood, survivors suffered a series of legal defeats in their attempts to recover damages from the dam's owners. Public indignation at that failure prompted the development in American law changing a fault-based regime to strict liability....

 

[JimBowie1958]

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was one of the deadliest industrial disasters in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history. It was also one of the deadliest disasters that occurred in New York City – after the burning of the General Slocum on June 15, 1904 – until the destruction of the World Trade Center 90 years later. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers, who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women aged sixteen to twenty-three;[1][2][3] of the victims whose ages are known, the oldest victim was Providenza Panno at 43, and the youngest were 14-year-olds Kate Leone and "Sara" Rosaria Maltese.[4]

Because the managers had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits – a common practice at the time to prevent pilferage and unauthorized breaks[5] – many of the workers who could not escape the burning building jumped from the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors to the streets below. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers.

The factory was located in the Asch Building, at 23–29 Washington Place, now known as the Brown Building, which has been designated a National Historic Landmark and a New York City landmark.[6]

 

[JimBowie1958]

2012 Dhaka fire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2012 Dhaka fire broke out on 24 November 2012, in the Tazreen Fashion factory in the Ashulia district on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh.[3] At least 117 people were confirmed dead in the fire, and at least 200 were injured,[4] making it the deadliest factory fire in the nation's history.[5] The fire was initially presumed to be caused by an electrical short circuit, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina suspected that the fire had been arson and an act of "sabotage"....

Opened in 2009, the Tazreen Fashion factory, part of the Tuba group, employed 1,630 workers, who produced T-shirts, polo shirts and jackets.[6] The factory produced clothes for various companies, including the US Marines,[7][8] Dutch company C&A, American company Walmart and Hong Kong company Li & Fung.[6][9] The Tuba group is a major exporter of garments from Bangladesh to the U.S., Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, whose clients include Walmart, Carrefour and IKEA.[10]

According to Tazreen Fashions' web site, the factory was flagged in May 2011 with an "orange" grade by a Walmart ethical sourcing official for "violations and/or conditions which were deemed to be high risk". The notice said that any factory receiving three such assessments in two years would not receive Walmart orders for one year.[11] The orange rating was the first the company had received,[10] and was followed by a "yellow" medium risk rating the following August, which pertained to the factory where the fire occurred.[10] On November 25, a Walmart spokesman said he was "so far unable to confirm that Tazreen is a supplier to Walmart nor if the document referenced in the article is in fact from Walmart";[11] the company subsequently terminated its relationship with Tazreen, stating that "The Tazreen factory [in Ashulia] was not authorized to produce merchandise for Walmart. A supplier subcontracted work to this factory without authorization and in direct violation of our policies."[10] Walmart critics claim that the company knew about unsafe conditions and blocked efforts to improve them.[12] According to The New York Times, Walmart played a significant role in blocking reforms to have retailers pay more for apparel in order to help Bangladesh factories improve safety standards. Walmart director of ethical sourcing, Sridevi Kalavakolanu, asserted that the company would not agree to pay the higher cost, as such improvements in electrical and fire safety would be a "very extensive and costly modification" and that "it is not financially feasible for the brands to make such investments."[13]

Fire[edit]

The fire, presumably caused by an electrical short circuit, started on the ground floor of the nine-story factory, trapping the workers.[3] Because of the large amount of fabrics and yarn in the factory, the fire quickly spread to other floors, complicating firefighting operations.[4] The fire burned for more than seventeen hours before firefighters succeeded in extinguishing it.[11]

Most victims were found on the second floor, where at least 69 bodies were recovered.[14] Witnesses reported that many workers had been unable to escape through the narrow exits.[5] Twelve of the victims died leaping from windows to escape the flames, some of them dying of their injuries after being taken to area hospitals.[14] Other workers who had escaped to the roof of the building were successfully rescued.[14] The fire department's operations manager stated that the factory lacked emergency exits that led out of the building. Of the building's three staircases, all three led through the ground floor, making them unusable in the fire.[14]

A crowd of thousands of relatives and onlookers gathered at the scene, and army soldiers were deployed to maintain order.

 

[JimBowie1958]

Proslavery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The famous Mudsill Speech (1858) of James Henry Hammond and John C. Calhoun's Speech in the US Senate (1837) articulated the pro-slavery political argument during the period at which the ideology was at its most mature (late 1830s - early 1860s). These pro-slavery theorists championed a class-sensitive view of American antebellum society.[citation needed] They felt that the bane of many past societies was the existence of the class of the landless poor. Southern pro-slavery theorists felt that this class of landless poor was inherently transient and easily manipulated, and as such often destabilized society as a whole. Thus, the greatest threat to democracy was seen as coming from class warfare that destabilized a nation's economy, society, government, and threatened the peaceful and harmonious implementation of laws.

This theory supposes that there must be, and supposedly always has been, a lower class for the upper classes to rest upon: the metaphor of a mudsill theory being that the lowest threshold (mudsill) supports the foundation for a building. This theory was used by its composer Senator and Governor James Henry Hammond, a wealthy southern plantation owner, to justify what he saw as the willingness of the non-whites to perform menial work which enabled the higher classes to move civilization forward. With this in mind, any efforts for class or racial equality that ran counter to the theory would inevitably run counter to civilization itself.

Southern pro-slavery theorists asserted that slavery eliminated this problem by elevating all free people to the status of "citizen", and removing the landless poor (the "mudsill") from the political process entirely by means of enslavement. Thus, those who would most threaten economic stability and political harmony were not allowed to undermine a democratic society, because they were not allowed to participate in it. So, in the mindset of pro-slavery men, slavery was for protecting the common good of slaves, masters, and society as a whole.[citation needed]

These and other arguments fought for the rights of the propertied elite against what were perceived as threats from the abolitionists, lower classes and non-whites to gain higher standards of living. It was directly used to advocate slavery in the rhetoric of John C. Calhoun and other pre-Civil War Democrats, who were struggling to maintain their grip on the Southern economy.[citation needed] They saw the abolition of slavery as a threat to their powerful new Southern market: a market that revolved almost entirely around the plantation system and was supported by the use of black slaves.

 

[JimBowie1958]

The Dark Side of American Capitalism by Gary Giroux

Top Ten Villains in the Subprime Loan Crisis

Of course we didn't dodge the mortgage mess. We lost money, then made more than we lost because of shorts.

Alan (I Am Not to Blame) Greenspan & the Federal Reserve
Through most of his long tenure as Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan was labeled one of the best chairmen ever. His reputation began to crack when the tech bubble burst, the end of the go-go era of stock price and economic growth, exacerbated by the Fed’s cheap money policy. Greenspan’s monetary policy proved too accommodating for “irrational exuberance.” His reputation crumbled with a combination of really cheap money in the 21th century which fueled the housing bubble and his refusal to regulate the mortgage market. Greenspan’s replacement, Ben Bernanke did not depart from Greenspan’s easy money, non-regulation policy until the bubble burst; the Fed finally passed regulations in mid-2008.

Richard (Delusional Dick) Fuld & Lehman Brothers
Investment banks, with Lehman the only one unfortunate enough to go belly up, were central to structured finance to deceptively package super-risky loans as high-quality bonds. The quant wizards of wall street developed the vehicles to turn toxic assets to credit gems, or at least give that appearance. Lehman and the rest developed an insatiable appetite for risky loans, fueling increasing amounts of questionable, sometimes fraudulent loans when the evidence of real problems was growing. What’s really amazing is they drank their own kool-aid. They kept huge portfolios of toxic assets on their books as investments (at least some because they could not sell them), while simultaneously increasing leverage to extraordinary levels. Lehman had huge positions in lower tranches of subprime mortgage CDOs and wrote credit default swaps. Lehman declared bankruptcy in September 2008. CEO Fuld was one of several Lehman execs to receive New York grand jury subpoenas for securities fraud late in 2008.

Angelo (Mad Mortgage) Mozilo & Countrywide
Countrywide Financial was the largest mortgage company before its collapse and originated 25% of all US mortgages in 2006, including huge amounts of subprime loans, often using deceptive or predatory practices. Since they sold off the loans quickly, they paid little attention to proper due diligence and documentation—which had been standard practices for decades. The get-the-most-bucks-quick strategy meant signing up as many mortgagees as possible, whether qualified or not, with minimum documentation. CEO Mozilo was known for his “Friends of Angelo” VIP program for favorable mortgages to powerful politicians. Bank of America acquired Countrywide in 2008. Attorneys general in several states sued Countrywide and others for unfair lending practices. The SEC filed fraud charges against Countrywide and Mozilo in 2009.

Bond Rating Agencies: Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s: You Can’t Blow Up the Financial World Without Us
It’s the bond ratings that make structured finance-created bonds (aka: mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, etc.) work. (Note that only a handful of corporations have Moody’s Aaa ratings, and fewer than half the rated companies get investment-grade ratings.) The MBS investors buy the ratings rather than the underlying loan portfolio, which they cannot observe. This became a big revenue sources for Moody’s and the other rating agencies (and a real conflict of interests because there are few firms issuing these bonds). The top tranches of the structured bonds got Aaa ratings, while the lowest usually got Baa—still investment grade. Even before the bursting home bubble, these Baa bonds were defaulting at a relatively high rate. After the bust, default rates exploded. For some reason, Moody’s models envisioned housing prices only going up—the models were not changed until 2007. Investors lost big, but Moody’s & S&P were still pocketing the revenues. Because of the high ratings and regulations encouraging investment grade bonds for many investor classes, the bonds were sold around the world in vast quantities.

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, Twin Towers of Terror
A bad housing debacle happened during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) was established in 1938 to provide liquidity for the mortgage market. Fannie was chartered as Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) in 1968, turning it into public companies with something of a public policy mission. The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) was created in 1970 as a competitor to Fannie. Fannie and Freddie are the biggest buyers of home mortgages and hold or guaranty about half of all US mortgages; they were encouraged by Congress to buy subprime mortgages, including those with little equity and minimal documentation. This was a high risk strategy, apparently with little concern for what would happen is the housing market collapsed. Unfortunately, the GSE execs had the same incentives for oversize pay packages as the heads of any giant corporations and rewarded themselves abundantly. Various accounting scandals became part of the compensation story in the 21th century. The two GSEs collapsed and placed in conservatorship by the Federal Housing Finance Agency in September, 2008.

Housing & Urban Development, other federal agencies: The Bad Guys Need Us
Congress and the various administrations (especially Bush and to a lesser extent Clinton—but administrations beginning at least with Ford have some level of responsibility) get into the picture in a variety of ways, mainly bad in this analysis. Congress encouraged sub-prime loans to allow more people into their own homes, especially with revisions to the Community Reinvestment Act changes of 1995. They also supported Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when they were over-leveraged and various aggressive earnings practices were discovered. Basically, federally elected officials ignored, in some cases made worse, considerable problems that became more and more obvious. Add federal regulators: Various regulations exist on the books that could have mitigated the damage, perhaps have stopped the scandal cold. For a variety of reason, these were not enforced. In 2004 the SEC removed the rule requiring investment banks to limit leverage to 15 times capital (leverage proceeded to double, dramatically increasing risk).

Bond Insurance & AIG: Super Goofs
How does an investor protect his- or herself from possible bond default? Bond insurance. What could be safer than high-yield subprime mortgage bonds backed by credit default swaps (CDS)? AIG sold CDSs by the billions without much if any consideration of the risks involved. ABX, an index of subprime mortgages, became available in 2006 and from 100 to 60 early in 2007, then collapsed to the 20s. No one considered the ramifications of a $60 trillion credit default swap market, especially when U.S. mortgages totaled at most $12 trillion. The feds bailed out AIG to the tune of hundreds of billions, seemingly the most clueless of the perps.

Home Buyers—From Suckers to Perps
Most subprime borrowers should never have taken out mortgages. Some were duped by predatory practices; some viewed home equity as a convenient ATM machine; some were speculating, expecting to be bailed out by continually rising housing prices; some were crooks.

Structured Finance Quants, Creators of the Modern Financial Dark Side
These new credit investment vehicles evolved from their beginnings in the 1970s to a multi-trillion dollar world market in the 21st century. The bonds are backed by tranches (slices) of risky assets based on relative default potential. The schemes are based on technical math models, incomprehensible to mere mortals. These were hailed as a great innovation, providing market liquidity for a multitude of lending classes and a technique to enhance both yields to investors and substantial profits to originators. Accounting magic even allowed them to disappear from the bank’s balance sheet. Unfortunately, the real risks were not properly evaluated by the quants or anyone else. It turns out transforming crappy loans into high-tech bonds result in really risky high-tech bonds.

Lloyd (“I’m Doing God’s Work&#8221 Blankfein & Goldman Sachs
Goldman often gets kudos in the press as the one investment bank on top of the subprime crisis, actually making money out of the panic. [Michael Lewis (2010) makes the case Goldman was late to make their “short sub-prime” move, but beat out the other banks—making them less incompetent.] As the leading investment bank saving itself at the expense of other banks and customers, Goldman gets high marks as the most unethical. Thanks to Treasury’s supporting AIG (with former CEO Paulson at its head), Goldman got paid 100 cents on the dollar for their credit default swaps. An SEC lawsuit accusing Goldman of fraud related to CDOs finally came in 2010. This gang lead the industry and likely could have pulled the plug and “saved” the financial world, but chose to let it collapse for their own benefit. [Michael Lewis quote (2010, p. 78): “Why didn’t someone, anyone, inside Goldman Sachs stand up and say, “This is obscene.” Lewis (p. 105) also noted that Goldman shared the spotlight with Lehman Brothers as packaging America’s worst home loans.]

Dishonorable Mention

Contenders
Hundreds of other players played prime or supporting roles in the scandal, from banks executives and specific employees, to government officials, regulators, and many others. Others receiving top-10 votes include Bear Stearns CEO Jimmy Cayne, Stan O’Neal and Merrill Lynch, Chuck Prince and John Thain at Citigroup, Ken Lewis and Bank of America, the SEC, and a whole host of politicians pushing various deregulation bills (with former Senator Phil Gramm leading this category).

Supporting players
Supporting players by the thousands exist, primarily the lower level employees required to make illicit activity work, from mortgage originators to bond traders and sales people and analysts at every step in the process.

Then there are auditors, attorneys, and countless regulators. Various hedge funds round out the list.

Media
Where were the business journalists? As with politicians, they hyperventilated after the fact, but only a few of them sounded the alarm. Granted, there were not a lot of experts (economists for example) predicting doom—but not zero. Robert Shiller, for one, demonstrated national housing prices roughly doubling, which had never happened before. Hardly a ripple of panic came of it before the market started the collapse in 2007.

John Gutfreund, Investment Banks Going Public
Michael Lewis blamed former Salomon Brothers CEO Gutfreund for all investment bank problems because he took Salomon public. The remaining investment banks followed (actually Merrill Lynch went public earlier). Investment banks were traditionally partnerships, meaning their own money was on the line; high risk and bad decisions would mean financial ruin for all the present and past partners. With a corporation, the executives (formerly partners) take in big compensation, while the stockholders take all the risks. More risk means greater profits and more compensation. When the high-risk schemes blow up, the execs move on (perhaps with golden parachutes), the stockholders lose big. Guess what: leverage and risk skyrocketed; executive compensation went way up—until collapse happened (except for a few big losers, compensation stayed high). Lewis was only surprised that it took twenty years before investment banks blew up the financial world.

The Ten Big Problems

Capital Requirements Banks needs leverage caps.
The big investment banks proved incapable of limited themselves and increased leverage to 30 to 1 and more when allowed, virtually guarantying bankruptcy or bailout.

Banks Trading on Their Own Accounts
Investment banks invest for their own accounts, seemingly a violation of distributing capital efficiently. It’s one thing to hold securities as underwriters with an intent to sell as soon as possible, it’s quite another to trade against their own customers. Banks have inside information and all the tools for illicit actions—including cover ups; of course, they make money. The banks no doubt claim market efficiency, but there seems no obvious good side for the economy as a whole.

Mark-to-Market
Fair value versus historical cost has been a centuries’ long debate and still not settled. Accounting standards shifted toward fair value for financial assets over the last couple of decades, a seemingly good idea with disastrous results. Banks love to book gains, but the big losses can lead to failure.
Executive Compensation Follow the money. Incentives drive actions—period. When CEOs and others make the big bucks from short-term earnings performance and stock price, expect little if any focus on long-term results. (Michael Lewis quote, 2010, p. 256: “Greed on Wall Street was a given—almost an obligation. The problem was the system of incentives that channeled the greed.&#8221

Derivative Regulation
Derivatives are gigantic markets. Without transparent market trading and regulation, expect high-priced derivatives with hidden risks not explained to investors and likely not understood by the organizations originating them. Derivatives led to financial blowups every five or so years over the last quarter century.
Consumer Protections It is difficult to provide any protection for naïve investors and related consumers (like house buyers). Sellers have too many incentives to mislead buyers to make sales. If bigger commissions are available for outright lies and fraud, expect outright lies and fraud. There have been no lack of consumer protection legislation and agencies and some success.

Regulator Effectiveness
Ultimately, it is up to the regulators to protect the various parties and the public. This requires diligence, appropriate goals, and an adequate budget. Despite plenty of regulators this century, two major financial scandals occurred. How to guaranty regulator success is anyone’s guess.
Viable Markets Active markets usually trade standardized products, are regulated, and provide relevant up-to-the-minute information. Over- the-counter derivatives, without a market or regulation guaranties future financial debacles.

Transparency
Complete disclosure is the goal needed for fair transactions. Lack of transparency (called asymmetric information in economic circles) leads to bad results for the one without the information—aka, the sucker. “The subprime mortgage market has a special talent for obscuring what needed to be clarified” (Lewis, 2010, p. 127).

Boring Banks
Bank operations should be boring. The old post-World War II 3-6-3 principle (pay 3% on deposits, collect 6% on loans, on the golf course by 3), worked pretty well. The go-go period advancing since the 1980s boosted profits, compensation, liabilities and huge risks for the financial sector—with the “privatize profit, socialize losses” syndrome, provided few obvious benefits for the rest of the economy. Banks claim deregulation spurs innovation, a claim that scares the hell out of me.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Obamacare is today's Johnston Flood

 

[JimBowie1958]

Obamacare is today's Johnston Flood

Exactly.

We do not need unfettered capitalism that abuses people nor do we need an over-reaching government Police State that does the exact same thing from the government side either.

But in all the well earned disgust with Obamacare, working class people cannot imagine that the international corporations and Wall Street banks would do any better than Vanderbilt, JP Morgan, Carnegie or Rockefeller when it comes to spending profits to make our lives humane.

In fact they are stealing way over $85 billion each month in US currency right from under our noses as we watch football, baseball, stupid sit-coms and insulting advertisements.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

We had this taught to us when kids and in college. Working class people must NEVER FORGET what the worst corporations would do if they had no regs or oversight at all.

Johnstown Flood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Johnstown Flood (or Great Flood of 1889 as it became known locally) occurred on May 31, 1889. It was the result of the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam situated on the Little Conemaugh River 14 miles (23 km) upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA, made worse by several days of extremely heavy rainfall. The dam's failure unleashed a torrent of 20 million tons of water (4.8 billion U.S. gallons; 18.2 million cubic meters; 18.2 billion litres) from the reservoir known as Lake Conemaugh. With a volumetric flow rate that temporarily equalled that of the Mississippi River,[1] the flood killed 2,209 people[2] and caused US$17 million of damage (the equivalent of about $425 million in 2012 dollars).

It was the first major disaster relief effort handled by the new American Red Cross, led by Clara Barton. Support for victims came from all over the United States and 18 foreign countries. After the flood, survivors suffered a series of legal defeats in their attempts to recover damages from the dam's owners. Public indignation at that failure prompted the development in American law changing a fault-based regime to strict liability....

Is this another misguided attempt to claim that there were no regulations before you were born? Did you know that the dam that you are talking about, the one that was the result of "unbridled capitalism," was built by the State of Pennsylvania as part of a canal they operated?

 

[ScienceRocks]

This is what the tea party is about.

Gilded age
sweat shops
and food like it is in china!

 

[JimBowie1958]

We had this taught to us when kids and in college. Working class people must NEVER FORGET what the worst corporations would do if they had no regs or oversight at all.

Johnstown Flood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Johnstown Flood (or Great Flood of 1889 as it became known locally) occurred on May 31, 1889. It was the result of the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam situated on the Little Conemaugh River 14 miles (23 km) upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA, made worse by several days of extremely heavy rainfall. The dam's failure unleashed a torrent of 20 million tons of water (4.8 billion U.S. gallons; 18.2 million cubic meters; 18.2 billion litres) from the reservoir known as Lake Conemaugh. With a volumetric flow rate that temporarily equalled that of the Mississippi River,[1] the flood killed 2,209 people[2] and caused US$17 million of damage (the equivalent of about $425 million in 2012 dollars).

It was the first major disaster relief effort handled by the new American Red Cross, led by Clara Barton. Support for victims came from all over the United States and 18 foreign countries. After the flood, survivors suffered a series of legal defeats in their attempts to recover damages from the dam's owners. Public indignation at that failure prompted the development in American law changing a fault-based regime to strict liability....

Is this another misguided attempt to claim that there were no regulations before you were born? Did you know that the dam that you are talking about, the one that was the result of "unbridled capitalism," was built by the State of Pennsylvania as part of a canal they operated?

It was taken over by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club which was founded and ran by Carnegies top man Henry Clay Frick.

South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was a Pennsylvania corporation which operated an exclusive and secretive retreat at a mountain lake near South Fork, Pennsylvania for more than fifty extremely wealthy men and their families. The club was the owner of the South Fork Dam, which failed during an unprecedented period of heavy rains, resulting in the disastrous Johnstown Flood on May 31, 1889.

The failure released an estimated 20 million tons of water from Lake Conemaugh, wreaking devastation along the valley of South Fork Creek and the Little Conemaugh River as it flowed about a dozen miles downstream to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where the confluence of the Little Conemaugh and Stonycreek River forms the Conemaugh River, a tributary of the Allegheny River.

It was the worst disaster event in U.S. history at the time, and relief efforts were among the first major actions of Clara Barton and the newly organized American Red Cross which she led. The death toll from the 1889 flood was approximately 2,209, about 1/3 of whom were individuals who were never identified.

Despite some years of claims and litigation, the club and its members were never found to be liable for monetary damages. The corporation was disbanded in 1904 and the real estate assets were sold by the local sheriff at public auction, largely to satisfy a pre-existing mortgage on the large clubhouse...

The South Fork Dam was originally built between 1838-1853 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as part of the Pennsylvania Main Line canal system to be used as a reservoir for the canal basin in Johnstown. It was abandoned by the commonwealth, sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad, and then sold again to private interests.

In 1879, at the suggestion of entrepreneur Benjamin Franklin Ruff, the newly organized club purchased an old dam and abandoned reservoir from Ruff which he had purchased from Congressman John Reilly. Ruff envisioned a summer retreat in the hills above Johnstown. He promoted this idea to Henry Clay Frick, a friend of his, who was one of the wealthy elite group of powerful men who controlled Pittsburgh's steel, rail and other industries,...

Prior to closing on Ruff's purchase, Congressman Reilly had crucial discharge pipes removed and sold for their value as scrap steel, so there was no practical way to lower the level of water behind the dam should repairs be indicated.[2] Ruff, while he was not a civil engineer, had a background that included being a railroad tunnel contractor and supervised the repairs to the dam, which did not include a successful resolution of the inability to discharge the water and substantially lower the lake for repair purposes.[2]

The 3 cast iron discharge pipes had previously allowed a controlled release of water. When the initial renovation was completed under Ruff's oversight, it was now impossible to drain the lake to repair the dam properly. To compound the problem, the owners and managers had erected fish screens across the mouth of the spillway, and these became clogged with debris, restricting the outflow of water.

Passers-by sometimes commented about the likelihood of a failure, but no action was taken. However, over the years, despite dire predictions of some, the dam had not failed completely since 1862. Notwithstanding leaks and other warning signs, the flawed dam held the waters of Lake Conemaugh back more or less successfully until disaster struck in May 1889...

In the years following this tragic event, many people blamed the members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club for the tragedy, as they had originally bought and repaired the dam to turn the area into a holiday retreat in the mountains. However, they failed to properly maintain the dam, and as a result, heavy rainfall on the eve of the disaster meant that the structure was not strong enough to hold the excess water. Despite the evidence to suggest that they were very much to blame, they were never held legally responsible for the disaster. In keeping with the times, the courts viewed the dam's failure as an Act of God, and no legal compensation was paid to the survivors of the flood.

Individual members of the club did contribute substantially to the relief efforts. Along with about half of the club members, Henry Clay Frick donated thousands of dollars to the relief effort in Johnstown. After the flood, Andrew Carnegie, one of the club's better known members, built the town a new library.

There were no regulations that required maintenance, no oversight by the state to ensure the dam was properly maintained and so the owners did NOTHING to keep the dam strong, and even lowered the height of the dam by Frick ordering a road built across the top which was too narrow so they had to reduce its height to enable a single lane road.

Frick, the man in charge and primary owner was the culprit, who had a reputation for disdain of human life and later ordered in the Pinckertons with shoot to kill orders to break a strike he deliberately provoked at the Homestead steel works later, and even Carnegie couldn't stomach that disgrace and later fired the thug.

 

[JimBowie1958]

This is what the tea party is about.

Gilded age
sweat shops
and food like it is in china!

No Matthew, I actually know some TPM folks and have interacted with a great many of them. The vast majority simply want a return to Constitutional government as a literal reading of it shorn of a lot of case law would have it as. Only a few zealots are minarchists or radical libertarians who want absolutely no government oversight and regulation.

But for those going more in that direction due to the Obamacare fiasco, I just want to remind them we shouldn't throw the baby out with the used bathwater. The government does play an irreplaceable role in a great many spheres, and should be rolled back to that, with the principle of subsidiarity as a guideline.

 

[Sallow]

Obamacare is today's Johnston Flood

Exactly.

We do not need unfettered capitalism that abuses people nor do we need an over-reaching government Police State that does the exact same thing from the government side either.

But in all the well earned disgust with Obamacare, working class people cannot imagine that the international corporations and Wall Street banks would do any better than Vanderbilt, JP Morgan, Carnegie or Rockefeller when it comes to spending profits to make our lives humane.

In fact they are stealing way over $85 billion each month in US currency right from under our noses as we watch football, baseball, stupid sit-coms and insulting advertisements.

You guys are something else.

This is a logical leap the size of the grand canyon.

ObamaCare are federal regulations on an industry that was doing shit that was really bad.

HMOs are pissed because they can't drop you if you get sick, have no lifetime cap, have to use most of the money paid into the pool to make people well and can't have endless tests to jack up bills.

Oh, by the way, they are pleased as punch about the mandate. That's about the only part of ObamaCare they want to keep.

 

[Sallow]

This is what the tea party is about.

Gilded age
sweat shops
and food like it is in china!

No Matthew, I actually know some TPM folks and have interacted with a great many of them. The vast majority simply want a return to Constitutional government as a literal reading of it shorn of a lot of case law would have it as. Only a few zealots are minarchists or radical libertarians who want absolutely no government oversight and regulation.

But for those going more in that direction due to the Obamacare fiasco, I just want to remind them we shouldn't throw the baby out with the used bathwater. The government does play an irreplaceable role in a great many spheres, and should be rolled back to that, with the principle of subsidiarity as a guideline.

The TPM have no ******* idea about the Constitution.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdOpo-pNhWc]Christine O'Donnell "Where in constitution is the separation of church and state?" - YouTube[/ame]

That's the length of their constitutional acumen.

 

[JimBowie1958]

BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, is a rather typical international corporation that plays fast and loose with government regulators, wining and dining them, and making critical decisions with focus on profits rather than public safety.

BP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Citing conditions similar to those that resulted in the 2005 Texas City Refinery explosion, on 25 April 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined BP more than $2.4 million for unsafe operations at the company's Oregon, Ohio refinery. An OSHA inspection resulted in 32 per-instance willful citations including locating people in vulnerable buildings among the processing units, failing to correct de-pressurization deficiencies and deficiencies with gas monitors, and failing to prevent the use of non-approved electrical equipment in locations in which hazardous concentrations of flammable gases or vapors may exist. BP was further fined for neglecting to develop shutdown procedures and designate responsibilities and to establish a system to promptly address and resolve recommendations made after an incident when a large feed pump failed three years prior to 2006. Penalties were also issued for five serious violations, including failure to develop operating procedures for a unit that removes sulfur compound; failure to ensure that operating procedures reflect current operating practice in the Isocracker Unit; failure to resolve process hazard analysis recommendations; failure to resolve process safety management compliance audit items in a timely manner; and failure to periodically inspect pressure piping systems.[326][327]

In 2008 BP and several other major oil refiners agreed to pay $422 million to settle a class-action lawsuit stemming from water contamination tied to the gasoline additive MTBE, a chemical that was once a key gasoline ingredient. Leaked from storage tanks, MTBE has been found in several water systems across the United States. The plaintiffs maintain that the industry knew about the environmental dangers but that they used it instead of other possible alternatives because it was less expensive. The companies will also be required to pay 70 percent of cleanup costs for any wells newly affected at any time over the next 30 years.[328][329]

BP has one of the worst safety records of any major oil company that operates in the United States. Between 2007 and 2010, BP refineries in Ohio and Texas accounted for 97 percent of "egregious, willful" violations handed out by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). BP had 760 "egregious, willful" violations during that period, while Sunoco and Conoco-Phillips each had eight, Citgo two and Exxon had one.[330] The deputy assistant secretary of labour at OSHA, said "The only thing you can conclude is that BP has a serious, systemic safety problem in their company."[331]

A report in ProPublica, published in the Washington Post in 2010, found that over a decade of internal investigations of BP's Alaska operations during the 2000s warned senior BP managers that the company repeatedly disregarded safety and environmental rules and risked a serious accident if it did not change its ways. ProPublica found that "Taken together, these documents portray a company that systemically ignored its own safety policies across its North American operations -- from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico to California and Texas. Executives were not held accountable for the failures, and some were promoted despite them."[332]

The Project On Government Oversight, an independent non-profit organization in the United States which investigates and seeks to expose corruption and other misconduct, lists BP as number one on their listing of the 100 worst corporations based on instances of misconduct.[333]...

1965 Sea Gem offshore oil rig disaster[edit]

In December 1965, Britain's first oil rig, Sea Gem, capsized when two of the legs collapsed during an operation to move it to a new location. The oil rig had been hastily converted in an effort to quickly start drilling operations after the North Sea was opened for exploration. Thirteen crew members were killed. No hydrocarbons were released in the accident.[334][335]

Texas City Refinery explosion

In March 2005, the Texas City Refinery, one of the largest refineries owned then by BP, exploded causing 15 deaths, injuring 180 people and forcing thousands of nearby residents to remain sheltered in their homes.[336] A 20-foot (6.1 m) column filled with hydrocarbon overflowed to form a vapour cloud, which ignited. The explosion caused all the casualties and substantial damage to the rest of the plant.[337] The incident came as the culmination of a series of less serious accidents at the refinery, and the engineering problems were not addressed by the management. Maintenance and safety at the plant had been cut as a cost-saving measure, the responsibility ultimately resting with executives in London.[338]

The fallout from the accident clouded BP's corporate image because of the mismanagement at the plant. There had been several investigations of the disaster, the most recent being that from the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board[339] which "offered a scathing assessment of the company." OSHA found "organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of the BP Corporation" and said management failures could be traced from Texas to London.[336] The company pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Clean Air Act, was fined $50 million, the largest ever assessed under the Clean Air Act, and sentenced to three years probation.[340]

On 30 October 2009, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined BP an additional $87 million, the largest fine in OSHA history, for failing to correct safety hazards documented in the 2005 explosion. Inspectors found 270 safety violations that had been previously cited but not fixed and 439 new violations. BP appealed the fine.[336][341] In July 2012, the company agreed to pay $13 million to settle the new violations. At that time OSHA found "no imminent dangers" at the Texas plant. Thirty violations remained under discussion.[342] In March 2012, US Department of Justice officials said the company had met all of its obligations and subsequently ended the probationary period.[343] In November 2011, BP agreed to pay the state of Texas $50 million for violating state emissions standards at its Texas City refinery during and after the 2005 explosion at the refinery. The state Attorney General said BP was responsible for 72 separate pollutant emissions that have been occurring every few months since March 2005. It was the largest fine ever imposed under the Texas Clean Air Act.[344][345]

Prudhoe Bay

In March 2006, corrosion of a BP Exploration Alaska (BPXA) oil transit pipeline in Prudhoe Bay transporting oil to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline led to a five-day leak and the largest oil spill on Alaska's North Slope.[20] According to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC), a total of 212,252 US gallons (5,053.6 bbl; 803.46 m3) of oil was spilled, covering 2 acres (0.81 ha) of the North Slope.[346] BP admitted that cost cutting measures had resulted in a lapse in monitoring and maintenance of the pipeline and the consequent leak. At the moment of the leak, pipeline inspection gauges (known as "pigs") had not been run through the pipeline since 1998.[347][348][349][350] BP completed the clean-up of the spill by May 2006, including removal of contaminated gravel and vegetation, which was replaced with new material from the Arctic tundra.[346][351]

Following the spill, the company was ordered by regulators to inspect the 35 kilometres (22 mi) of pipelines in Prudhoe Bay using "smart pigs".[352] In late July 2006, the "smart pigs" monitoring the pipelines found 16 places where corrosion had thinned pipeline walls. A BP crew sent to inspect the pipe in early August discovered a leak and small spill,[352][353] following which, BP announced that the eastern portion of the Alaskan field would be shut down for repairs on the pipeline,[353][354] with approval from the Department of Transportation. The shutdown resulted in a reduction of 200,000 barrels per day (32,000 m3/d) until work began to bring the eastern field to full production on 2 October 2006.[355] In total, 23 barrels (3.7 m3) of oil were spilled and 176 barrels (28.0 m3) were "contained and recovered", according to ADEC. The spill was cleaned up and there was no impact upon wildlife.[356]

After the shutdown, BP pledged to replace 26 kilometres (16 mi) of its Alaskan oil transit pipelines[357][358] and the company completed work on the 16 miles (26 km) of new pipeline by the end of 2008.[359] In November 2007, BP Exploration, Alaska pled guilty to negligent discharge of oil, a misdemeanor under the federal Clean Water Act and was fined US$20 million.[360] There was no charge brought for the smaller spill in August 2006 due to BP's quick response and clean-up.[347] On 16 October 2007, ADEC officials reported a "toxic spill" from a BP pipeline in Prudhoe Bay comprising 2,000 US gallons (7,600 l; 1,700 imp gal) of primarily methanol (methyl alcohol) mixed with crude oil and water, which spilled onto a gravel pad and frozen tundra pond.[361]

In the settlement of a civil suit, in July 2011 investigators from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration determined that the 2006 spills were a result of BPXA’s failure to properly inspect and maintain the pipeline to prevent corrosion. The government issued a Corrective Action Order to BP XA that addressed the pipeline’s risks and ordered pipeline repair or replacement. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had investigated the extent of the oil spills and oversaw BPXA’s cleanup. When BP XA did not fully comply with the terms of the corrective action, a complaint was filed in March 2009 alleging violations of the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the Pipeline Safety Act. In July 2011, the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska entered a consent decree between the United States and BPXA resolving the government’s claims. Under the consent decree, BPXA paid a $25 million civil penalty, the largest per-barrel penalty at that time for an oil spill, and agreed to take measures to significantly improve inspection and maintenance of its pipeline infrastructure on the North Slope to reduce the threat of additional oil spills.[362][363]

2008 Caspian Sea gas leak and blowout[edit]

On 17 September 2008, a gas leak was discovered and one gas-injection well blown out in the area of the Central Azeri platform at the Azeri oilfield, a part of the Azeri–Chirag–Guneshli (ACG) project, in the Azerbaijan sector of Caspian Sea.[364][365][366] The platform was shut down and the staff was evacuated.[364][365] As the Western Azeri Platform was being powered by a cable from the Central Azeri Platform, it was also shut down.[367] Production at the Western Azeri Platform resumed on 9 October 2008 and at the Central Azeri Platform in December 2008.[368][369] According to leaked US Embassy cables, BP had been "exceptionally circumspect in disseminating information" and showed that BP thought the cause for the blowout was a bad cement job. The cables further said that some of BP's ACG partners complained that the company was so secretive that it was withholding information even from them.[366][370][371]

2010 Texas City Chemical leak[edit]

BP has admitted that malfunctioning equipment lead to the release of over 530,000 pounds (240,000 kg) of chemicals into the air of Texas City and surrounding areas from 6 April to 16 May 2010. The leak included 17,000 pounds (7,700 kg) of benzene, 37,000 pounds (17,000 kg) of nitrogen oxides, and 186,000 pounds (84,000 kg) of carbon monoxide.[372][373] In June 2012, over 50,000 Texas City residents joined a class-action suit against BP, alleging they got sick in 2010 from the 41-day emissions release from the refinery. Texas has also sued BP over the release of emissions. BP says the release harmed no one.[374]

In October 2013, a jury found that BP was negligent in the case, but lacking substantial evidence linking illness to the emissions, decided the company would be absolved of any wrongdoing.[375][376]

Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill

On 20 April 2010, the semi-submersible exploratory offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon located in the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico exploded after a blowout, killing 11 people, injuring 16 others. After burning for two days, the rig sank and caused the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry, estimated to be between 8% and 31% larger in volume than the earlier Ixtoc I oil spill.[21][378] Before the well was capped on 15 July 2010, an estimated 4.9 million barrels (210 million US gal; 780,000 m3) of oil was leaked with plus or minus 10% uncertainty.[379] 810,000 barrels (34 million US gal; 129,000 m3) of oil was collected or burned while 4.1 million barrels (170 million US gal; 650,000 m3) entered the Gulf waters.[380][381][382] 1.8 million US gallons (6,800 m3) of Corexit dispersant was applied.[383][384]

The spill had a strong economic impact on both BP and the Gulf Coast's economy sectors such as fishing and tourism.[385] In late 2012 local fishermen reported that crab, shrimp, and oyster fishing operations had not yet recovered from the oil spill and many feared that the Gulf seafood industry will never recover.[386]

Environmental impact[edit]

Oil spills are known to cause both immediate and long-term harm to human health and ecosystems.[362] Research into the impacts of this spill is ongoing.[387] Studies in 2013 suggested that as much as one-third of the released oil remains in the gulf. Further research suggested that the oil on the bottom of the seafloor was not degrading.[388] Oil in affected coastal areas increased erosion due to the death of mangrove trees and marsh grass.[389][390][391] Researchers say the oil and dispersant mixture, including PAHs, permeated the food chain through zooplankton.[392][393][394] In 2013 it was reported that dolphins and other marine life continued to die in record numbers with infant dolphins dying at six times the normal rate.[395] In October 2013, Al Jazeera reported that the gulf ecosystem was "in crisis", citing a decline in seafood catches, as well as deformities and lesions found in fish.[396] In Louisiana, over 3 million pounds of oil was removed from the beaches in 2013, doubled from the amount collected in 2012. Oil continued to be found as far from the Macondo site as the Florida panhandle, where scientists said the oil and dispersant mixture is embedded in the sand.[397][398][399] Researchers looking at sediment, seawater, biota, and seafood found toxic compounds in high concentrations that they said was due to the added oil and dispersants.[400]

Health effects[edit]

Studies discussed at a 2013 conference found that a "significant percentage" of Gulf residents reported mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and PTSD. These studies also showed that the bodies of former spill cleanup workers carry biomarkers of many chemicals contained in the oil.[401] A study that investigated the health effects among children in Louisiana and Florida living less than 10 miles from the coast found that more than a third of the parents reported physical or mental health symptoms among their children.[401] Australia's "60 Minutes" reported that some people living along the gulf coast were becoming sick from the dispersants used to break up the oil during the clean-up process.[402]

Criminal prosecutions[edit]

On 11 March 2011, the US Department of Justice formed the "Deepwater Horizon Task Force" to consolidate several federal agencies' investigations into possible criminal charges stemming the explosion and spill.[403] On 14 November 2012, the DOJ announced that BP and the DOJ had reached a $4 billion settlement of all federal criminal charges related to the explosion and spill, the largest of its kind in US history. Under the settlement, BP agreed to plead guilty to 11 felony counts of manslaughter, two misdemeanors, and a felony count of lying to Congress and agreed to four years of government monitoring of its safety practices and ethics. BP also paid $525 million to settle civil charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that it misled investors about the flow rate of oil from the well.[23][404] As part of the announcement of the settlement, BP said it was increasing its reserve for a trust fund to pay costs and claims related to the spill to about $42 billion.[23] On the same day, the US government filed criminal charges against three BP employees; two site managers were charged with manslaughter and negligence, and one former vice president with obstruction.[23] Near the end of November 2012, the U.S. Government temporarily banned BP from bidding any new federal contracts, citing the company’s “lack of business integrity.” [405] As of February 2013, criminal and civil settlements and payments to the trust fund had cost the company $42.2 billion.[406]

Civil proceedings[edit]

On 15 December 2010, The US Department of Justice filed a civil and criminal suit against BP and other defendants for violations under the Clean Water Act in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.[407][408]:70 The case was consolidated with about 200 others, including those brought by state governments, individuals, and companies under Multi-District Litigation docket MDL No. 2179, before U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier.[409][410] Judge Barbier is trying the case without a jury, as is normal in United States admiralty law.[411][412] The Justice Department contends that BP committed gross negligence and willful misconduct, which BP contests, and is seeking the stiffest penalties possible.[413] A ruling of gross negligence would result in a four-fold increase in Clean Water Act penalties, which would cause the penalties to reach approximately $17.6 billion, and would increase damages in the other suits as well.[26][27][28] Any fines from gross negligence would hit BP's bottom line very hard, because they would not be tax-deductible.[414] The company paid no federal income tax to the U.S. government in 2010 because of deductions related to the spill.[415]

The consolidated trial's first phase began on 25 February 2013, to determine the liability of BP, Transocean, Halliburton, and other companies, and to determine whether the companies acted with gross negligence and willful misconduct.[416][417] [25] The second phase, scheduled in September 2013, will focus on the amount of oil spilled into the gulf and who was responsible for stopping it. The third phase will focus on all other liability that occurred in the process of oil spill cleanup and containment issues, including the use of dispersants.[418][419] Test jury trials will follow to determine actual damage amounts.[411]

Political influence[edit]

Release of Lockerbie bomber[edit]

BP lobbied the British government to conclude a prisoner-transfer agreement which the Libyan government had wanted to secure the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing over Scotland, which killed 270 people. BP stated that it pressed for the conclusion of prisoner transfer agreement amid fears that delays would damage its "commercial interests" and disrupt its £900 million offshore drilling operations in the region, but it said that it had not been involved in negotiations concerning the release of Megrahi.[420][421]

Political contributions and lobbying[edit]

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, BP was the United States' 136th-largest donor to political campaigns, having contributed more than US$6.6 million since 1989, 70% and 29% of which went to Republican and Democratic recipients, respectively.[422]

In February 2002, BP's then-chief executive, Lord Browne of Madingley, renounced the practice of corporate campaign contributions, saying: "That's why we've decided, as a global policy, that from now on we will make no political contributions from corporate funds anywhere in the world."[423] When the Washington Post reported in June 2010 that BP North America "donated at least $4.8 million in corporate contributions in the past seven years to political groups, partisan organizations and campaigns engaged in federal and state elections", mostly to oppose ballot measures in two states aiming to raise taxes on the oil industry, the company said that the commitment had only applied to contributions to individual candidates.[424]

During the 2008 US election cycle, BP employees contributed to various candidates, with Barack Obama receiving the largest amount of money,[425] broadly in line with contributions from Shell and Chevron, but significantly less than those of Exxon Mobil.[426]

In 2009 BP spent nearly $16 million lobbying the US Congress.[427] In 2011, BP spent a total of $8,430,000 on lobbying and hired 47 lobbyists.[428]

Market manipulation investigations and sanctions[edit]

The US Justice Department and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed charges against BP Products North America Inc. (subsidiary of BP plc) and several BP traders, alleging they conspired to raise the price of propane by seeking to corner the propane market in 2004.[429][430][431] In 2006, one former trader pleaded guilty.[430] In 2007, BP paid $303 million in restitution and fines as part of an agreement to defer prosecution.[432] BP was charged with cornering and manipulating the price of TET propane in 2003 and 2004. BP paid a $125 million civil monetary penalty to the CFTC, established a compliance and ethics program, and installed a monitor to oversee BP’s trading activities in the commodities markets. BP also paid $53 million BP into a restitution fund for victims, a $100 million criminal penalty, plus $25 million into a consumer fraud fund, as well as other payments.[433] Also in 2007, four other former traders were charged. These charges were dismissed by a US District Court in 2009 on the grounds that the transactions were exempt under the Commodities Exchange Act because they didn't occur in a marketplace but were negotiated contracts among sophisticated companies. The dismissal was upheld by the Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in 2011.[431]

In November 2010, US regulators FERC and CFTC began an investigation of BP for allegedly manipulating the gas market. The investigation relates to trading activity that occurred in October and November 2008.[434][435] At that time, CFTC Enforcement staff provided BP with a notice of intent to recommend charges of attempted market manipulation in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act. BP denied that it engaged in "any inappropriate or unlawful activity." In July 2011, the FERC staff issued a "Notice of Alleged Violations" saying it had preliminarily determined that several BP entities fraudulently traded physical natural gas in the Houston Ship Channel and Katy markets and trading points to increase the value of their financial swing spread positions.[436]

BP's London offices, along with those of Royal Dutch Shell and Statoil, were raided in May 2013 by regulators from the European Commission, beginning an investigation into allegations the companies reported distorted prices to the price reporting agency Platts, in order to "manipulate the published prices" for several oil and biofuel products. The EC is probing allegations the companies colluded to rig prices for more than a decade.

Oil disasters due to lack of maintenance, bribing politicians across our nation despite them being a FOREIGN corporation, and market manipulation of its product prices are all characteristic of 10th century business practices of cretins like Frick, and that is what we are returning to if we do not return government oversight to these corporate operations, stop corporate contributions to politicians and their pet causes, and start putting these bastards in prison for life for some of these egregious disasters they cause that result in loss of life, just like the government would prosecute a drunken driver for manslaughter.

 

[JimBowie1958]

Obamacare is today's Johnston Flood

Exactly.

We do not need unfettered capitalism that abuses people nor do we need an over-reaching government Police State that does the exact same thing from the government side either.

But in all the well earned disgust with Obamacare, working class people cannot imagine that the international corporations and Wall Street banks would do any better than Vanderbilt, JP Morgan, Carnegie or Rockefeller when it comes to spending profits to make our lives humane.

In fact they are stealing way over $85 billion each month in US currency right from under our noses as we watch football, baseball, stupid sit-coms and insulting advertisements.

You guys are something else.

This is a logical leap the size of the grand canyon.

ObamaCare are federal regulations on an industry that was doing shit that was really bad.

HMOs are pissed because they can't drop you if you get sick, have no lifetime cap, have to use most of the money paid into the pool to make people well and can't have endless tests to jack up bills.

Oh, by the way, they are pleased as punch about the mandate. That's about the only part of ObamaCare they want to keep.

Swallow, no one is missing anything. The business costs of being forced to enroll people with pre-existing conditions is the biggest cost and propulsion to higher rates. With market competition these rates will drop, but having a very broad as possible subscription base can also have a huge impact on lower costs as well, hence the reluctance of the Obama regime for giving mandates to those without strong political connections, politics the Chicago Way.

The mandates, the unnecessary minimum standards, the complete disregard of the President's own promises to allow people to keep[ their insurance and doctors, the cancelation of medical savings plans and the disallowance of catastrophic care plans are all the result of government and corporate cronyism and collusion.

they go hand in hand these days.

But government is just as capable of abuse and over reach as any multinational corporation, especially if they set up regs to decrease the competition with their corporate cronies.

You are not reading and thinking about what you read, just reflexively firing off partisan slogans and cheap shots. Are you capable of much else?

 

[Sallow]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4elLeTY8Mwo]Rep. Joe Barton apologizes to BP chairman Tony Hayward for "shakedown" - YouTube[/ame]

You can't make this stuff up!!

 

[Sallow]

Exactly.

We do not need unfettered capitalism that abuses people nor do we need an over-reaching government Police State that does the exact same thing from the government side either.

But in all the well earned disgust with Obamacare, working class people cannot imagine that the international corporations and Wall Street banks would do any better than Vanderbilt, JP Morgan, Carnegie or Rockefeller when it comes to spending profits to make our lives humane.

In fact they are stealing way over $85 billion each month in US currency right from under our noses as we watch football, baseball, stupid sit-coms and insulting advertisements.

You guys are something else.

This is a logical leap the size of the grand canyon.

ObamaCare are federal regulations on an industry that was doing shit that was really bad.

HMOs are pissed because they can't drop you if you get sick, have no lifetime cap, have to use most of the money paid into the pool to make people well and can't have endless tests to jack up bills.

Oh, by the way, they are pleased as punch about the mandate. That's about the only part of ObamaCare they want to keep.

Swallow, no one is missing anything. The business costs of being forced to enroll people with pre-existing conditions is the biggest cost and propulsion to higher rates. With market competition these rates will drop, but having a very broad as possible subscription base can also have a huge impact on lower costs as well, hence the reluctance of the Obama regime for giving mandates to those without strong political connections, politics the Chicago Way.

The mandates, the unnecessary minimum standards, the complete disregard of the President's own promises to allow people to keep[ their insurance and doctors, the cancelation of medical savings plans and the disallowance of catastrophic care plans are all the result of government and corporate cronyism and collusion.

they go hand in hand these days.

But government is just as capable of abuse and over reach as any multinational corporation, especially if they set up regs to decrease the competition with their corporate cronies.

You are not reading and thinking about what you read, just reflexively firing off partisan slogans and cheap shots. Are you capable of much else?

You are so wrong ******.

I found your shit..and it really stinks.

You are engaging in pretzel logic and you think it's clever.

It's not.

Seems that that AIDS got to your brain, finally..get back on those meds man.

ObamaCare are a series of regulations.

That begins and ends your stupidity.

 

[JimBowie1958]

This is what the tea party is about.

Gilded age
sweat shops
and food like it is in china!

No Matthew, I actually know some TPM folks and have interacted with a great many of them. The vast majority simply want a return to Constitutional government as a literal reading of it shorn of a lot of case law would have it as. Only a few zealots are minarchists or radical libertarians who want absolutely no government oversight and regulation.

But for those going more in that direction due to the Obamacare fiasco, I just want to remind them we shouldn't throw the baby out with the used bathwater. The government does play an irreplaceable role in a great many spheres, and should be rolled back to that, with the principle of subsidiarity as a guideline.

The TPM have no ******* idea about the Constitution.

....
That's the length of their constitutional acumen.

Christine O'Donnel is hardly representative of the TPM, and in fact has largely abandoned it with her early sell out to Romney in 2012.

Current case law under the Kelo decision and many others effectively gut the intent of the Constitutions plain meaning in its own language. The growth of agency law omits criminal rights in its proceedings (sine these are technically not criminal law) and the use of asset forfeiture laws completely ignores owners property and criminal rights.

Kelo v. City of New London - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Corporations now have full rights of individual citizens and are not regulatible under the 1st amendment and that has completely corrupted our system of government.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission

The government is out of its Constitutional bounds, obviously, and fixing the problem is made more difficult by cretins like yourself who simply spew the Dimbocrat party line in every discussion.

 

[JimBowie1958]

You guys are something else.

This is a logical leap the size of the grand canyon.

ObamaCare are federal regulations on an industry that was doing shit that was really bad.

HMOs are pissed because they can't drop you if you get sick, have no lifetime cap, have to use most of the money paid into the pool to make people well and can't have endless tests to jack up bills.

Oh, by the way, they are pleased as punch about the mandate. That's about the only part of ObamaCare they want to keep.

Swallow, no one is missing anything. The business costs of being forced to enroll people with pre-existing conditions is the biggest cost and propulsion to higher rates. With market competition these rates will drop, but having a very broad as possible subscription base can also have a huge impact on lower costs as well, hence the reluctance of the Obama regime for giving mandates to those without strong political connections, politics the Chicago Way.

The mandates, the unnecessary minimum standards, the complete disregard of the President's own promises to allow people to keep[ their insurance and doctors, the cancelation of medical savings plans and the disallowance of catastrophic care plans are all the result of government and corporate cronyism and collusion.

they go hand in hand these days.

But government is just as capable of abuse and over reach as any multinational corporation, especially if they set up regs to decrease the competition with their corporate cronies.

You are not reading and thinking about what you read, just reflexively firing off partisan slogans and cheap shots. Are you capable of much else?

You are so wrong ******.

I found your shit..and it really stinks.

You are engaging in pretzel logic and you think it's clever.

It's not.

Seems that that AIDS got to your brain, finally..get back on those meds man.

ObamaCare are a series of regulations.

That begins and ends your stupidity.

You bring no facts, no logic, and nothing relevant to the topic.

In effect, by similar acts of obfuscation and redirections elsewhere, you are supporting the continued gross violations of corporate behavior and the continuation of the current corporate crony political system.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

We had this taught to us when kids and in college. Working class people must NEVER FORGET what the worst corporations would do if they had no regs or oversight at all.

Johnstown Flood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Is this another misguided attempt to claim that there were no regulations before you were born? Did you know that the dam that you are talking about, the one that was the result of "unbridled capitalism," was built by the State of Pennsylvania as part of a canal they operated?

It was taken over by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club which was founded and ran by Carnegies top man Henry Clay Frick.

South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was a Pennsylvania corporation which operated an exclusive and secretive retreat at a mountain lake near South Fork, Pennsylvania for more than fifty extremely wealthy men and their families. The club was the owner of the South Fork Dam, which failed during an unprecedented period of heavy rains, resulting in the disastrous Johnstown Flood on May 31, 1889.

The failure released an estimated 20 million tons of water from Lake Conemaugh, wreaking devastation along the valley of South Fork Creek and the Little Conemaugh River as it flowed about a dozen miles downstream to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where the confluence of the Little Conemaugh and Stonycreek River forms the Conemaugh River, a tributary of the Allegheny River.

It was the worst disaster event in U.S. history at the time, and relief efforts were among the first major actions of Clara Barton and the newly organized American Red Cross which she led. The death toll from the 1889 flood was approximately 2,209, about 1/3 of whom were individuals who were never identified.

Despite some years of claims and litigation, the club and its members were never found to be liable for monetary damages. The corporation was disbanded in 1904 and the real estate assets were sold by the local sheriff at public auction, largely to satisfy a pre-existing mortgage on the large clubhouse...

The South Fork Dam was originally built between 1838-1853 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as part of the Pennsylvania Main Line canal system to be used as a reservoir for the canal basin in Johnstown. It was abandoned by the commonwealth, sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad, and then sold again to private interests.

In 1879, at the suggestion of entrepreneur Benjamin Franklin Ruff, the newly organized club purchased an old dam and abandoned reservoir from Ruff which he had purchased from Congressman John Reilly. Ruff envisioned a summer retreat in the hills above Johnstown. He promoted this idea to Henry Clay Frick, a friend of his, who was one of the wealthy elite group of powerful men who controlled Pittsburgh's steel, rail and other industries,...

Prior to closing on Ruff's purchase, Congressman Reilly had crucial discharge pipes removed and sold for their value as scrap steel, so there was no practical way to lower the level of water behind the dam should repairs be indicated.[2] Ruff, while he was not a civil engineer, had a background that included being a railroad tunnel contractor and supervised the repairs to the dam, which did not include a successful resolution of the inability to discharge the water and substantially lower the lake for repair purposes.[2]

The 3 cast iron discharge pipes had previously allowed a controlled release of water. When the initial renovation was completed under Ruff's oversight, it was now impossible to drain the lake to repair the dam properly. To compound the problem, the owners and managers had erected fish screens across the mouth of the spillway, and these became clogged with debris, restricting the outflow of water.

Passers-by sometimes commented about the likelihood of a failure, but no action was taken. However, over the years, despite dire predictions of some, the dam had not failed completely since 1862. Notwithstanding leaks and other warning signs, the flawed dam held the waters of Lake Conemaugh back more or less successfully until disaster struck in May 1889...

In the years following this tragic event, many people blamed the members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club for the tragedy, as they had originally bought and repaired the dam to turn the area into a holiday retreat in the mountains. However, they failed to properly maintain the dam, and as a result, heavy rainfall on the eve of the disaster meant that the structure was not strong enough to hold the excess water. Despite the evidence to suggest that they were very much to blame, they were never held legally responsible for the disaster. In keeping with the times, the courts viewed the dam's failure as an Act of God, and no legal compensation was paid to the survivors of the flood.

Individual members of the club did contribute substantially to the relief efforts. Along with about half of the club members, Henry Clay Frick donated thousands of dollars to the relief effort in Johnstown. After the flood, Andrew Carnegie, one of the club's better known members, built the town a new library.

There were no regulations that required maintenance, no oversight by the state to ensure the dam was properly maintained and so the owners did NOTHING to keep the dam strong, and even lowered the height of the dam by Frick ordering a road built across the top which was too narrow so they had to reduce its height to enable a single lane road.

Frick, the man in charge and primary owner was the culprit, who had a reputation for disdain of human life and later ordered in the Pinckertons with shoot to kill orders to break a strike he deliberately provoked at the Homestead steel works later, and even Carnegie couldn't stomach that disgrace and later fired the thug.

You skipped a couple of owners in that summation, one of which was the very railroad that closed the canal the state built. strangely enough, the railroad was partially funded by federal dollars, and they were the ones that were primarily responsible for the years of neglect that directly caused the flood.