- cross-posted to:
- leftymemes@lemmy.dbzer0.com
- cross-posted to:
- leftymemes@lemmy.dbzer0.com
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/23241288
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It’s almost like telling an industry they can self regulate is the same thing as telling an 8th grader there are no consequences for a day.
Weird huh?
The funny thing about Love Canal is that the Hooker Chemical was complying with the (entirely inadequate) environmental regulations of the day. While the containment was terrible, there was at least some containment of the toxic waste.
Then the Niagra Falls school board was like, “Hey that ‘Love Canal’ property you’ve got would be a great place for a new school” and Hooker chemical was like “No, that’s a terrible idea”. So the school board threatened to sue and just seize the land and Hooker chemical basically said “Okay, we’ll sell it to you for one dollar, on the condition that you don’t disturb the toxic waste and anything that goes wrong is on you”. Then the school board immediately bulldozed the land cutting open the clay containing the toxic waste turning a huge problem into a catastrophic problem.
Don’t get me wrong, Hooker was absolutely at fault, but IMO the school board is more to blame. It’s kinda like asking “Who do you blame, the guys who laid down a minefield, or the guys who decided to have a Riverdance jamboree on the site despite the warning signs?”
Love Canal
Oookay.
Hooker Chemical
Now you’re just pulling my leg.
Strange but true. The disaster led to the legislation that created the Superfund program.
Damn, now I need a superfund for my hooker in love? And all I wanted was a handy…
Hooker… Love canal… Hooker… Love canal… nope, nothing funny there.
In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.
- Mark Twain
I grew up next to the Cuyahoga in the 1970s. It wasn’t the part that caught fire (which was in Cleveland) but I have no idea why not. The river was chock full of old tires, rusting oil and chemical barrels, and there was a sheen of oil (or god knows what) over everything. All the industries in the town along the river (which included and still includes the factory that makes that green foam shit florists stick flowers in) had giant pipes that emptied all their shit right into the river. People still used to fish there, which is just mind-boggling.
How did a GenX from Cleveland end up a KITH fan? I have to say, those guys taught me so much.
They were on HBO in the early '90s. They were basically Monty Python a generation later, and I don’t mean that as a slight in any way.
Funny I just watched the Kids in the Hall documentary the other day and they talk about Monty Python, but not SCTV at all, even saying that there was no sketch comedy between MP and KITH.
Like… wut?
even saying that there was no sketch comedy between MP and KITH
Jesus, that’s pretty out there. They’re also skipping SNL, which while historically very uneven, was definitely sketch comedy.
Any attempt to allow publicly traded companies to self regulate is obviously going to lead to this. They’re literally required to take every step to maximize gains and minimize losses. They will fire any CEO that won’t. Remove the rails and you are knowingly giving them license to rape and pillage at will.
Technically they dont have to. If the board actually agrees the goal isnt to min/max finance and have the goal be the best whatever, then thats the result. But until that becomes a bigger selling point for investors (the public), we are going to get the bottom financial line still.
Okay, but then line goes down and investors vote out the board.
And most stocks are held by a couple big Wall Street firms who own everything, not the public at large.
That’s like saying that technically you can drive your car into a lake; nobody’s going to do it except by accident. Investors invest solely and specifically to get a return on their investment, regardless of what they might say their reason was. They want as big of a return as quickly as possible, and will make whatever changes they need to in order to make that happen. They don’t even think hard enough to find other more ethical avenues that might not destroy the world if they don’t give as big of a return that destroying the world would give.
And technically never happens because investors like money and want money (After all, why they would invest otherwise?)
I think it’s more accurate to look at it as the same kind of survivorship bias as the companies themselves. Investors aren’t voters or politicians, they’re pools of capital. The bigger the pool, the more sway they have over things. If an investor were to consistently vote in such a way that did not maximize their returns, their pool of capital would shrink relative to those who do. Thus over time, the most influential investors will be the selfish ones and the less greedy ones will be naturally pushed out.
Thinking about it terms of them “wanting more money” makes it seem like they are a static entity with opinions and if only we could get better ones things would be ok. It ignores the way in which capitalism is a process that produces the outcomes we see. It’s an inevitability that an economy run on these principles will turn out this way.
And technically always loses to practically. 😞
It’s like people forget that a companies legal responsibility is to the shareholders. Not the customers. Not the employees. Not to anyone but the shareholders.
People don’t consciously know that…and dislike be reminded of this.
All the CEO has to do is say, “I think knowingly causing a disaster is going to be bad for business long term”.
The shareholders the CEO is beholden to don’t care about long term in the slightest.
Well, sometimes they do.
This is why they’re accelerationists
Energy Industry:
The comic doesn’t have an example for air travel 💀💀💀
