Massey Mine Disaster debunks Self-Regulating Free-Market Myth

You hear it all the time. Some self-proclaimed “Libertarian” or “Free-Market Republican” will argue against “government regulation” and insists that “corporations will always do what is in the best interests of the community because their survival depends upon it.” That’s the very cornerstone of “Free Market” ideology. Ron Paul built his political career upon it. If the mining disaster in West Virgina yesterday proves anything, it is that without government regulation, big business will skirt safety and gamble with peoples’ lives so long as the cost of the occasional disaster is less than the cost of prevention.

In the 1970’s, it was discovered that the Ford Motor Company had known of a problem with exploding gas tanks on their Ford Pinto for years, but had decided that it was cheaper to pay victims “hush money” than fix the problem. Ford did not fix the problem until the Federal Government found out in 1978, forcing them to recall over 1.5 million vehicles… a record that (I believe) lasts to this day.

Reports of 600 safety violations at the Massey Mine in just the past 18 months are emerging. Yet, in 2008, one of Massey’s subsidiaries paid the largest fine in the history of the industry… $20 million dollars… for “clean water violations”, not safety violations.

Corporations are NOT benevolent entities that will always do the right thing out of survival. No, left on their own, corporations will cut every corner they can, so long as settling law suits is cheaper than enacting safety measures to prevent problems from happening again (or in the first place). And if there are no regulatory laws to break, on what basis would victims have to sue? But Tea-baggers and the GOP would have you believe that the solution to all our ills is “deregulation“.

http://mugsysrapsheet.com/2010/04/07/massey-mine-disaster-debunks-self-regulating-free-market-myth/

That's the other excuse the Repukes use.

So many myths have come to light in recent decades...

1) "Trickle-Down Economics," Part I--the myth that if given tax breaks, the nation's wealthy will "re-invest" in America... Of course they took their swag and squirreled it away in offshore, secret bank accounts...

2) "Trickle-Down Economics," Part II--the wealthy, with their new tax breaks, invested not in America but in foreign countries, along with America's corporations.

3) I'm amazed out how Tea Baggers will shout "socialism" at anti-health care rallies. They actually believe private enterprise has their best interests at heart. Socialism is a system of, for, and by the people! Corporatism is of, for, and by the investors! Who really has the best interests of the American people at heart? The American people or private investors?

4) Tea Baggers claim that health-care will deny them freedom. Really? What freedom do they have now? The are constantly forced to take what corporatism offers them and forced to pay corporatists' prices. What kind of "freedom" is that?

Corporations are like a giant leeches and malignant cancers rolled into one. The constantly suck the lifeblood of Americans while rendering them hapless as dying organs...

because their survival depends upon it. Is bullshit!!

That only applies if those in control of the community can't be bought. Otherwise, as in the case of Massey who paid off the judges they can do anything they want.

Dumbass Libertarians!!

The Giant Invisible Hand will SAVE us ALL.
It demands that we sacrifice the American Working Class on the altar of Free Trade.
We must not make the Giant Invisible Hand angry!
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And people say that the Democrats are Anti-Religion!
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ALL of this "Free Market" nonsense was thoroughly debunked under Reagan, and later with Clinton.
I can't believe we are having to do it all over again...THIS time with the Democrats!.

in this case, if "death" is oh-so-undesireable, then miners will simply demand higher wages from employers who skirt on safety. the fact that there are all these otherwise unemployed people scrambling to take these risky jobs at low pay simply proves that your obsession over this whole "death" thing is just you imposing your liberal values on the free market.

if everyone actually agreed with you, then riskier companies would have to pay more for their workers, which would make them uncompetitive and they would go out of business, and so the free market would take care of the problem.

but obviously you're wrong and the free market it right.



:sarcasm:

see how easy it is to be a free-marketeer? just start from the premise that you're always right and work backwards from there.