Capitalists don't want an unregulated market. they want a market regulated by other private agencies. They consider the government to have a monopoly on regulation and therefore for it to be ineffecient at enforcing those regulations, just as macdonalds would be inefficient at feeding an entire country if they were the only food provider that existed.
I'm not a capitalist, just pointing that out.
private enterprises do have an interest in community wellness, when they are accountable to their customers. After all, who would buy from a company that poisoned them?
The reason they're getting away with it now is because they are not accountable to their customers - if they start losing money [as bad businesses should] they simply turn to the government for a bail-out, which is effectively forcing people to pay for businesses they don't want, since it's tax money.
If you want to stop pollution, the government is definitely someone you don't want to turn to. They are bigger polluters there is.
What people don't seem to realise that, as bad as the IR was, it was actually a monumental improvement over previous living conditions.
Kids working in factories? Yeah, that sucked, and it shouldn't happen. Before that, though, they did even MORE work out in the country, for less to no pay, and often died in their early twenties, isolated, no medical care to speak of.... people flocked to the cities during the IR - the filthy, overcrowded, disease ridden, polluted cities, because they knew, as bad as it was, it was BETTER than their previous life.
"The truth is that the Industrial Revolution showed up the horrendous condition which had existed before it came along; it not only shone the light but it came up with the remedies." Pretty much sums it up.
the FDA has played it's own part in poisoning people. Consider the Vioxx, a drug that was approved by the FDA, found to be deadly, recalled, then approved again because of pharmaceutical lobbyists. They also kill people by delaying drugs that actually do work, in some cases by as much as a decade.
I'm not a capitalist, just pointing that out.
private enterprises do have an interest in community wellness, when they are accountable to their customers. After all, who would buy from a company that poisoned them?
The reason they're getting away with it now is because they are not accountable to their customers - if they start losing money [as bad businesses should] they simply turn to the government for a bail-out, which is effectively forcing people to pay for businesses they don't want, since it's tax money.
If you want to stop pollution, the government is definitely someone you don't want to turn to. They are bigger polluters there is.
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/85186/?page=entire
http://www.adti.net/environment/bndunlop_kasten_1000.html
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Kids working in factories? Yeah, that sucked, and it shouldn't happen. Before that, though, they did even MORE work out in the country, for less to no pay, and often died in their early twenties, isolated, no medical care to speak of.... people flocked to the cities during the IR - the filthy, overcrowded, disease ridden, polluted cities, because they knew, as bad as it was, it was BETTER than their previous life.
more IR myths here: http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Essays/BluePete/IndustRev.htm
"The truth is that the Industrial Revolution showed up the horrendous condition which had existed before it came along; it not only shone the light but it came up with the remedies." Pretty much sums it up.
the FDA has played it's own part in poisoning people. Consider the Vioxx, a drug that was approved by the FDA, found to be deadly, recalled, then approved again because of pharmaceutical lobbyists. They also kill people by delaying drugs that actually do work, in some cases by as much as a decade.
http://www.fdareview.org/
I suggest you explore other avenues of thought besides what you've been told.
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