The belief that we can (or should) be perfectly safe. Whether it’s cars or toys or Possibly Devastating Threats, there’s a limit as to how much of our money should be spent trying to eliminate all possibility of danger. And, paradoxically, the belief that it’s OK to pollute, it’s OK to grow veggies we want to eat raw in water that could be contaminated by the upstream farm’s wastes, etc. etc. etc. Some costs (in money and freedom) are way too high for the tiny amount of increased safety they buy. But the dangers are publicized and hyped up by people who can get something out of the attempted “fix”. At the same time, other dangers are just plain ignored, because the person making the decision believes they can make a profit while pushing the risks on some other guy.
Another thing is that we let some people grow obscenely rich because they treat their workers poorly. One aspect of this is not having universal healthcare. Making our employers provide healthcare puts them at a competitive disadvantage to companies in countries where that’s not an issue. And it means that the companies that treat their workers decently are at a competitive disadvantage to companies that provide poor or no healthcare. Wouldn’t you rather give the advantages to the nice guys?
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Date: 2008-07-18 02:30 pm (UTC)Another thing is that we let some people grow obscenely rich because they treat their workers poorly. One aspect of this is not having universal healthcare. Making our employers provide healthcare puts them at a competitive disadvantage to companies in countries where that’s not an issue. And it means that the companies that treat their workers decently are at a competitive disadvantage to companies that provide poor or no healthcare. Wouldn’t you rather give the advantages to the nice guys?