salmander

I agree. It should be the responsibility of the manufacturer of such products to warn us users of the dangers. Government regulations are really a kind of last-ditch effort to have something done to correct the problem, because the corporations do not really care if we die, as long as they can continue to make money. The regulations are intended to force responsibility that the corporations will not take. The idea is that coercive action or penalties should not have to be part of the situation, but all too often they are. That's one of the functions of government. It is changing somewhat now, with some corporations volunteering this information.

Car manufacturers are a good example. Remember the Ford Pinto, with their rear gas tanks? Quite a few people died (mostly children sitting in the back), burned to death before anything was done. Ford knew about it, but was slow to act. The numbers were pretty large. We were not warned. Now car manufacturers are recalling cars that have problems that almost no one knows about - a good thing. However, the negative aspects of this trend are one of the major problems with capitalism in general: money first, human lives maybe.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

And the alternative to capitalism? Slavery.

Mick_E_C

I still get a few chuckles when remembering HAL 9000 ... next year (2018) this baby is 50 years old.
Enjoy an excerpt ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARJ8cAGm6JE

whitewolfowner

I agree with you to a point there. But you cannot discount those that are stuck in their situation from no fault of their own. Not counting the lazy one's expecting everything handed to them, the disabled and poor elderly are a much larger crowd than the few exceptions you want to site. You seem to be trying to site one in a million as an excuse to turn your nose up to anyone less fortunate than you. Seems extremely selfish, and a bunch of other sorry character traits to me.

whitewolfowner

Slavery is exactly where the desperately poor and disabled put into. If you get off your high horse and take a little initiative and see how terrible these people are forced to exist in and how neglected and abused they are, you may change our extremely selfish attitude.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

There is also a thing called family responsibility and churches. Poor elderly with kids running off to Jamaica or other such crap should not be my responsibility or societies but the family responsibility. The same goes for those who are disabled it is family responsibility not mine or that lotto the family won with a disabled person to suck government money for.
We survived quite well with family and churches taking care of the poor and aged and there is nothing wrong with us going back to it as the government has absolutely no responsibility for it.

whitewolfowner

In many communities (as the one I live in), the churches are useless and not all families are able to care the elderly. Sure, if their children are old enough, and they are old enough to be established with good jobs and are in the same area as their parents, they can lend a hand in most cases and many do; many do not either. But not all situations are sweet and perfect as you are. And your statement of the government not being responsible for their citizens could not be farther from the truth. You are obviously wealthy and well off. Just pray that your children are not as selfish and self centered as you are because if they are, you will be left to rot and die as so many elderly are today. Your day could be a lot closer than you think. And it will be amazing how your attitude will change when and if you fall into the elderly trap America has set for so many of their hard working citizens. Don't you think it's about time you start caring about your neighbors and those not as well off as you and little less about yourself and your pocket book!

therwol Loc: USA

I don't believe that all churches are useless. I know someone who belongs to Christian church who is on a plane every time there is a disaster overseas, such as the Tsunami in Thailand or an earthquake somewhere else, getting his hands dirty building housing and helping poor people get their lives back together. His church works in this country too. When I was in Alabama after two hurricanes, the Mennonites came in and helped with the clean up to get things back in order. I don't belong to either church or denomination, but I consider their efforts, or charity if you prefer, to be admirable.

At the same time, what disturbs me is that we pay enormous social security taxes as sort of insurance against being helpless in our old age, and the government diverts the money and limits services, and the whole system will break down eventually.

whitewolfowner

Yes, I agree with you completely about Social Security. I know one person where they have stolen thousands of dollars of their benefits from them and are illegally denying them medicare B. And because of it no Senator nor lawyer (in fact the system itself keeps lawyers away unless they want to do give their services for free; good luck for that where I live) will lift a finger and they are being denied obozocare claiming they qualify for medicare.

I didn't say ALL churches are useless. What I said was that the one's where I LIVE ARE USELESS.

therwol Loc: USA

I understand.

salmander

I see two problems with your response.

One, I stated "one of the major problems with capitalism;" I was not defining all capitalism. Capitalism is not a black-and-white subject. There is good capitalism, where businesses take care of their employees and try to do good by the public with their goods and services. And there is bad capitalism, where the corporations appear to have little empathy for their employees and the public. Some capitalism is known as predatory capitalism; for instance, some investors buy out a company with the main goal of taking the pensions and retirement accounts that the workers had built up, often over decades, for their retirement, so they are left with nothing whatsoever. This is legal (for some unknown reason), but seems to fit the definition of evil to me. And then there are versions in between these two extremes.

Two, some people argue that workers in some businesses are similar in some ways to slaves - except they are paid for their efforts and they volunteer for their abuse. Many people are essentially trapped in their occupation. It's "do what I say or you are fired." "I don't particularly care if you say it's dangerous, do it anyway or you're fired." This is much more prevalent in other countries than the USA, but is certainly not unknown here. So...for some people, capitalism itself can be a form of slavery. We hear all the time of the deplorable and dangerous working conditions in poorer countries.

It's important to read posts carefully, in order to understand exactly what they mean. A single qualifying word can make a big difference with the intent of the post.

Mary Kate Loc: NYC

Wow...what a hero.

salmander

Very well put. I have never seen so much said in such a succinct way. You obviously try to think out your responses in the best way possible. Whether others understand what you say is another matter.

salmander

Another apt response, IMO.

salmander

Another instance, where you were forced to explain what you clearly wrote. You wrote "In many communities..." You did not say all communities or every community. It's amazing how your very first sentence was misunderstood. It has happened to me as well.