# "They just protect business!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 14, 2006, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-just-protect-business/368651 "2006-08-14T11:57:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![yelimS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/54ee81/32.png) [@yelimS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yelimS)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-just-protect-business/368651/21 "2006-08-14T20:37:09Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] Forming a monopoly and massively raising prices. : Why do you think anti monopoly laws were made ? Look at OPEC; it’s the same principle. [/QUOTE] At least, you don’t have to look far for that one: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040903.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040903.html) And Bill Hicks did a joke about arsenic childhood food, so that MUST be true. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-just-protect-business/368651/22 "2006-08-14T23:11:14Z")
[QUOTE=col\_10022] Someone once talked about enlightened self interest as the cornerstone of capitalism. Humans are capable of enlightened self interest, corporations much less so. [/QUOTE] The law typically views a corporation as an entity, a legal person, and it’s true, they act just like natural persons. The only problem is the fictional persons are all sociopaths. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-just-protect-business/368651/23 "2006-08-14T23:27:03Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] And still, one would have to argue that 90% of things like the environment or any (supposed) disappearance of little companies are equally an issue of complaisance on the part of the populace, so that presenting it as an Us vs Them issue is rather shortsided for half the population to be making. [/QUOTE] If the Bush Administration allows power plants to ignore the law that says better scrubbers have to be installed when rennovation above a certain level is done, how do the people fight this - besides suing or kicking the rascals out? You really should read The Jungle, or a book on the Triangle Fire to see what things were like when we had a truly capitalist society. Many of the deaths in the Triangle fire were a result of the company locking the women in. You might remember the stories a while back about WalMart locking employees in overnight. I don’t think human nature has changed all that much in 100 years. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-just-protect-business/368651/24 "2006-08-15T00:44:31Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] You really should read The Jungle, or a book on the Triangle Fire to see what things were like when we had a truly capitalist society. Many of the deaths in the Triangle fire were a result of the company locking the women in. You might remember the stories a while back about WalMart locking employees in overnight. I don’t think human nature has changed all that much in 100 years. [/QUOTE] There have been more fires like that where people died because the company locked the workers in and burned to death; not just 100 years ago. For example, [Imperial Food Products had it happen](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEEDD1138F935A2575AC0A967958260) in 91. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-just-protect-business/368651/25 "2006-08-15T01:22:49Z")
Speaking of people burning to death: [The Ford Pinto story.](http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1977/09/dowie.html) > [@](#): > > Fighting strong competition from Volkswagen for the lucrative small-car market, the Ford Motor Company rushed the Pinto into production in much less than the usual time. > > Ford engineers discovered in pre-production crash tests that rear-end collisions would rupture the Pinto’s fuel system extremely easily. > > Because assembly-line machinery was already tooled when engineers found this defect, top Ford officials decided to manufacture the car anyway—exploding gas tank and all—even though Ford owned the patent on a much safer gas tank. > > \ > > Ford waited eight years because its internal “cost-benefit analysis,” which places a dollar value on human life, said it wasn’t profitable to make the changes sooner. > > \ > > Ford’s cost-benefit table is buried in a seven-page company memorandum entitled “Fatalities Associated with Crash-Induced Fuel Leakage and Fires.” The memo argues that there is no financial benefit in complying with proposed safety standards that would admittedly result in fewer auto fires, fewer burn deaths and fewer burn injuries. > > \ > $5.08 could have saved the lives of Sandra Gillespie and several hundred others. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-just-protect-business/368651/26 "2006-08-15T01:45:22Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] You really should read The Jungle, or a book on the Triangle Fire to see what things were like when we had a truly capitalist society. Many of the deaths in the Triangle fire were a result of the company locking the women in. You might remember the stories a while back about WalMart locking employees in overnight. I don’t think human nature has changed all that much in 100 years. [/QUOTE] Google ad currently at the bottom of the page: **Humor Writing Workshops** ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-just-protect-business/368651/27 "2006-08-15T03:30:06Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] Small businesses very rarely drive innovation (and those that do are generally purchased and expanded by the larger corporations.) [/QUOTE] WTF? I’d say that small business drives innovation, and then often gets big or bought as a result. Yes, I could cite examples of big business and innovation, but tell me, which large corporation invented the telephone? The electric light? The phonograph? The radio? The Apple computer? The automobile? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-just-protect-business/368651.md?page=1)