> Drive for profit should naturally increase safety If an executive can eke out a bonus from cutting corners, they will do so. It's long-term vs. short-term pr

> Drive for profit should naturally increase safety If an executive can eke out a bonus from cutting corners, they will do so. It's long-term vs. short-term profit mindset. An executive may not care about the long-term profit of a company if they can make a quick dollar today and vanish tomorrow. > The Saudis didn’t cancel their Boeing 737 max order because they valued safety over profits. Yes, obviously people will stop flying on the 737 Max today. But that didn't stop the CEO of Boeing from forcing unsafe modifications on the 737 in a desperate gamble to compete with Airbus. The fact that we're discussing this today shows that your statement about "drive for profit naturally increases safety" to be false. The 737 Max wouldn't exist. Another example of this is VW and the emissions scandal. Customers, likewise, do not always do what is in their best interest. The 2008 mortgage crisis happened because customers were taking out loans they had no business taking out. And on the other end of the table, banks didn't care about risk because the risk was abstracted away from them. It was someone else's problem. Which ultimately became the government and taxpayer's problem. > In fact I’d argue we are even willing (collectively) pay massive amounts even for the false appearance of safety, i.e Homeland Security in the United States, even in the absence of concrete evidence that it actually makes us safer. Propaganda certainly works. Anti-vaxxers are a thing now. Which just proves that safety is a two-way street. Millions of people still smoke. The number of people texting and driving is so high that we have to have advertising on TV telling people constantly to stop it. Motorcyclists still refuse to wear helmets. If it weren't law, great numbers of people would still ride in cars without seat belts. And yes, they would buy cars without airbags if they were allowed to and it were cheaper than models with airbags.