5 ms·

This lawsuit is like two lieutenants on a sinking ship getting in a fight over whose fault it is that they got torpedoed. One of the two may be right, but none

by ta0987 7y ago

This lawsuit is like two lieutenants on a sinking ship getting in a fight over whose fault it is that they got torpedoed. One of the two may be right, but none the less it's pointless and unproductive. There are more important things to do. Unless of course the ship is sinking really slowly and one of them might get elected governor before the whole thing goes down.

mehrdadn 7y ago
I can imagine one difference with the lieutenants here is that nobody outside will ever know about said fight, given that the ship will sink.
- ta0987 7y ago
  In my analogy the intended implication was that getting people into life boats is more useful than fighting.
  - mehrdadn 7y ago
    Okay, but the intended implication of my comment was that since this can actually send a message to others, it might actually cause others to be a bit more careful about how they proceed moving forward, which actually might very well help with help things moving forward.
  - chrisweekly 7y ago
    Ok, but one of the "lieutenants" in your analogy is telling passengers that the ship's not sinking, and interfering with attempts to warn other ships about enemy torpedos.
frankbreetz 7y ago
In this case we could get huge sums of money to fix the sinking ship(climate change). So, I am not seeing how this analogy applies.
- mac01021 7y ago
  How much could we possibly get? Nothing proportional to the cost of a solution, certainly.
- ta0987 7y ago
  The reason the characters are lieutenants in my story is because this problem is bigger than them. You could take every penny the oil companies have and it would barely make a dent in the problem. This isn't a money problem it is a fundamental economic and industrial structure of society problem.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - calcifer 7y ago
    > You could take every penny the oil companies have and it would barely make a dent in the problem. Citation needed. The top 10 oil companies [1] had a cumulative $2.5 trillion dollars in revenue in 2017. I'd say that'd go a long way in climate change R&D. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_oil_and_gas_companies_by_revenue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_oil_and_gas_co...
    - onetimemanytime 7y ago
      Value would go to zero the minute you announce confiscation or whatever we call it. And revenue is different from money in the bank or assets.
    - Aunche 7y ago
      Revenue, not profit. Oil is very low margin. Oil companies makes about 7 cents per gallon of gasoline. That's a lot less than the amount of money that is collected from gasoline taxes. https://www.forbes.com/2011/05/10/oil-company-earnings.html#a79a3ca2dc83 https://www.forbes.com/2011/05/10/oil-company-earnings.html#...
    - WillPostForFood 7y ago

by ta0987 7y ago

mehrdadn 7y ago

I can imagine one difference with the lieutenants here is that nobody outside will ever know about said fight, given that the ship will sink.

ta0987 7y ago
In my analogy the intended implication was that getting people into life boats is more useful than fighting.
- mehrdadn 7y ago
  Okay, but the intended implication of my comment was that since this can actually send a message to others, it might actually cause others to be a bit more careful about how they proceed moving forward, which actually might very well help with help things moving forward.
- chrisweekly 7y ago
  Ok, but one of the "lieutenants" in your analogy is telling passengers that the ship's not sinking, and interfering with attempts to warn other ships about enemy torpedos.

frankbreetz 7y ago

In this case we could get huge sums of money to fix the sinking ship(climate change). So, I am not seeing how this analogy applies.

mac01021 7y ago
How much could we possibly get? Nothing proportional to the cost of a solution, certainly.
ta0987 7y ago
The reason the characters are lieutenants in my story is because this problem is bigger than them. You could take every penny the oil companies have and it would barely make a dent in the problem. This isn't a money problem it is a fundamental economic and industrial structure of society problem.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- calcifer 7y ago
  > You could take every penny the oil companies have and it would barely make a dent in the problem. Citation needed. The top 10 oil companies [1] had a cumulative $2.5 trillion dollars in revenue in 2017. I'd say that'd go a long way in climate change R&D. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_oil_and_gas_companies_by_revenue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_oil_and_gas_co...
  - onetimemanytime 7y ago
    Value would go to zero the minute you announce confiscation or whatever we call it. And revenue is different from money in the bank or assets.
  - Aunche 7y ago
    Revenue, not profit. Oil is very low margin. Oil companies makes about 7 cents per gallon of gasoline. That's a lot less than the amount of money that is collected from gasoline taxes. https://www.forbes.com/2011/05/10/oil-company-earnings.html#a79a3ca2dc83 https://www.forbes.com/2011/05/10/oil-company-earnings.html#...
  - WillPostForFood 7y ago