3 ms·

How is this not a "failure of capitalism"?

dsfyu404ed 4y ago
If it happened in Venezuela would it be a failure of communism? If it happened in Iran would it be a failure of theocracy? Of f-ing course not. When you start talking about big organizations with tons of legacy rule-making and policy there tends to be a lot of misalignment of incentives that pops up over the years. It doesn't really matter the societal structure. I'm betting this is a classic "when everyone is responsible nobody is" type of failure you tend to get in organizations that have double and triple redundant rules to prevent failure but no realistic way to do your job without shirking some of your responsibility.
Chronoyes 4y ago
Do these accidents happen regularly in capitalist countries such as Sweden, Norway and Germany? If not then perhaps the problem is not capitalism but America's regulatory system.
- malermeister 4y ago
  Have you ever considered that the problem with America's regulatory system might be capitalism? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture
- paganel 4y ago
  > Do these accidents happen regularly in capitalist countries such as Sweden, Norway and Germany Don't know about those countries but I was in the general geographic area when this accident in Rouen happened, in 2019 [1]. The same as in this case, the main media (i.e. the Paris newspapers) pretty much ignored it, buried it in their 20th page or something, that's when they weren't calling really concerned people out as "paranoids". Luckily for me I was just a tourist in Normandy back then, so I got out of the area pretty fast. Almost forgot it, Buffett himself was one of the major shareholders in Lubrizol. He even had the audacity to call it just an "unfortunate story" a couple of years later [2]. So, yes, I pretty much regard this as a failure of capitalism. Later edit: This job [3] of picking up dead fish after an environmental disaster should have been done by a government-run agency. That way they would have correctly assessed the damages, the most likely causes, the compensations for those affected, the measures to be taken so that a similar thing doesn't happen in the future. Instead it looks like a private company has been employed to clear up the mess, in pure capitalistic fashion. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubrizol_factory_fire_in_Rouen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubrizol_factory_fire_in_Rouen [2] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-scope-lubrizol-france-fire-insurance-144833189.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/warren-buffett-berkshire-hath... [3] https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1625048386293633025 https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/16250483862936330...

If it happened in Venezuela would it be a failure of communism? If it happened in Iran would it be a failure of theocracy? Of f-ing course not. When you start talking about big organizations with tons of legacy rule-making and policy there tends to be a lot of misalignment of incentives that pops up over the years. It doesn't really matter the societal structure. I'm betting this is a classic "when everyone is responsible nobody is" type of failure you tend to get in organizations that have double and triple redundant rules to prevent failure but no realistic way to do your job without shirking some of your responsibility.

Chronoyes 4y ago

Do these accidents happen regularly in capitalist countries such as Sweden, Norway and Germany? If not then perhaps the problem is not capitalism but America's regulatory system.

malermeister 4y ago
Have you ever considered that the problem with America's regulatory system might be capitalism? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture
paganel 4y ago
> Do these accidents happen regularly in capitalist countries such as Sweden, Norway and Germany Don't know about those countries but I was in the general geographic area when this accident in Rouen happened, in 2019 [1]. The same as in this case, the main media (i.e. the Paris newspapers) pretty much ignored it, buried it in their 20th page or something, that's when they weren't calling really concerned people out as "paranoids". Luckily for me I was just a tourist in Normandy back then, so I got out of the area pretty fast. Almost forgot it, Buffett himself was one of the major shareholders in Lubrizol. He even had the audacity to call it just an "unfortunate story" a couple of years later [2]. So, yes, I pretty much regard this as a failure of capitalism. Later edit: This job [3] of picking up dead fish after an environmental disaster should have been done by a government-run agency. That way they would have correctly assessed the damages, the most likely causes, the compensations for those affected, the measures to be taken so that a similar thing doesn't happen in the future. Instead it looks like a private company has been employed to clear up the mess, in pure capitalistic fashion. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubrizol_factory_fire_in_Rouen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubrizol_factory_fire_in_Rouen [2] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-scope-lubrizol-france-fire-insurance-144833189.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/warren-buffett-berkshire-hath... [3] https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1625048386293633025 https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/16250483862936330...