Re: wow...what a storm!
Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2004 6:13 pm
Bimmercat wrote:
> Homerism...funny..I never really watch the Simpsons, but I know
> what that means.
Much wisdom and target-practice in that show.
>
> then the whole world has to abide by the same laws...this is only fair if
> we are to truly put the environment first...right? Is not pollution in a poor
> country still pollution by any other definition? Why should
> Mexico get a pass on environmental laws, while the US has to
> abide by stricter laws?
I take your point, but it's the grossl amount of emissions per nation that is the issue- that and the economic and moral argument about assisting developing nations who may not be able to afford the simultaneous expense of both industrialisation AND pollution-control- at least trying to level the playing-field a little. Let a middle-class begin to get a foothold in some of these nasty dictatorships, and democracy will soon be crying to be born- and much more cheaply than by trying to impose it by force. Although you may not like the competition that results (but isn't that what Americans do best? Compete?), the whole world will eventually benefit. There seems to be a colossal arrogance or monumental stupidity here- that the third world is poor because they're feckless or lazy, when I'm sure that if you took any one of about 70% of their population and transplanted them into the West, they'd be a millionaire overnight. The West does not have a monopoly on entrepreneurial talent, merely on the economic conditions which allow it to flourish.
> It seems like the big corporations of developed nations already
> figured out how to go around strict environmental laws ......nice! Haven't you all in Britian seen hundreds of jobs leave the UK for India...never to
> return?
Effective legislation could take care of the former- many of these governments are pretty pissed-off at the multinationals' outrageous behaviour: and while they might be able to bankrupt ONE nation or another, they couldn't hope to prevail against a united front.
Again, it's possible to redirect an economy- why is such a thing expected of developing nations, while we over here seem incapable of doing likewise?
> we are not storing things nearly as harmful as the Goodyear folks in
> Mexico!
So level the playing-field, and do the bad guys out of the bad business- and I just bet the US Goodyear shareholders are continually haranguing the board about their shoddy treatment of foreign employees?
> Homerism...funny..I never really watch the Simpsons, but I know
> what that means.
Much wisdom and target-practice in that show.
>
> then the whole world has to abide by the same laws...this is only fair if
> we are to truly put the environment first...right? Is not pollution in a poor
> country still pollution by any other definition? Why should
> Mexico get a pass on environmental laws, while the US has to
> abide by stricter laws?
I take your point, but it's the grossl amount of emissions per nation that is the issue- that and the economic and moral argument about assisting developing nations who may not be able to afford the simultaneous expense of both industrialisation AND pollution-control- at least trying to level the playing-field a little. Let a middle-class begin to get a foothold in some of these nasty dictatorships, and democracy will soon be crying to be born- and much more cheaply than by trying to impose it by force. Although you may not like the competition that results (but isn't that what Americans do best? Compete?), the whole world will eventually benefit. There seems to be a colossal arrogance or monumental stupidity here- that the third world is poor because they're feckless or lazy, when I'm sure that if you took any one of about 70% of their population and transplanted them into the West, they'd be a millionaire overnight. The West does not have a monopoly on entrepreneurial talent, merely on the economic conditions which allow it to flourish.
> It seems like the big corporations of developed nations already
> figured out how to go around strict environmental laws ......nice! Haven't you all in Britian seen hundreds of jobs leave the UK for India...never to
> return?
Effective legislation could take care of the former- many of these governments are pretty pissed-off at the multinationals' outrageous behaviour: and while they might be able to bankrupt ONE nation or another, they couldn't hope to prevail against a united front.
Again, it's possible to redirect an economy- why is such a thing expected of developing nations, while we over here seem incapable of doing likewise?
> we are not storing things nearly as harmful as the Goodyear folks in
> Mexico!
So level the playing-field, and do the bad guys out of the bad business- and I just bet the US Goodyear shareholders are continually haranguing the board about their shoddy treatment of foreign employees?