It Can Happen Here
laissez-faire
(ls´´ fâr´) (KEY) [Fr.,=leave alone], in economics and politics, doctrine that an economic system functions best when there is no interference by government. It is based on the belief that the natural economic order tends, when undisturbed by artificial stimulus or regulation, to secure the maximum well-being for the individual and therefore for the community as a whole.
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05
"License to spill
China's lack of environmental protections means disasters like last week's Songhua River spill will keep happening -- and keep being covered up.
By Andreas Lorenz
The water emergency in Harbin, an industrial city of 3.8 million, comes on the heels of an environmental catastrophe with as yet unforeseeable consequences. About 100 tons of toxic chemicals have been floating down the Songhua River ever since an explosion in Jilin, located 400 kilometers (248 miles) upstream from Harbin, released highly toxic benzene compounds. At least five people were killed and dozens injured in the Nov. 13 accident in Chemical Factory 101, and the slick, slowly traveling downriver toward Russia, threatens the drinking-water supply for more than 10 million people between the northeast Chinese city of Harbin and Khabarovsk in Siberia.
China's laissez-faire brand of socialism doesn't prevent executives from spending their money on cars and villas instead of investing it in worker safety and environmental protection. Although the government is constantly vowing to monitor manufacturers more closely, local officials and party leaders are often in bed with the captains of industry in China."
The rest of this Salon article details what an environmental debacle China has become due to unregulated growth and massive burning of coal and other fossil fuels.
This is what will result if the Republican and libertarian disdain for environmental regulation is given free reign.
(ls´´ fâr´) (KEY) [Fr.,=leave alone], in economics and politics, doctrine that an economic system functions best when there is no interference by government. It is based on the belief that the natural economic order tends, when undisturbed by artificial stimulus or regulation, to secure the maximum well-being for the individual and therefore for the community as a whole.
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05
"License to spill
China's lack of environmental protections means disasters like last week's Songhua River spill will keep happening -- and keep being covered up.
By Andreas Lorenz
The water emergency in Harbin, an industrial city of 3.8 million, comes on the heels of an environmental catastrophe with as yet unforeseeable consequences. About 100 tons of toxic chemicals have been floating down the Songhua River ever since an explosion in Jilin, located 400 kilometers (248 miles) upstream from Harbin, released highly toxic benzene compounds. At least five people were killed and dozens injured in the Nov. 13 accident in Chemical Factory 101, and the slick, slowly traveling downriver toward Russia, threatens the drinking-water supply for more than 10 million people between the northeast Chinese city of Harbin and Khabarovsk in Siberia.
China's laissez-faire brand of socialism doesn't prevent executives from spending their money on cars and villas instead of investing it in worker safety and environmental protection. Although the government is constantly vowing to monitor manufacturers more closely, local officials and party leaders are often in bed with the captains of industry in China."
The rest of this Salon article details what an environmental debacle China has become due to unregulated growth and massive burning of coal and other fossil fuels.
This is what will result if the Republican and libertarian disdain for environmental regulation is given free reign.
posted by Peter L. Winkler | 12:45 AM
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