Subject: Re: [LPNY DISCUSS] Free market environmentalism
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 23:47:54 -0500
To:        <lpny_discuss@yahoogroups.com>
From:     Bob Armstrong <bob@cosy.com>
On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 21:55:30 -0500, Gary Popkin wrote:
>=A0But what G.E. did -- which is what all polluters do -- is use
>=A0>political clout to escape the discipline of the free market=
 and force
>=A0>the public to pay the costs of its production. "
>
>=A0How would the free market eliminate G.E.'s externalities,=
 except by
>=A0government intervention or civil suit? =A0How did G.E. use=
 political clout to
>=A0dump toxins into the river?

 I believe that no one around , either governmental or other ,
 given the lack of any apparent toxicity thought very much about
 the discharges . And , of course , these jobs were their=
 livelihood .

 One thing you see repeatedly , from the Triangle Shirt Waist=
 fire to
 Enron's off balance sheet liabilities , is that when a problem=
 which
 no one , neither government nor market place , has previously=
 recognized 
 comes into the general consciousness , the State extends its=
 tentacles 
 even tho , once recognized , common sense and liability alone=
 would
 correct the problem .

--=A0
=A0Bob Armstrong -- http://CoSy.com -- 212-285-1864
Computing Environment : =A0http://CoSy.com/CoSy/
A WTC vision : http://CoSy.com/CoSy/ConicAllConnect/

Liberty : http://CoSy.com/Liberty.htm
Restore our Right to Relax :
=A0http://ny.lp.org/cgi-bin/petition.cgi?Against_the_Smoking_Ban
=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A02003/11/19 11:35:46 PM