Alec Baldwin: "Put the oil companies out of business!"
127 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Lankist;19631988]Yes because the government isn't greedy and doesn't care about making money.[/QUOTE]
Especially since many officials can (and do) raise their own paychecks
[QUOTE=Lankist;19631968]No, we don't lose those jobs if we actually spend the decades we have left before they are defunct establishing a new infrastructure and new energy dependence.
We DO lose those jobs of we act stupid and rash like you suggest.[/QUOTE]
Point taken. Perhaps preventing the creation of new coal plants would slow down the economy. At the same time, it could possibly deplete our coal reserves faster and that would really be a far greater disaster than losing the possibility of more employment by utilizing more coal plants, but we do have a somewhat ample supply of coal.
[QUOTE=Xystus234;19632066]Point taken. Perhaps preventing the creation of new coal plants would slow down the economy. At the same time, it would deplete our coal reserves faster, but we do have a somewhat ample supply of that.[/QUOTE]
We have more than enough supply provided we are smart about it and invest in secondary energy sources as we burn through it. Nobody is suggesting we only use coal, only that we use coal while we have it so we can research alternatives.
[QUOTE=Lankist;19632087]We have more than enough supply provided we are smart about it and invest in secondary energy sources as we burn through it. Nobody is suggesting we only use coal, only that we use coal while we have it so we can research alternatives.[/QUOTE]
Some decidedly imbecilic environmentalists blocked the building of a massive solar facility in the Mojave desert. THAT would have been a great source of energy. Why did they block it?
[url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100101/ap_on_bi_ge/us_solar_showdown]FOR TWO DOZEN GOD DAMN TURTLES.[/url]
[QUOTE=Splode a Pinga;19631953]Because the government can do everything efficiently, right?[/QUOTE]
They can do things without the morally bankrupt, blatant exploitation that has become so commonplace in the American private sector.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;19632229]They can do things without the morally bankrupt, blatant exploitation that has become so commonplace in the American private sector.[/QUOTE]
You realize you just described the American Government plus a three word qualification at the end.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;19632229]They can do things without the morally bankrupt, blatant exploitation that has become so commonplace in the American private sector.[/QUOTE]
You're talking as if there isn't a sizeable portion of the government that is ALREADY corrupt.
e.g. The $300 million that was offered to the state of certain Mississippi Senator for her vote on the Senate healthcare bill
PLUS the private sector is accountable for crimes.
The US government has MUCH less accountability.
Reminds me of Final Fantasy 7 where you destroy mako reactors to preserve the environment and stop evil mako companies from dominating the world.
This is what happens to the majority of Actors who voice their own, unscripted, political opinions. They end up looking like morons.
[QUOTE=Lankist;19632319]PLUS the private sector is accountable for crimes.
The US government has MUCH less accountability.[/QUOTE]
Wrong way around, we can actually vote people out of the government. We have no say in the goings-on of the conglomerates we're all dependent on.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;19633087]Wrong way around, we can actually vote people out of the government. We have no say in the goings-on of the conglomerates we're all dependent on.[/QUOTE]
You don't know how it works, do you.
Corporations are under a lot of scrutiny, more so then they've ever been.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;19633087]Wrong way around, we can actually vote people out of the government. We have no say in the goings-on of the conglomerates we're all dependent on.[/QUOTE]
Yes I trust your assessment of the legal system.
[QUOTE=Lankist;19633167]Yes I trust your assessment of the legal system.[/QUOTE]
Where the hell have you been? I remember like 4 months of not seeing you anywhere, now you're back.
Was it studying for the Bar?
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;19633123]You don't know how it works, do you.
Corporations are under a lot of scrutiny, more so then they've ever been.[/QUOTE]
Doubtful, otherwise Enron never would have happened. Corporations get to operate with next to no oversight, huge levels of secrecy, and nothing to prevent them from cooking their books to disguise financial problems. If they had anything near the level of transparency we demand from government finance, we would have seen the financial collapse coming a mile away.
Uhh the Enron Scandal was exposed. How exactly does referencing Enron help your point of "Corporations get away with everything" when Enron DIDN'T get away with anything.
Isn't it funny that actors also happen to be expert economists, sociologists and scientists
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;19633303]Doubtful, otherwise Enron never would have happened. Corporations get to operate with next to no oversight, huge levels of secrecy, and nothing to prevent them from cooking their books to disguise financial problems. If they had anything near the level of transparency we demand from government finance, we would have seen the financial collapse coming a mile away.[/QUOTE]
Did you just say the Government is transparent?
[QUOTE=Lankist;19633403]Uhh the Enron Scandal was exposed. How exactly does referencing Enron help your point of "Corporations get away with everything" when Enron DIDN'T get away with anything.[/QUOTE]
Enron was in deep shit long before the story broke, they successfully hid behind straw companies, bogus earnings reports, and "investment" from their own subsidiary companies until things were too out of control for them to hide any longer. They were only exposed after running the company for years on false pretenses.
[editline]06:21PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;19633507]Did you just say the Government is transparent?[/QUOTE]
More so than private industry. Which isn't saying much, but it's still true. I can't flick on CSPAN and watch Exxon's board meetings.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;19633513]Enron was in deep shit long before the story broke, they successfully hid behind straw companies, bogus earnings reports, and "investment" from their own subsidiary companies until things were too out of control for them to hide any longer. They were only exposed after running the company for years on false pretenses..[/QUOTE]
That doesn't matter. They were still caught and they were still punished. That PROVES that they ARE accountable.
[editline]06:25PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;19633513]More so than private industry. Which isn't saying much, but it's still true. I can't flick on CSPAN and watch Exxon's board meetings.[/QUOTE]
Uhh that isn't a bad thing. I can't turn on a TV and watch you masturbate. What they do is none of your business. They have a right to privacy. The government does not have the right to deprive them of such under the pretense of the prevention of crime.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;19633513]I can't flick on CSPAN and watch the government's proceedings on certain vital parts of the healthcare bill like Obama promised multiple times.[/QUOTE]
fixed
[QUOTE=Lankist;19633568]
Uhh that isn't a bad thing. I can't turn on a TV and watch you masturbate. What they do is none of your business. They have a right to privacy. The government does not have the right to deprive them of such under the pretense of the prevention of crime.[/QUOTE]
That just proved my point about why I'd trust the government for health insurance and energy over private industry.
Nuclear power please, let's switch over already.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;19633626]That just proved my point about why I'd trust the government for health insurance and energy over private industry.[/QUOTE]
You would trust them because you can see how incompetent they are.
[QUOTE=Lankist;19633568]That doesn't matter. They were still caught and they were still punished. That PROVES that they ARE accountable.[/QUOTE]
The point he is making is that it took years for a scandal that huge to be broken. What does that say about our ability to bring such scandals to light? If it took that long for something that big to finally be stopped, don't you think it's possible that there are other, similar ones that haven't been noticed and responded to?
It's like arguing that it's impossible to get away with murder by pointing out a few specific murderers that have been caught.
[QUOTE=Sigma-Lambda;19633666]The point he is making is that it took years for a scandal that huge to be broken. What does that say about our ability to bring such scandals to light? If it took that long for something that big to finally be stopped, don't you think it's possible that there are other, similar ones that haven't been noticed and responded to?[/QUOTE]
Uhh so basically you're saying fuck collecting evidence and due process we should just throw that out and punish people before crimes happen.
Newsflash: You have to be able to prove a crime happened before you can punish someone for it. That is a GOOD thing.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;19633626]That just proved my point about why I'd trust the government for health insurance and energy over private industry.[/QUOTE]
They seem to be real efficient.
Like the time they said renovating the lobby of the Capitol building would take ~$2.5M and about 6 months
It took $30 million and a full 1 and a half years
And it's just that easy.
[QUOTE=Lankist;19633676]Uhh so basically you're saying fuck collecting evidence and due process we should just throw that out and punish people before crimes happen.
[/QUOTE]
I'm saying companies with such a tremendous influence on the economy and the lives of the public shouldn't be allowed to operate in secrecy. 7 million people lost their jobs recently as a result of private industry's insane risks that they agencies who were supposed to be regulating this shit allowed them to take. Any company capable of causing a disaster like that needs appropriate oversight.
[editline]06:34PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Splode a Pinga;19633708]They seem to be real efficient.
Like the time they said renovating the lobby of the Capitol building would take ~$2.5M and about 6 months
It took $30 million and a full 1 and a half years[/QUOTE]
I'll take the chance of government incompetence in providing health insurance over the certainty that I'll be milked for every cent and then thrown out on the street when I finally do get sick.
[QUOTE=Lankist;19633676]Uhh so basically you're saying fuck collecting evidence and due process we should just throw that out and punish people before crimes happen.
Newsflash: You have to be able to prove a crime happened before you can punish someone for it. That is a GOOD thing.[/QUOTE]
I got Lankist and Sigma to argue?
Hell yes. 10-page thread, here we come.
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