I hear you too and I agree that governments are often poor managers. I don't agree that management of other types of enterprise is necessarily better - except perhaps in making money, but often not even then. I've seen some really horrible examples of cheating, waste & downright stupidity in the management of big, apparently "successful" businesses.
I hope to get back to the ideas you floated about dealing with plastic waste but it's past 5am & time for another attempt at sleep.
I find it wildly amusing that self professed "free thinkers" on this site are the ones most likely to come up with costly and cumbersome
solutions to all of the problems of society- using huge gobs of other peoples money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These self professed types AINT FREE AND AINT THINKING much either!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is an article illustrating the true price of some popular products! With some comments of my own in brackets):
Samsung apologizes for workers' sicknesses, deaths
From Associated Press
Published: November 23, 2018. Updated: November 23, 2018 9:08 AM EST
Filed Under: Toronto SUN/ News/ World
Kinam Kim, President & CEO, Device Solutions, Samsung Electronics apologizes in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Nov. 23, 2018. Samsung Electronics has apologized for the sickness and deaths of some of its workers, saying it failed to create a safe working environment at its computer chip and display factories.
(These are the kind of work practices that produce things like batteries for the electric toy cars that LIE-berals want to force on us so they can collect more gravy from electricity price gouging!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
(Batteries for Tesla cars are produced in United States and there have been several work stoppages due to unexpectedly high levels of toxic Lithium dust! And people in neighboring communities in Nevada have complained about Lithium dust blowing out of the Tesla site - which prompted visits from safety inspectors and some changes to production and material handling methods!)
The announcement by the South Korean technology giant came weeks after the company and a group representing ailing Samsung workers agreed to accept compensation terms suggested by a mediator and end a highly-publicized standoff that went on for more than a decade. The company’s apology was part of the settlement.
(Clearly there is great value in a free press and honest govt not tied to closely to corporate influences!! Govt ought to be referee and regulator and not promoter of biz! When govt becomes partners with biz- it takes on the same morality as biz!! The Samsung pollution went on for over a decade!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
(WE Cdns should be very concerned about LIE-berals getting to close and cozy with electric Toy car makers since LIE-beral greed for gravy will blind LIE-berals to any potential faults or flaws in production and design!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
(And it is also worth recalling that Wynne-bag Ontari-owe LIE-berals did a GRAND DEAL with Samsung and others to make solar panels and wind generators here- and LIE-berals DID NOT GET the level of job creation or investment that they expected! Reality was so far off the LIE-beral expectations that they invoked several penalty clauses in their contracts and grabbed back several billion dollars - but left several billions more in the hands of business- who HAD NOT EARNED IT!! But LIE-berals continued to INSIST to the public that it was still a great deal in spite of so few promises being lived up to by business!!!!!)
Kinam Kim, president of Samsung’s device solutions division, said the company failed to “sufficiently manage health threats” at its semiconductor and liquid crystal display manufacturing lines. As detailed in Associated Press reporting over the past decade, dozens of employees who worked there have experienced grave illnesses such as leukemia and brain tumors.
(Sadly a lot of kids will read this stuff and simply assume it is representative of the ills of capitalism! Who will tell the kids that the Socialist solution to complaints is to SHOOT the complainers?? Winston Churchill said it best when he observed: “that capitalism and democracy look bad- until one compares them to the alternatives”!! Socialism of the LIE-beral sort IS THE PROBLEM - NOT the solution!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
(Kids who think that Socialism offers greater hope and options than capitalism have been LIED TO in the most terrible fashion!! Only those who do not know history can seriously support Socialism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
“We offer our sincere apology to our workers who have suffered with illnesses and their families,” Kim said during a news conference in Seoul, which was also attended by activists and relatives of the workers.
But while cutting a deal and loosely admitting to lapses in safety standards, Samsung has yet to fully acknowledge its workplace environment as the direct cause of the illnesses.
The standoff began in 2007 when taxi driver Hwang Sang-gi refused to accept a settlement after his 23-year-old daughter died of leukemia after working at a Samsung factory. Hwang’s efforts to clarify the cause of Yu-mi’s death and hold Samsung responsible for problems related to working conditions galvanized a broader movement to hold businesses and the government accountable for safety lapses in the chip and display industries, which use huge amounts of chemicals.
The South Korean govt has been working hard and made many partnerships with Biz- and it leads to gvit not being aggressive with solutions to corporate problems!!!!)
“No apology would be enough when considering the deception and humiliation we experienced (from Samsung) over the past 11 years, the pain of suffering from occupational diseases, the pain of losing loved ones,” Hwang said at the news conference. “But I take today’s apology as a promise from Samsung Electronics,” to improve the safety of its workplaces, he said.
According to the settlement, Samsung will compensate for various illnesses of employees who have worked at its chip and LCD factories since 1984, including as much as 150 million won ($132,000) for leukemia. The compensation also covers miscarriages and congenital illnesses of the workers’ children such as child cancer.
(A “gift” of $132 grand sounds pretty paltry for the life of 23 year old girl!! But if the company paid out millions it would not survive and jobs would be LOST! This Samsung deal is sounding rather like the Lavalin MESS one might think?? It’s a govt mandated cover up of corruption just to save jobs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Since 2008, dozens of workers have sought occupational safety compensation from the government. Few won compensation, mostly after years of court battles. Half the remaining claims were rejected and half remain under review.
(And all of this pain and suffering could have been avoided if only govt referees had made their influence known!! But modern govt has become more interested in corporate profits than in safety standards!! One only has to think of the Listeria Scandal that occurred here in Ontari-owe simply because Maple Leaf foods never bothered to disassemble one of their meat handling machines to clean it properly- nobody bothered to ask what cutting surfaces inside the machine MIGHT be getting poisonous from lack of cleaning - and as a result people DIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Families of the victims often have depleted their savings and sold their homes to pay hospital bills. Some workers end up incapacitated and unable to work.
(Its too bad that kids will read this stuff without understanding that it is ONLY the capitalist system that will ALLOW public hearings on this sort of stuff!! Socialists think it is best to bury both the victims AND the truth!!!!!!!!!)