GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION!

(Green Bay Press Gazette/Frazer Chronicle)

Okay I know, you all are getting tired of me "short stroking" the government and some of the silly things that they do with regards to regulations, or the lack there-of. I have blogged on many occasions about how government intervention can be a bad thing, and also how people need to take charge of their lives, their actions, their futures and be a better informed electorate.

I used to drive a semi truck and always giggled whenever I crossed a state line into West Virginia and was confronted by a entrance sign that proclaimed that "West Virginia was open for business." It just seemed inappropriate to me, kinda like "come on in, anything goes."

Wisconsin has adopted that attitude of favoring business with regards to less regulations, and more and better business opportunities. God knows that every single state in the union needs business so that everybody has a chance at a job, of paying their own way, being a responsible citizen, and the great feeling that comes with that accomplishment.

Nowhere in my thinking, or  beliefs do I feel that government should throw up "road-blocks" to encumber the business of business in Wisconsin, or in any other state in America. People get out of hand with sanctions on business all over the country, sanctions impede business, hinder it and in some cases, chase business to another state,  or right out of the country.

BUSINESS'S RESPONSIBILITY:

Business is responsible to make investors, stock holders, or owners a profit first and foremost, at least that is the overbearing objective today. Business people do not come into an area and say something like, "oh, hey, this looks like a nice area to develop our business ideas, we could really help this community out, good jobs, better living conditions, new cars and a roast in every cooking pot."

These business people look at a potential site and wonder what kind of a tax break then can get, how much infrastructure will the area cover, and how many skilled on unskilled people will be available to work for a sub-standard wage.

Business wants as many breaks as they can possible get, no matter whether it is legal, or a benefit to the working people, or to the people living in the area. Business people come into an area thinking the bottom  line right away.

Business has almost never seen a regulation that they didn't want to break or at least bend any way they could. And in today's work-place, with the domestic as well as  foreign competition, can you blame them. 

There is an iron mine in the central part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that was in business for a little over a hundred years. The waste rock that was produced by the underground mining operation was hoisted to the surface for years, and dumped into an adjacent lake, compressing the lakes size by about a mile in total. Did the mining company care that they were destroying the lake, not even a little bit.

Business was.....and is out of control, it's pretty much the way business does business in America. Locals except it, regional(s) except it, and state and the federal government pretty much goes along with it.

DEATH IN THE PLACE WORK:

The predictable happens whenever business has it's way, and there is a general attitude by local, state and federal government agencies of complacency, workers sustain injuries and in sever cases, death. These 2 attitudes have always been a mix for disaster as history has proven over and over again.

I worked in and around dangerous equipment and situations most all of my working life, from table saws, to power hand saws, to overhead booms, to all types of machines and have been witness to untold injuries. I have never attended a "safety meeting" that wasn't mandated by the federal government. In absolutely no situation did an employer ever call a safety meeting.....ever.

Many work place areas are set up to be as economical and efficient as possible, if worker safety is jeopardised, so be it. In many company establishments today, there is a safety officer who is supposed to take care of safety issues in their workers places, that's great, until one considers who is paying this official. How far are you going to go to carry out your responsibilities as a safety official at a factory, when it's likely your actions would be quite the same as a dog biting the hand that feeds him.

Death occurs way to often in today's workplace, unless you feel that the following figures don't show that opinion:

Chicago-Naperville-Joilet, IL. In. Wi. Metropolitan area, 100

Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Tx. area, 119

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana. Ca. area, 115

New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island Ny-Nj-Pa mentropolitian area, 152

These statistics are for 2009, the last available year for these numbers, they amount to 486 deaths. Each your more then 4000 people die in work place accidents in the United States, deaths that effect hundreds of people, and leave countless widows and orphaned children.

PENALTIES AND CONCLUSIONS:

The penalties for these work place deaths, with the exception of a precious few,  the Occupational, Safety & Health Administration, (O.S.H.A.) can lay an occasional fine on unsafe business practices or work place areas. However, without exception,  these business people  can  contested every fine as being unjust.

There basically is no penalty program to follow in most of the work place  deaths, the federal  government uses a case by case mentality on each issue. In many of the cases, the fines that are issued by O.S.H.A. can be halved or even resended, depending on the severity of the infraction and how serious the injury was.

Employees that are injured on the job usually do not to get compensation from the business owner. Workman's compensation laws allow for benefits to the injured from a fund that all business pay into.  Many of these compensation laws are antiquated, were established in the first decade of the 20th. century and favor the company,

There is a death benefit through the Worker's Compensation regulations, but in most cases, the awarded amounts can be next to nothing in monetary value. To date there absolutely is no regulatory rules to govern business no matter the infraction. O.S.H.A. does not posses the "teeth" to govern business, they do not have the man-power to police business, nor do they have the budget.

Business has the working class of the United States exactly where they want them.....by the short little hairs. George W. Bush took much of the powers away from the fed. and Obama has done little to restore it.

My only advice to you, the reader,  is to retire as soon as possible, before big business, the Republicans and some on the Democratic side take all workers rights away. The dark of "winter" in the business community, and the workers legions is just beginning.....things can only get worse because business really has a strangle hold on America.