Truths: Soapbox on Corporate America

Okay, I feel because I have my own blog that once in awhile I reserve the right to get on a soapbox and preach my beliefs about the world. I am sure if you are a reader that is no surprise.

Today is that day. With the latest greed driven disaster: the BP oil spill... really, we should call it an oil GUSH... I am left to ponder the ways of the world and ultimately, scream, "greed drives atrocity."

No matter what BP says, or doesn't say, what really happened is that they got greedy and instead of taking the time and money to fix what they knew was broken they chose not to... Not fixing it meant more money in their pockets...at least they thought it did.

Now, instead, innocent people are dead and millions of things will be negatively affected by their costly mistake. Who truly knows the effects of this disaster: no one.

I cannot fathom the pain of the families who lost loved ones to this preventable tragedy and I shutter to think of all the wildlife and sealife who will be only helpless victims of corporate carelessness.

I won't even begin to say how this only proves drilling for oil off more of our own coasts is nothing but a bad idea.

But, more importantly this disaster allows me the opportunity to share what I have felt ever since attending my first dog auction... that if people were not driven by money, by greed - regulations would never have to be so stringent.

The reason that the Dept of Labor came to be was because of the slave labor companies chose to instill on children, impoverished families and helpless people. Grueling hours in poor conditions and minimal wages. Companies didn't care - so the government had to step in with rules and regulations to keep corporations from exploiting human beings.

Then came OSHA, the safety patrol, because companies chose to put employees in harms way by ignoring safety hazards and forcing people to work in unsafe conditions - some to the point of death. Fixing things and making them safe would be too costly they would say - so instead of using better judgement and protecting their own employees they opted to pocket the money and look the other way...until OSHA stepped in, and again, rules and regulations were implemented by the government.

Then came the EPA, the environmental patrol because companies didn't give a damn about what they were doing and causing our own Earth to deplete and deteriorate. It was too costly to remove oil or double barrel waste and prevent it from filtrating into the soil. It was too costly to prohibit unsafe emissions from pouring into our own air. Scrapping old batteries and dumping waste into our water supplies was second nature and a cheap way to get rid of what no company wanted. Until, the EPA stepped in an started fining corporate America for killing our environment one emission at a time, one nuclear waste at a time... the government had to step in...again.

There is also the Department of Ag..who was forced to step in and regulate our own food processing. Things we eat were left to the demise and cheap processes of companies. In the name of money, our own food was sacrificed leaving numerous people dead and to this day, many more sick.

Most recently, to protect animals, new laws, state by state have been passed to provide animals with basic necessities: room to turn around, food and water and adequate shelter - but only because people complained enough... and only because the people raising the animals had no regard for the animals well-being - only the money that was put in their pockets. Besides livestock, man's own best friend: dogs, were treated like commodities. What a horrible irony.

I am not for big government - I don't like being told what to do - I hated being made to wear a seatbelt! But, without regulations Corporate America has continually chosen money over ethics - greed over values... the only way to control it - to attempt to improve things is to regulate people - to fine companies and to make laws because companies only seem to care about profit even at the risk of losing it all...including human life

Shame on all of us for letting companies determine what is important in the world.