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DirkGently

(12,151 posts)

15. The free market has not once been ahead of the curve.

Reply to hatrack (Original post)

Sun Jan 31, 2016, 01:48 PM

Jan 2016

The free market cares about the environment exactly 0%. Exxon started to raise the alarm about global warming in the 1970s, but buried its own research because it realized it would rather make money right up until disaster struck.

The free market did nothing about smog until the government intervened.

Nothing about the ozone layer until government intervened.

Child labor. Egret feathers. Seatbelts and airbags. Slavery.

The free market takes action to put ethics, human health, the environment, or long-term thinking of any kind ahead of immediate profits approximately NEVER.

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