Economy
In reply to the discussion: WEE December 4, 2015 I'll start......I'll start with some...... [View all]MattSh
(3,714 posts)Well, my wife often talks fondly of Soviet Union times... but there's more to it than that.
Chernobyl. 1986. The communist reaction. While it did take a couple of days to understand the problem, once they knew the scale of it, they did everything they could to stop the problem in it's tracks. And at a great risk to those assigned to stop the problem. And to hell with the economics of it.
Fukushima, 2011. The capitalist reaction. From the earliest days, I had this feeling that their top priority was to make sure their investment in nuclear power, at this location, and throughout Japan, would not be compromised. This meant downplaying the immediate and long-term threats and pretending that all is under control.
In the end, the Soviet Union, by acting promptly, saved Europe from long-term ecological effects of Chernobyl; Japan has basically polluted the Pacific, all the way to the west coast of the USA, still pretending that there is no problem.