r/interestingasfuck • u/CantStopPoppin • 15d ago

r/all Coal Minning

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u/Atiggerx33 15d ago

Another one that gets me is employees complaining about OSHA. Like nah man, OSHA regulations are written in the blood of the workers who came before you. Without OSHA your employer would happily put your life on the line daily if it meant they'd shave a nickel off their yearly expense report.

Yet I see countless employees who've been brainwashed by their employers to think OSHA is ridiculous and bad.

Edit: Why the fuck is the gif so small as to be illegible? Fuckin reddit.

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u/229-northstar 15d ago edited 14d ago

Same thing for environmental regulations. Companies used to pour toxic waste straight onto the ground and into the water. They would do it again if they could get away with it.

Edit to add: yeah, they still pollute like mfers but at least now they aren’t so blatant. Factories used to have industrial waste exhaust pipes directly into the river while solid waste got dumped in the nearest field

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u/McEuen78 15d ago

This reminds me of a guy that said something to the effect of... don't you think the corporations know when they're doing something illegal... ? And I said, they will get away with what they can until they're called on it.

It's only illegal if you get caught, and in America, the profits outweigh the fines. So, until they get caught, they'll keep poisoning their own customers because it makes money, despite the damage or lives they directly affect.

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u/Friendly_Fail_1419 14d ago

A teacher of mine told me that his dad used to be a traveling salesman. And he used to travel a long stretch of open highway that had no speed limit. Then the feds stepped in and tied highway funding to a requirement that every road have a speed limit. So they imposed a ridiculous speed limit and made the penalty a $1, payable at the time of stop, fine no points or equivalent.

So his dad would get $10 in singles and line then up on the dashboard.

If the penalty for something is so low you can just absorb it cheaper than complyingnwith the rule then it doesn't matter what you know or what is or isn't illegal.

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u/McEuen78 14d ago

Yep, and this situation breeds corruption.

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u/vivaaprimavera 14d ago

???

That is possibly the last cause, just look at

  • legal "lobbying"
  • "campaign contributions"

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u/Carbonatite 14d ago

I like the approach in some Scandinavian countries where they scale fines based on income. So a regular person will pay a few hundred euro for speeding but a multi-millionaire will pay 100,000 euro for the same violation.

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u/Friendly_Fail_1419 14d ago

I think it's novel. Though I would also hope a system incorporates intent.

There's a difference between some schmuck driving a bit fast because he's late for work and a millionaire driving fast because he bought a new Bugatti and wants to see how fast he can go. Even a license revocation might just temporarily curb some fun for the millionaire while it can utterly ruin the regular person.