/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>1579012
The problem you have is dumbfucks or greedy shitheads making a bad decision and someone else getting shit on because of it. That is one of the primary reasons governments should exist; to protect people. I shouldn't have my house caved in because Bubba's redneck skyscraper blew down in a stiff breeze. Building codes. I shouldn't get a lung infection because some crazy motherfucker moves in next door and decides that an open cesspit in his front yard is an acceptable way to dispose of their shit and garbage. Health codes. I shouldn't have my well poisoned because some company decides its cheaper to dump used trichloroethylene on the ground in the parking lot then dispose of it properly (this happened in my town. twice). Environmental regulations.

Do you know what caused the fire in Paradise? PG&E. Those greedy motherfuckers put up their powerline towers ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. They knew for years that the towers were falling apart and kept delaying their replacement. Just a few years ago several of them blew down in a storm. They replaced the ones that failed and did 'visual inspections' of the ones remaining. The inspection consisted of a guy eyeballing them from the ground and seeing if anything had fallen off. The fire was caused by a tower being damaged by wind and it dropping a line. The winds weren't even that high at the time (gusts up to 50 mph). They made 1.65 BILLION dollars it NET PROFIT in 2017 and that was after paying millions in fines for the fires they caused between October and December 2017 (5.7 billion gross). They couldn't find the money to replace a series of century-old towers though.

Now, shit can go too far. You have to stay vigilant. One mans 'government doing its job' is another man's 'government overreach'. Finding that balance is difficult and where it needs to be changes with time. I think it should always be somewhere near the middle. I can't think of a time in the modern era where it should be too far towards either extreme.