Lets Reinstitute The Chain Gang.

Hey. If a fine doesn't work, maybe a little hoosegow time might do the trick. Companies like BP don't pay much attention to fines and penalties. Actually I'm not sure about penalties. I don't think any penalties have ever been levied against them. Just like jail time. Now you could say, look, BP has paid $22 billion and has another $15 billion ready to shell out if necessary. But after all that, they still had a net profit of almost $24 billion. And that spill is only one among many problems BP has enjoyed. I say enjoyed, because they've always only paid some fines and then on to the profit banquet. Not that BP is any different than any other giant corporation. Fines are a part of the business plan. Now if you or I were to do something dangerous to the safety of others, especially after being told of the danger, and you continued to do it, what would you expect would happen to you? Does a prisoner's jumpsuit come to mind? See, the thing is, major corporations expect to pay fines. They set aside funds to cover that eventuality. So it just isn't a deterrent. But the one thing they can't do is set aside people for prison sentences. It's the one profession that doesn't have a whole lot of folks training for or applying for. And since big companies almost never get asked for a sacrificial lamb, you don't see a lot of ads in the classifieds for employees willing to go to jail, as part of the job description. Now small companies, they're in a lot more danger of having the boss end up in the slammer. At least they are if they break the law or intentionally endanger people. Maybe that's why it's so hard to grow a small company into a major corporation. It's probably hard to find people willing to go to jail until it gets big enough not to worry any more. What does a willing career corporate criminal do between jobs? After all, most small companies are owned by bosses who aren't usually willing give up their bosshood so some crook can take over the company. Ya just never know what direction that crook will take. Well anyway, if fines don't phase big companies maybe it would be smart to start sending some top corporate executives to jail. I'll bet corporations would become much better citizens. At least until their lobbyists changed the laws. Since these corporations are satisfied with smaller profits, maybe we should leave the matter up to the employees of the corporations. Either the CEO goes to jail and they get a pay raise or nobody goes to jail but they have to take a cut in pay to cover the fines. I'll bet that would clear up the problem.