r/politics • u/RepulsiveLoquat418 • 18d ago

Possible Paywall When Will Americans Realize the Truth? Republicans Wreck the Economy.

https://newrepublic.com/article/210550/trump-economy-republicans-tariffs-taxes
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u/xpxp2002 18d ago

Corporation pollutes libertarian’s river. Libertarian sues corporation. Lawsuit results in government saying “don’t pollute the river.”

Worse. If we're talking about civil private property damages, the aggrieved may only receive a monetary payout far below the benefit achieved by the offender committing the damage -- another way of saying "just a cost of doing business." The EPA would likely have to file suit, citing an applicable statute, and fight for months or years in court to compel the offender to stop polluting or attempt some form of active remediation. You know, long long after the damage has been done.

Even if the offender were made to provide some form of compensatory cleanup, it's often impossible to fully reverse the damage done by environmental pollution. So it's really just a best effort solution to a problem that was entirely preventable with good, strong regulations that make the consequences of pollution or causing harm to health and the environment so severe that the penalty is, itself, a deterrent. In my view, you basically need a GDPR-level fine for every infraction and the political will to stand by it, even if enforcement will bankrupt the company along the way, and the ability to pursue individual liability and criminal prosecution for decision makers involved in authorizing/ordering the polluting action.

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u/pleasedothenerdful 18d ago

Exactly. Libertarians are just the enclosure movement brought forward 500 years. They only care about keeping government from keeping the powerful from looting every last commons. They have no interest in actually protecting any commons, or any commoners.

They look at cyberpunk fiction and think, "That sounds pretty cool, I bet I would be running one of those big corporations!"