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goplantagarden t1_jecutm1 wrote

Reply to comment by trs21219 in Hours of Ohio train derailment footage lost after being ‘overwritten’ by newsspotter

At some point I can't continue to believe this is incompetence. They have money to pay off politicians, so I'm sure they pay the regulators too. I guess it's too much to expect anyone will have charges filed against them for destroying evidence.

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BureaucraticHotboi t1_jed0g5a wrote

I agree it’s not incompetence but it may be it’s nefarious cousin-underfunded regulators. If their just aren’t enough staff to do the right thing, it serves the same purpose as bribing officials and it’s been the trend In government since Reagan. If you can’t outright get rid of a regulatory body, neuter it by underfunding it and understaffing. That way everything is “working” but is ineffective furthering the public’s doubt in government agencies

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reverendsteveii t1_jef3h3a wrote

This. You don't bribe regulators, that's dirty and more importantly, people understand that it's dirty. What you do is "donate" to politicians in such a way that they understand that your donation is contingent upon them loosening regulations and hamstringing the regulators. It still has the same effect, your business doesn't have to pay pesky safety costs or lawsuits after you kill a bunch of people, but this way it's all above board legally speaking and you at least have the veneer of being able to tell people that the system is working.

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Newkid92 t1_jecwzzs wrote

Agree, with any past incidents I'm sure to protect yourself from a company stand point they'd put a policy in place for this exact thing. They are like a corporate mafia, another train derailed somewhere else today.

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reverendsteveii t1_jef35hw wrote

> too much to expect anyone will have charges filed

some schlub somewhere might take the fall if they can prove that he made some technical mistake somewhere but yeah, the people who collect 100% of the money when the trains run correctly will see 0% of the responsibility when the trains poison a town.

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