[lit-ideas] Re: flu vaccine

On 2004/10/30, at 1:20, Ursula Stange wrote:

> This, of course, didn't threaten anyone's life, and I'd like to think=20=

> if my laziness could have had more dire consequences, I would have=20
> kept checking the books.  But I suspect that laziness creeps in=20
> everywhere.  It's always seemed the grossest unfairness of our unfair=20=

> lives that we can all make the same mistakes and only some of us pay=20=

> for them.


It isn't just laziness. What is a company to do when its market is=20
mature and the bosses and shareholders are still demanding growth?=20
Trimming costs may start out yielding greater efficiency; but sooner or=20=

later it inevitably becomes cutting corners.

In markets that deal in non-essential goods the result may simply be=20
shoddiness that eventually puts the firm out of business.

  In markets for essential goods (food, medicine, power, transportation)=20=

the predictable result is a disaster. Thus, in Japan, for example, the=20=

last few years have produced a regular spate of food contamination=20
incidents, railway crashes, and just short of catastrophic breakdowns=20
at nuclear power plants=81\all cases that satisfy the conditions =
mentioned=20
above.


In the best case, the disaster is both dramatic enough to stimulate=20
reform and small enough not to be destructive on a large scale.

John McCreery

P.S. Feeling gloomy on another rainy day in Yokohama.=

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