Deregulation Disaster

"When will they ever learn?" -- Pete Seeger, 1955

   Fire resistant panels are too expensive.
   Sprinkler systems are costly to maintain.
   Alarm systems soon break down, so why bother?
   A single stairway exit is sufficient.
   The chances of something bad happening are low.

   These are some of the explanations and excuses made by developers of the London apartment tower destroyed by fire recently, at the cost of 79 lives and counting.
   Compare that with the cost of adequate safety measures that could have prevented the total destruction of Grenfell Tower.
   What's a single life worth?
   Do we count it in dollars, pounds or euros so we can compare it to construction, installation and the maintenance cost of fire prevention materials and equipment?
   It can indeed be done, but should it?

   Meanwhile, developers trust to luck that there will be no problem, so they can pocket a few extra coins and share some of  that bounty with stockholders and perhaps even with government regulators who looked the other way and let them bypass the rules.
   
   The London fire disaster is the latest and one of the most flagrant examples of what happens when safety rules are ignored, cancelled or not even established.
  Yet politicians around the world rush to overturn government regulations of any kind as they insist that the private sector is better equipped and more qualified to decide what standards are needed as well as how and whether they should be enforced.
   Government has no role in business, they claim, except as a partner to clear barriers and thus help to increase profits.
   However, a primary role of government is to protect and serve all the people, not just a favored few who help finance election campaigns and then expect a return on their investment.
   Britain now faces a cleanup from such a shortsighted policy, and America is now watching a new president dismantle many policies and regulations in the name of clearing obstacles for economic expansion -- read, corporate profits -- but the cost ultimately will be measured in human lives.
   Society cannot afford such a shortsighted investment policy.

   Consider these questions: What happened before government-sponsored social welfare programs came into being? What happened decades ago, before such programs as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and before companies offered health care insurance as part of employment benefits? And what happened before the Affordable Care Act set up under former President Barack Obama enabled millions of low- and moderate-income families to sign up for health care insurance policies?
   The answer is that people died a lot.

   Regulations of various kinds, enforced by government, are essential to ensure a safe society. To dismantle government programs solely because they are government programs is to invite disaster.
   Grenfell Tower is but the latest symptom of that blindness.