It's All About The Money

Today's blog is more a commentary on greed than anything else.  In and of itself, greed is good.  Notwithstanding what the left says, greed encourages innovation and development.  Of course, greed also leads to other things - like selfishness (which is pretty much what happens when people get to thinking life is more about them then it is about helping others).

Take, for instance, the GMC Gremlin, but it was pretty big).  Thing was, it got good gas mileage for a car in the 70's.  The duduk kasus was that if you were ever involved in a rear-end collision, you were toast. Literally.  About 27 people were killed in similar accidents and, it turns out, Ford factored the liability into its financials by creating a trust fund in anticipation of future litigation. Ford knew the Pinto's gas tank was a defective design but sold them anyway because they figured they'd make more money selling Pintos then they'd lose in litigation.  In the end, it was all about the money.

Then there was the unsafe at any speed (actually, that was the name of the book), the Corvair had a pretty cool design - unless you were, in fact, driving said car and were, in fact, involved in the many, many accidents where the car flipped when it turned a corner.  This was due to its rear suspension which caused drivers to lose control of the vehicle.  One other things was that it used air from the engine to serve as the heater filling the driving compartment with carbon monoxide. So, if a funky swing-axle rear suspension wasn't enough, now you have drivers going around half asleep making for a deadly mix.  Of course, Chevrolet wasn't all that interested in driver safety - they wanted to make money; lots and lot of money and, in the end, it was all about the money.

Fast forward a few years and we come to another product that makes money.  Drugs.  In particular, we're looking at OxyContin which has, since its introduction, been labeled as being able to knock out pain for 12 hours.  Problem is, it doesn't last 12 hours and leaves users scrambling for more resulting in withdrawal, addiction, and/or agonizing pain.  Of course, side-effects don't determine the profitability of a product since OxyContin has reaped some $31 Billion in revenue for drug maker Purdue.  With allegations that Purdue knew all along that its product couldn't live up to the marketing, in the end, it was all about the money.

The sopan santun to this story is, don't trust anyone because everyone has an angle and they're all out to make your money their money.  Cynical?  Yes, I am - but it's born from years of seeing people get fleeced in court.  Your best bet, then, is to go to your local county law library and get educated on your rights.  Then, when you go up against your Goliaths, you'll be prepared with your mighty sling and staff. Well, better prepared anyway.