Why does the USA seem particularly susceptible to regulatory capture and industry lobbying? Is it just money in politics or is something else happening?
The USA is not particularly susceptible, you just are exposed to more stories about it happening in the US. It's happening all the time all over the world.
"small government" fundamentally means "big industries".
When governing entities have limited money and power, they will need a lot of good will from the incumbents to have anything done at all.
Are you under the impression that the USA has a small government?
Too much drinking lead perhaps.
+1 for humorously pointing out (but to me technically correct) that people don't pay enough attention to the feedback loops inherent in big industries
I was wondering why cities in my state started sending out notices for replacement service lines.
Our city released a public GIS map and I no longer eat/drink from leaded homes/businesses (like 5% of city addresses, mostly in older neighborhoods).
I'm sure there are current things that are like this.
The first that comes to mind is atrazine. Its use is banned in the EU.
Yes, this chemical is the cause of Alex Jones' concerns about amphibians. But if both the EU and Alex Jones can agree on something, maybe it's worth paying attention.
Or Teflon pans? The things that kill literal canaries -- not in the coal mine, but in your kitchen?
Given what we've just read here on HN about US use of Agent Blue (arsenic! An element! On rice paddies! It never degrades, because it's an element!), it seems clear that the chemical industry in particular has disgusting amounts of power. I just don't understanding how you can be so short-sighted as to "gift" the world tetraethyl lead, the Rainbow Agents, and atrazine, and then run public relations campaigns in support of all of them, but apparently this is what these people do. I don't know if it's motivated reasoning or straight-up sociopathy or what.
That this kind of shit has happened sufficiently-often, I will add, is why the public is also losing faith in essential things like vaccines. You can't keep squandering trust.
Why does the USA seem particularly susceptible to regulatory capture and industry lobbying? Is it just money in politics or is something else happening?
The USA is not particularly susceptible, you just are exposed to more stories about it happening in the US. It's happening all the time all over the world.
"small government" fundamentally means "big industries".
When governing entities have limited money and power, they will need a lot of good will from the incumbents to have anything done at all.
Are you under the impression that the USA has a small government?
Too much drinking lead perhaps.
+1 for humorously pointing out (but to me technically correct) that people don't pay enough attention to the feedback loops inherent in big industries
https://archive.today/u1i5f
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_Industries_Association
I was wondering why cities in my state started sending out notices for replacement service lines.
Our city released a public GIS map and I no longer eat/drink from leaded homes/businesses (like 5% of city addresses, mostly in older neighborhoods).
I'm sure there are current things that are like this.
The first that comes to mind is atrazine. Its use is banned in the EU.
Yes, this chemical is the cause of Alex Jones' concerns about amphibians. But if both the EU and Alex Jones can agree on something, maybe it's worth paying attention.
Or Teflon pans? The things that kill literal canaries -- not in the coal mine, but in your kitchen?
Given what we've just read here on HN about US use of Agent Blue (arsenic! An element! On rice paddies! It never degrades, because it's an element!), it seems clear that the chemical industry in particular has disgusting amounts of power. I just don't understanding how you can be so short-sighted as to "gift" the world tetraethyl lead, the Rainbow Agents, and atrazine, and then run public relations campaigns in support of all of them, but apparently this is what these people do. I don't know if it's motivated reasoning or straight-up sociopathy or what.
That this kind of shit has happened sufficiently-often, I will add, is why the public is also losing faith in essential things like vaccines. You can't keep squandering trust.