1. Businesses spend tremendous amounts of money to clean up what is already MANDATED to be miniscule amounts of pollution, and pass the costs on to us.

2. Businesses ignore the legislation, and pass the costs of the taxes on to us.

3. Business close their plants and move out of the US, where land and labor is cheaper, and there is no pollution law.

Pollution is a severe problem in developing countries, where they are just getting freon, DDT is still legal, CFC use is not regulated, etc.

So, according to Nader's policies, either the costs of goods and services skyrockets, or unemployment does. Nader is trying to make it difficult for big businesses, certainly not the motive of a capitalist. One could infer that the government would then be called upon to play a greater role in providing these things, Communist style.

However, one need not make that inference to see what is crystal clear: Nader may or may not be a Communist, but he is DEFINITELY something far more dangerous:

An idiot.

Business will not ignore the tax laws that are passed. They will simply pass the tax on to us.

When a business incurs greater expense, they don't just absorb it. The consumer ends up paying the increase. Oil is currently very expensive. So therefore gasoline and home heating oil are high priced right now. In short, the increased cost to the oil company menas an increased cost to us.

It doesn't matter one bit if a company faces increased expenses due to market conditions, or a goverment-imposed tax. The increase will be passed along to consumers.
That's how it works.

The more likely scenario is that the companies set up shop elsewhere, like right down in Mexico: cheaper labor, no laws at all. Or maybe Cambodia or Indonesia, as Nike has already done. Regardless, imposing these taxes hurts the consumer, either through increased cost or unemployment when the companies move.

Pollution is an issue that needs to be faced. But attacking these businesses will have negative repercussions which I have already discussed. Furthermore, it is developing countries who are doing the most damage to the atmosphere with their prevalent use of CFC's and freon. They are plentifula dn cheap, and a favorite of Third World countries who don't care about atmospheric decomposition. The US is among the world leaders in pollution legislation - one example is the zero-emissions standard for cars - which will be in place before this decade is out.

Nader is a foolish ideologue. His ideas, while theoretically attractive, are pipe dreams.

He (and you) have to realize something: Americans always have been, and always will be, willing to sacrifice QUANTITY of life, for QUALITY of life. In other words, we will always let some die, if it increases the quality of life of the others.

For example: Thousands of people are killed annually in car accidents. We could, thoeretically, impose a strict, 10 mile per hour speed limit on all roads, which would eliminate traffic fatalities. Thousands of lives would be saved. Isn't that great?! NO!

We'd never get anywhere. That's what Nader wants to doto our economy, and likewise, we'd never get anywhere.

You're not an idiot Mr. T, just an idealist.

Well said. And true. People want the goverment to do everything.

Vanguard- I understand what you are saying, but what specifically in the platform is communist or socialist. (What issue?, the link to Naders sight is above) You might want to recheck your source on pollution, Russia may have had more pollution overall but the study that I saw was a porportion which is what matters. Of course overall would be more their 10 times the size of the US. BTW, you can disagree with me without insulting or talking down me you fuckin jackass.

If both of you really believe in such a strict definition of socialism and communism, wouldnt Bush and Gore both be socialist for wanting social security?