Rick Perry's Believe It or Not!: What Texas Could Learn From Bangladesh
Texas and Bangladesh. Two places that are literally worlds apart. One is the second largest state in the United States of America, a center for the rich oil and high-tech industries with a GDP of $1.2 trillion, and known for its vast sprawl, fiercely proud culture, and larger-than-life personality. The other is a developing nation in South Asia, a center for low cost garment manufacturing with a GDP of $119 billion, and known more for its overpopulation, poverty and political corruption than for its culture.
But despite this wide dichotomy, the two places do have something in common -- rapid economic growth. Texas is the fastest-growing economy in the United States and Bangladesh is considered by many to be an emerging world economy and part of the 'Next Eleven.'
Those should be badges of honor except that the economic philosophy fueling that growth is one that allows the exploitation of workers and treats their safety as a secondary concern in the pursuit of profits. The recent fertilizer plant explosion in Texas, which killed 15 people, and the tragic collapse of the clothing factory in Bangladesh, which has claimed more than a thousand lives, may be accidents, but they were accidents that occurred due to poor regulatory oversight and lax safety standards exercised by the private sector.
Texas authorities have launched a criminal probe into the fertilizer plant explosion, but whatever happened, some facts are indisputable. The plant violated federal regulations by failing to disclose their storage of 270 tons of ammonium nitrate -- a highly explosive substance -- there were no fire sprinklers in the warehouse, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had not done a full safety inspection since 1985, and a partial review in 2011 resulted in a meager fine for safety violations. Throughout this, the plant remained operational and profitable for West Fertilizer Co. The Bangladesh clothing factory disaster, similarly, was the outcome of shoddy building, lack of oversight by the government, and pure greed on the part of the owners.
But this is where things really turn bizarre.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sanjay-sanghoee/what-texas-can-learn-from_b_3271566.html
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Why those are two of the main pro business environment benefits that Ricky Perry probably touts when he's trying to lure business to Texas.
Sad but true.
no Perry won't learn a damn thing from Bangladesh. Hell he didn't even get a clue from West Texas explosion. Neither did the republican controlled Lege either.
