responed

Week 3

1- Nickolas Nelson

Ch 9: Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission

3. The Beneficiaries - Wearing your CEO hat, what types businesses benefit most from the election? Be specific and list at least 4.   

 

· Energy companies - Democrats have routinely been in favor of supporting clean energy companies and rebates for alternative energy.

· Defense contract companies – Republicans have been in favor of boosting our national defensive capabilities. Companies such as Lockheed and Raytheon are two of the most prominent winners of these new contracts.

· Broadcasters – The additional revenue generated from political parties and pacts spending millions of dollars to have their ads played across radio, tv, and streaming media stations.

· Big financial corporations – Republicans usually support lowering of corporate tax rate which causes a boost in company profit and gains.

Ch 10: Good & Evil on Rails 5. The Event  - Summarize what happened in this case.

The case study on Robert Sanchez focuses on the events that happened on September 12th, 2008 where a Metrolink passenger train collided head on with a Union Pacific freight train. Sanchez was the train engineer for the Metrolink train that afternoon. Sanchez was traveling along his route when he failed to acknowledge a yellow signal, a sign to be prepared to stop up ahead. Sanchez continued along his route in normal FASHION  while texting back and for with a teenage rail fan. In his distraction, he failed to notice the red signal and did not stop. The track was set up to move a UP freight train off on a side track during this time. As Sanchez barreled down the track failing to stop and distracted by his phone, he ran the train head on into the oncoming UP freight train at a combined 84 mph. In all, 23 passengers were killed and over 102 were injured.  

The accident brought in the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to review the accident. Their findings showed that Sanchez was on his phone distracted while conducting that day and made recommendation for railroads to place audio and video RECORDERS IN the cab. Along with this recommendation was another to implement positive train control. From the accident, the Rail and Safety Improvement Act was created to regulate and improve safety on track lines. One article of the act was to have railroads implement PTC by 2015. This regulation is a major cost burden onto the railroad where the cost benefit was calculated to be 20:1. 

2- Alexandra

PART 2 - 10 Points

Ch 10: Good & Evil on Rails

5. The Event  - Summarize what happened in this case.

The engineer of a Metrolink train failed to observe and react to signals while conducting the train. As it would be discovered, the man was using his cellphone (a prohibited activity) while conducting. THE DRIVER , Robert Sanchez, had sent dozens of texts and received phone calls while on duty. His train entered a prohibited track where another train had been given the green signal to enter. The trains collided and 25 people were killed. 

6. Rail in America - What's the future of rail in America? For both commercial and individual transport? Consider recent accidents, political investment decisions and travel trends. Why isn't it as popular here as it is in other parts of the world?

I think the future of trains is fairly on the rise. The new technology and efficiency UPGRADES  could make for a promising future. Not to mention upgrades in safety equipment to avoid horrendous accidents such as with Metrolink. While I think the future looks promising, there would have to be several other changes to get any kind of ROI with said upgrades. If speed, comfort, and safety could be increased I think railways really have something to offer. Ironically enough (considering the aforementioned case), trains could cut down on so many car accidents that occur every day. 

PART 3 - 20 Points 

Ch 11: Union Carbide and Bhopal

7. The Tragedy - Summarize the events of the case and also include if prior to reading it in the textbook you've heard of this catastrophe and/or if you know anyone who was there when it happened. In every other class I've taught a student brings a personal perspective to the narrative. 

In December of 1984, methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. 3,800 people were immediately killed and thousands more would die prematurely from the affects. This remains the worst industrial accident in history.

I had never heard of this case nor do I know anyone who was there when it happened.

3- Michael

6. What’s the future of rail in America? For both commercial and individual transport? Consider recent accidents, political investment decisions and travel trends. Why isn’t it as popular here as it is in other parts of the world.

Whether we like it or not, rail traffic has been and will CONTINUE  to be on the decline, but there is too much government and private money invested in the industry for it to go extinct any time soon. For passenger travel, the automobile has created a more versatile, efficient way of traveling, and airplanes have created a much faster way of travel. Additionally, as this case highlights, the amount of money that rail companies are required to spend to meet regulations and stay legal have increased dramatically. That and the cost to operate rails will continue to push companies to explore other means of goods transport which will slowly take its toll on the rail industry. I believe rail travel is more popular in other parts of the world for 2 reasons: first, the American cultures full embracing of the automobile, arguably more so than any other country culture and so much so that we have set up carpool lanes and incentives to carpool; second, I believe the vast amount of land that America covers can make rail less efficient than in more densely packed cultures of Europe other areas.

 

7. Summarize the events of the case and also include if prior to reading it in the textbooks you’ve heard of this catastrophe and/or if you know anyone who was there when it happened.

The details of the INCIDENT  itself are up to debate, whether it was negligent washing or sabotage, but the rest of the case after the massive 10,000 gallon MIC leak is pretty clear. After the incident, thousands of people died and hundreds of thousands more got sick because of a cloudy mist of MIC that settled over the town of Bhopal. After suing the company is US court, the Indian government had to return to Indian court and filed a much larger suit. The case never actually went through a trial though, as the case was settled for a much lower $470 million compared to the $3.3 billion asking price of the Indian government. After only $145 million of the settlement was originally used on victims’ claims settlements, the Indian Supreme Court stopped the government from using the rest on cleanup efforts and ordered it to the victims. After being bought out by Dow Chemical, the Indian government is seeking an additional $1.1 billion.

I had not heard about this case or incident until today.

 

8. List 4 distinct incidents of greed in this case. Who were the complicit parties?

The first instance of greed is the Indian government requiring Indian workers to manage and run the factories. Although that is a valiant effort to promote domestic economic growth, in this case it allowed negligent and arguably unqualified Indian workers to run the facilities, where more experienced American workers with more time and knowledge of the industry could have prevented or reduced the impact. A 2nd instance of greed, IN THE THEORY  of the American investigators, is in the sabotaging worker. His lack of knowledge of what he was doing combined with the desire to “get even” caused major and very avoidable tragedy. A 3rd INSTANCE WOULD BE  the management and oversight of the corporation starting from the very top. Obviously, there was nowhere near enough accountability and conformance to procedures and standards, leading to multiple safety device failures that could have potentially helped reduced or eliminate the catastrophe. A 4th instance of greed was the decision by facility management to turn off the tank cooling systems to save cost. The cooling system could have dramatically increased time it took for the temperature rise in the tank, giving the workers a lot more time to try to resolve the problem and also giving a lot more time to potentially warn the community.