Tim Wescott wrote:

On Fri, 05 Oct 2007 20:05:04 -0700, Too_Many_Tools wrote:


Today it is beef....tomorrow toys...the next day...well something
else...fasteners, tires, tools?

It would seem that lack of quality control has just cost this company
its existence and its employees their livelihoods.

Should a company be responsible for its own quality control or is it a
responsibility of government to protect us?

I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

Thanks


-- snip --

It is the responsibility of government to protect us. Us as consumers,
not us as manufacturers. I think that being able to assume that my food
is safe, and my kid's toys are safe, and my walls and roof and piping, is
a fine thing and I want to stick with that.

LOL You know what they say about the word ' assume

Rule # 1 on buying ground meat.... don't get any from a big packing
house. Fresh ground local meat is the only way to go.



On the other hand, when I step onto a manufacturing floor I don't want
government inspectors (with some exceptions, based on gender, age,
appearance and attitude) sticking their hands down my shorts. No, I don't
mind too much that I am required to make a safe product -- I wanted to do
that anyway, and I like to know that my sleazy competitors are required to
live up to my standards. But I _would_ mind having a bunch of regulators
who barely passed "Physics for Civil Servants" sitting in on my design
reviews, questioning my innovations.

I hate to say it but lawyers keep things safer than any government will.


And if I screw up? Well, in a free world giving someone the freedom to
screw up means letting them feel the pain of it afterwards. If I have to
take a bunch of stuff back because I misrepresented it as safe food or
safe children's toys, then that's life. And if my business is so weak
that doing so puts me under -- that's life too.


Here is a problem, intentionally screwing up a product to save a buck
should be punishable civilly and criminally. If it is an accident the
lawyers will take their toll.



John