Tuesday, January 29, 2013

North Dakota Oil Patch Shows Capitalism at its worst, 100 years later.

Consumers to buy goods and services form the basis of a successfully growing market economy. Without customers who want and can afford your stuff why make it?

Before employees got weekends off and were paid more of a living wage, they didn't need autos and entertainment stuff. They didn't have occasion to use them. Monday through Saturday at work and Sunday in church didn't leave time. The budget was tight. 

Aside from a few wealthy customers and farmers, Ford wasn't going to sell a lot more cars, even though he figured out how to build a lot more cars at lower prices. That was a key moment in our economy. Ford represented more than 10% of our economy and owned significant assets in nearly all levels of the economy. 

When Ford raised wages and shortened the work week, Ford started selling a lot more cars. Also, people could start affording health care, and that led to medical advances. 

Right now, North Dakota is proving the point that we will get rampant workplace injuries in unregulated, non-union states and either government programs will help or the injured will die or become the mangled homeless. 

Employers prevent or we pay ... or we let people die.

The recent oil boom in North Dakota has turbo charged their economy, even making the state the fastest growing in the U.S. But the oil patch jobs do not provide health insurance and the job sites are not following safety laws or best practices. The hospitals and oil boom workers are suffering as a result.

North Dakota hospitals report facing 2,000% increase in debt, 400% increase in emergency room visits, 59% increase in ambulance calls ... and 200% increase in the number of (reported) traumatic injuries in the oil patch.

North Dakota state government and U.S. Social Security Disability and Medicaid are just have to pick up the tab. 

That's right. Taxes will increase to rebuild hospital finances and build & staff more health care facilities. Social Security and Medicaid will have to support and care for the 200% more traumatically injured employees who lose ability to work. (Women report harassment from the huge migration of single men.)

The injured uninsured workers cannot afford to pay the hospitals. Even finding the workers is difficult because often they are housed in cramped trailers and such. 

Workers' Compensation and injury liability limits in states like North Dakota and flouted workplace safety in states like North Dakota don't go far in helping the mangled bodied victims of the oil patch. 

North Dakota's oil patch is a throwback to the early industrial revolution no rules and no responsibility in the work world and no one picking up the pieces in a consistent community way through our We the People government. 

But now we have government programs the grew directly out of such situations. Now we have labor unions that grew directly out of those situations. But both of these are under attack, especially in states like North Dakota. 

Picture "Biff's world" in the movie "Back to the Future II" when Biff stowaways to go into the future to get the racing results for the prior years and builds up enough winnings to run ... actually, run down ... the town. 

Rather than providing a safer and healthier work environment and health insurance, North Dakota is choosing to build more and more hospitals and medical schools.

Private oil patch industry boom creates oil patch workers and hospitals bust.

These choices made in states like North Dakota don't make sense to me morally or financially. 

By Steven J. Reichenstein

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