Stray Thoughts - Episode 1 - The Ford Pinto Disaster

One thing that was striking for me in researching this podcast was how Ford was able to undercut the arguments for legal liability well before the cases even went to trial. Ford insisted they followed regulations… well yeah, they wrote them! Either that or they stalled any updated regulations to the point that the vehicles—which they knew were dangerous—complied with the regulations at the time because they stymied any regulations that would render the vehicles unsellable.

Imagine being able to set the rules—which are unfair—and then claim you followed the rules, so… can’t be accountable. This is, unfortunately, the oldest trick in the book, as we’ll see in the following episodes.

I hope you enjoyed the episode and tune in for “How Capitalists Blame Their Victims,” our members-only episode coming soon…