For outstanding coverage of mine safety and the current crises, The Pump Handle is the place to go. Excellent posts by Liz Borkowski and Celeste Monforton and Christina Morgan.

Permit us to suggest a frame of reference. One doesn’t need to be an expert to know that

(1) there are great incentives for mine owners to ignore safety,

(2) this may constitute what economists refer to as “a race to the bottom,”

(3) negligible penalties for ignoring the rules as they exist;

(4) lax enforcement (likelihood of detection)

(5) minimally deterrent punishment structure (if caught, no real possibility of jail time, fines, or civil penalties which outweigh profits

We’re confident that we can  prove these assertions without breaking a sweat. Don’t the same dynamics hold true in other American contexts?

So – canaries are to coal miners as coal miners are to the general population. 

If we don’t care enough as a country about coal miners to make sure they’re safe – people in an exceptionally high-risk occupation – what does it say about the prospects for safety in the nation as a whole?

Why isn’t this an issue – for both parties – in the presidential campaign?