Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for July 18, 1982

Transcript:

Man: What? Only $9 billion profit? The EPA will have to answer for this? Hello? Is this the EPA enforcement office? Person: Such as it is. May I help you, sir? Man: Yeah, I hope so. I'm a top executive for a leading energy concern. Your boss, Mrs. Gorsuch, helped us out recently with a little lead-content problem we were having. Person: Oh, yes. Mr. Executive, I think I recall. Man: Well, I've been looking over our balance sheets lately. It seems our profit margin still isn't up where it should be, so I'd like to expand into other areas of non-compliance, like toxic waste and air pollution. I just wanted to konw if this was going to give you guys any problems? Person: Well, as you know, Mr. Executive, almost everyone here used to work for industries like yours, so we're quite sympathetic. Also, the number of violations being prepared for prosecution these days is only a fraction of what it used to be. Since Mrs. G can't change the laws, she's just ignoring them. Man; So the chances of your nailing me are nil, right? Person: Right. I'd go for it. Who is this, anyway? A multinational? I'm just curious.