The chilling effect of hypothetical fines.

You may recall that after the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia, a number of news stories mentioned that the fines against coal companies for safety violations often went unpaid or were reduced to a pittance. It turns out that the problem is not confined to mine safety. It is true of federal fines generally.

"The government is owed more than $35 billion in fines and other payments from criminals and in civil cases, according to Justice Department figures," report Martha Mendoza and Christopher Sullivan of the Associated Press. Another example: "When nuclear labs around the country were found to be exposing workers to radiation and breaking other safety rules, assessments totaling $2.5 million were quickly ordered." The only problem was that the assessments were then waived.

This failure to collect fines also happens at the state level. "When a gasoline spill and explosion killed three young people in Washington [state], officials announced a record penalty against a gas pipeline company: $3 million to send the message that such tragedies 'must never happen again.'" What happened then? The pipeline fine was reduced by 92 percent.