Max Profits = Max Deaths

About 2 years ago, the NYTimes Magazine published a long detailed article about the design and building of the WTC.

The net of it was that the landlord wanted to max out the square feet of rentable floor space to max out the rent collections.

That translated into very tall buildings with no setbacks. Also, no thick columns to give strength to the structure.

So what they got was flimsy construction. Flimsy like in: gauzy, gossamer, inadequate, infirm.

The article was accompanied by a photograph taken at sunset (probably from a helicopter) with the sun shining through, that's right through, the two buildings.

The engineers considered a hit by an airplane - a Boeing 707, the biggest commercial airliner at the time. Did anyone ask Boeing what they were designing at the time? The article didn't say.

So they maxed out the profit. They also maxed out the deaths. Why should the landlord care? The insurance companies paid for the buildings and the Federal Government paid for the deaths.