You're right. The explanation is rather simple: we live in a country where corporations have powerful political lobbies who make sure regulations are kept at bay. Even in the wake of disasters (excuse the pun), consideration for profit will trump any meaningful legislative effort to pass and enforce regulations. Profits are more important than people's lives under our current political system. In the airline industry, it is a known fact that crashing a plane has a lesser impact on the bottomline (especially when you confuse the public by playing the blame game between the aircraft manufacturer and the airline that actually flew the pane) than performing costly maintenance. An interesting political dichotomy: the party claiming everywhere that they care deeply about human life is actually the one refusing to pass any regulations aimed at protecting those very lives.