Posted on 06/10/2010 6:22:32 AM PDT by txlurker
As each day goes by, the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico becomes more gruesome. Oil-drenched birds and turtles wash up along the shoreline, pristine beaches are polluted by balls of tar and an oily slick laps at Louisiana's ecologically fragile marshland. Understandably, Americans are livid. But has the bloodlust directed at BP gone too far?
Egged on by catch-all protest coalitions, a "seize BP" campaign is organising demonstrations in major cities calling on the US government to snatch the British company's US assets. A "boycott BP" action group advocates shunning BP service stations. Placards abound with slogans such as "God bless America – go to hell BP" and "BP – billionaire polluters". The wife and children of BP's chief executive, Tony Hayward, are under police protection following threats.
Urged by political strategists to act more angrily, Barack Obama shed his uncharacteristic cool this week and declared that if it was up to him, BP's boss would be fired. The White House now wants BP to pay not only for cleaning up the Gulf, but also for the cost of jobs lost on 33 other oil rigs because of a government-imposed six-month moratorium on offshore drilling. And the US department of justice is threatening legal action to halt BP's dividend payouts to investors.
Anthony Weiner, a usually sensible Democratic congressman, declared: "Whenever you hear someone with a British accent talking about this on behalf of British Petroleum, they are not telling you the truth."
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
dittos. Screw BP. I don’t automatically support any business or large corporation just because they are “capitalists” and not in the Gubbermint. BP has effed up all domestic drilling and effed up the Gulf. BP has given the cap and trade crowd new vigor and I see the new advertisements they have on TV for “clean American Power”
You better believe all the other drillers are cursing BP for ruining it for all oil men
Well, the Oboma administration did give them a pass on safety and environmental regulations. Heck, they even gave the rig a safety award! BP was Oboma approved. BP had the OK of the U.S. government to do what they were doing.
You can't logically put all the blame eggs in one basket.
That is a great idea! But how about the other players? From the article:
Of the 126 people working on the Deepwater Horizon, only eight were BP employees. BP had a 65% share in the well, while a partner, Anadarko, had 25%. The rig was owned and operated by a US firm, Transocean. A failed blow-out preventer was made by another US firm, Cameron, while Halliburton, the oil services firm once run by Dick Cheney, carried out cement work that was supposed to seal the well.
BP may have paid out $3 billion in dividends, but the shareholders are those who need to stick around so BP can pay all the bills coming due. Paying dividends is a budgeted expense of a company. Paying the bills.
What happens if a business stops its bills?
It goes under. Then guess who pays the bills. You do.
Talk about stopping dividends led to investors dumping BP stock yesterday. BP has lost $82 BILLION in value in the past week.
That was “value” that could have figured into BP”s ability to pay future damage claims. Now, it is gone. Went with the wind.
You know who is invested in BP to earn dividends, right? Mostly pension funds. Teachers and public workers. IF the value of pension investments is wiped out, who pays?
Cavuto had this on FOX business last night.
Talk is now BP may declare banKrupcty by end of month, because obama is trying to tag them to pay the salaries of every oil driller in every company laid off because of obama’s executive order stopping all rig operations.
Charming.
No offense but that is just silly. You will not be hurting BP by doing that. You will be hurting the owner of the station who is probably one of your neighbors.
Obama is a pose, a figure, and a look - he is purely political, not a shred of common sense or leadership.
As such, if “getting angry” polls well among his base, that’s what he will do.
There have been very credible statements about how the water used to extinguish the fire caused the rig to collapse. That, to me, doesn't sound like a BP issue. Construction companies and/or firefighters (not the individuals, but the agencies who develop standard practices) could come under scrutiny for that.
Another thing: how many redundancies are required for deep water drill failures? As I understand it, this catastrophe is a result of a redundant or secondary safety feature failing. Some may be tempted to call this a "s*** happens" moment.
Not defending BP; I don't know the facts. Nobody does, at this point. So yes, I believe the bloodlust is a bit too vehement at this point.
Obama and his hard left pals. They are all about seizing big corporations and their assets.
...
Many will argue that BP deserves to die, and anger is entirely understandable. But critics should be careful what they wish for. America is a nation with a tradition of due process and everybody – even “big oil” – is entitled to a fair trial.
Agree. I believe in time it will be shown that the rig collapse is what caused the leak. That said, it has been shown the BP ignored numerous warnings that they as a company were operating in an unsafe manner. Not only in this instance but several others. Operating on the cheap also contributed in my opinion.
Not just any company on earth can deliver gas to your car. Good luck getting fuel from Ben & Jerry. Who will you hate after BP is gone? Exxon? They are evil too, they actually make a profit.
Yeah, it appears the “deep thinkers” are out in droves. It never pays to allow emotions to rule your brain . . . it leads to liberalism. Great post!
Don’t be silly? First pay off the people you injured. This is known as paying your bills! Companies cut or eliminate dividends all the time. That’s what BP should have done to show good faith. I reject your version of capitalism..... Which actually gives fodder to the socialist take-over artists like Obama
I’ve been saying “Be angry but be rational”.
In my opinion, BP was quite honest about the whole thing. They're trying to fix it, promised to clean it up, and pay restitution to those who lost because of it. They did the right thing.
Again, in my opinion, the MSM and Oboma administration are using BP as a political boogie man to distract from the Oboma depression and all his other dismal failures. It's better to talk about the British condition than it is to talk about the American condition.
BP wasn't given a chance. They're doing the best they can. So, if we're going to discuss the oil spill, let's talk about the safety and environmental wavers given to them by the Oboma administration. Let's talk about it from the very beginning, shall we? If they hadn't received the wavers, we wouldn't be in this mess today.
This is a BP venture. BP merely hired TransOcean and from what has leaked out it seems BP over ruled the more safety conscious TransOcean
Andarko is a 25% partner. So what? They will pay out too but I don’t think they have deep pockets.
Everyone knows BP is going to end up with billions of dollars from Ubama's stash courtesy of The American Taxpayer.
I guarantee you BP has had their checkbook open since Day One.
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