Posted on 06/10/2010 7:53:15 PM PDT by advance_copy
The oil polluting Louisiana’s marshes lies about 5,000 miles away from Britain’s coastline. But while wildlife, the fishing industry and tourism here are safe from the slick, the leak is hitting Britons’ pockets and their pride.
By Wednesday night, BP's shares had lost more than half of their market value -- or at least $71 billion -- in the 52 days since the crisis began. Almost every pension fund in the U.K. owns shares in the energy giant, raising serious questions about the impact the firm's plummeting value will have on the retirement plans for millions of Britons. President Barack Obama's threat to block a BP dividend payment in order to ensure victims of the spill get compensation has also sparked widespread alarm.
“Obama’s boot on the throat of British pensioners” read the front-page headline in Thursday's Daily Telegraph, which added that the president's "attacks on BP were blamed for wiping billions off the company’s value."
'Aggressive rhetoric' “U.K. alarm over attack on BP” was the Financial Times' take on the crisis, which it suggested could damage transatlantic relations. The newspaper accused President Barack Obama of employing "increasingly aggressive rhetoric" against BP.
Shares in BP hit their lowest level in 13 years on Thursday. According to the Telegraph, BP executives are so worried that Obama’s comments could continue to drive down BP's share price that the firm has asked Prime Minister David Cameron to intervene. Cameron is due to speak with Obama this weekend.
Obama and U.S. officials have repeatedly referred to BP as “British Petroleum” -- despite the fact that the company officially changed its name in 2000. Some have interpreted this as an attack on the country's reputation.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldblog.msnbc.msn.com ...
But, he is practicing that anger speech, once he gets it just right (kick ass, etc) the oil will fly off the birds, the gulf will cleanse and the pensions will recover.
He is the World’s President, or so they said. Only fitting the world that cheered his election suffer along with the rest of us.
Maybe it’s time for the British press to do the investigative reporting about “the One” that our press won’t do.
Don’t worry, Congress and the President will so pass a bailout bill for British pensions.
I’m afraid we’re going to have to get that translated into every language on the globe, because eventually it will apply to just about everyone on the planet!
They really thought the son of a Kenyan wouldn’t relish the chance to stick it to the UK? Of course he would. He’s read about the 50s and the Mau Mau.
And, BP is no hero here. We had been told for decades that nothing like this could happen because there are too many fail-safes and too much redundancy engineered into these rigs. Apparently not. It seems like there is PLENTY of blame to go around, and BP is getting the fair share.
Barack don’t bow to whitey.
He needs to do another photo shoot walking sadly along the beach picking up tar balls, just to let us know he’s at least concerned before heading off to the basketball court.
If he does, please ping me with this reminder and I'll make another Freepathon donation, with maybe a 'multiplier' based on how the idiot uses the word! (Hint - "Bush's fault" in the same sentence will be at least double whatever I can afford at the time)
First things first: We love Barack Obama here in Britain, maybe almost as much as you do. Possibly there are disappointed Republican sympathizers in the U.K., but I haven't met any, and relief at the retreat of Sarah Palin as political force is almost palpable. Across much of Northern Europe we liked Obama so much that it began to make you guys suspicious and we had to back off -- like parents being too enthusiastic about a nice new boyfriend.
As Iain Martin put it in the Telegraph, "[T]his is about more than race. Many Britons will simply be pleased that they can, at last, like America again, untroubled by thoughts of George W. Bush." A poll for the Times suggests that Obama's popularity rating in the U.K. is higher than for any leader -- British or American -- in the last six years. Two-thirds of us think that our prime minister, Gordon Brown, should forge closer links with Obama -- double the proportion who felt the same about Bush.
This is part of a wave of pro-Americanism in the media here. Beyond the endless fascination with the U.S. election -- a year of it, during which elections in other countries 'round the world, including Russia, went virtually unnoticed -- there have been series about America on TV, from quintessential Englishman Stephen Fry (where he tours the U.S. just generally lovin' it) and historian Simon Schama (who has somehow managed to reframe the American dream for us).
So now the implausible has actually happened, and the euphoria is beginning to give way to more reflective debate on what it all means. By and large, commentators like Obama's eco-rhetoric. The mention in his acceptance speech of "planet in peril" as an equal partner in a new axis of evil facing the U.S. is a good start. And there are plenty of wish lists from green groups should Obama be short of ideas, with Friends of the Earth U.K., for example, calling on him to kickstart a green revolution.
http://www.grist.org/article/brits-eye-view-obama-rama/
But what Obama misses is tort law, and that is primarily what this will be about, is not about destroying a person or company but making people whole. Obama rhetoric and that from the left is about grinding BP into the dirt. There is no reason for it. Lawsuits are already piling up. BP is going to pay a lot and for years. Obama is driving BP into a place where not everyone hurt will get paid for damages.
Most of Her Loyal subjects would have voted for O if given the chance.....
When the parasite kills its host where does that leave the parasite? You'd think someone like the Bama would understand this.
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