BP Cleanup Wages to be Deducted from Oil Spill Claims (Czar Feinberg)

AP via Alabama Live ^ | 7/18/2010 | AP

[Qbert]

NEW ORLEANS -- The federal administrator of a $20 billion Gulf oil spill compensation fund says the wages earned by people working on BP's cleanup will be deducted from their claims against the company.

Kenneth Feinberg told The Associated Press on Sunday the fund is designed to compensate fishermen and others for their lost income. If BP PLC is already paying someone to help skim oil and perform other cleanup work, those wages will be subtracted from the amount they're eligible to claim from the fund.

[Qbert]

...So why bother to help with the cleanup?

[edcoil]

Make the clean-up income tax free.

[raybbr]

Isn’t that backwards. Shouldn’t they pay them AND compensate?

[HiTech RedNeck]

Bummer’s folks sticking their foot in it, as usual. Those should be independent issues, but why get the courts involved, that’s so old fashioned when you have an Emperor?

[NewHampshireDuo]

Backwards to a logical thinking person ain’t necessarily logical to an Obummerite.

[P-Marlowe]

So why bother to help with the cleanup?

It is called mitigating damages. These people are not entitled to a double recovery. In order to qualify for lost wages you must make some effort to earn something and if you are offered work and refuse it, you should not be entitled to make a claim for lost wages.

I don't see why this is an issue.

[FatherofFive]

Backwards to a logical thinking person ain’t necessarily logical to an Obummerite.

They know nothing about everything.

[livius]

Guess we know why BP didn’t complain too much.

[swheats]

That must be that crazy math. Adding insult to injury.

[traderrob6]

Does anyone realize how freakin much $20,000,000,000 is? This is a massive slush fund that will be lucky to deliver 20% to the truly deserving. $42.7 billion (+1.2%) – Department of Homeland Security $26.3 billion (−0.4%) – Department of Energy $26.0 billion (+8.8%) – Department of Agriculture $23.9 billion (−6.3%) – Department of Justice $18.7 billion (+5.1%) – National Aeronautics and Space Administration $13.8 billion (+48.4%) – Department of Commerce $13.3 billion (+4.7%) – Department of Labor $13.3 billion (+4.7%) – Department of the Treasury $12.0 billion (+6.2%) – Department of the Interior $10.5 billion (+34.6%) – Environmental Protection Agency $9.7 billion (+10.2%) – Social Security Administration $7.0 billion (+1.4%) – National Science Foundation $5.1 billion (−3.8%) – Corps of Engineers $5.0 billion (+100%) – National Infrastructure Bank $1.1 billion (+22.2%) – Corporation for National and Community Service $0.7 billion (0.0%) – Small Business Administration $0.6 billion (−14.3%) – General Services Administration $19.8 billion (+3.7%) – Other Agencies This federal administrator is one of the most powerful people in the administration right now.

[Argus]

Goldman Sachs execs get a bailout AND bonuses. Louisiana fisherman get a bailout OR wages.

OK, I see how it works now.

[packrat35]

I agree. If you made $200 a day as a fisherman and BP paid you $500 a day, then you have no claim.

[Sacajaweau]

So duh....That’s how welfare works...

[traderrob6]

Sorry for the crappy presentation, but you get the idea.

[Argus]

I’m sorry Packrat, but I detect a flaw in your reasoning. Most fisherman work on a share basis - a share of the catch. Big catch, big share. No catch, no share. So they’re not making wages, and there’s no way of predicting how much money you’ll make before you drop your nets or whatever. In short, these guys could be losing a lot more than $200 a day when the fish are biting. That’s what an oil spill wiping out their season means.

[Kakaze]

So you work shoveling tar balls and then get a "compensation" this year...........what happens next year when the shrimp and fish are gone and you only make 10 grand?

Another example of I'm from the gov't and I'm here to help you.

[Political Junkie Too]

If you made $200 a day as a fisherman in a family business, and you now get $500 a day doing clean-up but the business goes under from lack of customers and you have no job to go back to when the clean-up is done, then you still have a claim of lost future wages.

I'm sure BP will claim that you are able and employable, so you will find a future job, but the point is that you would never have been put into that position if not for BP.

-PJ

[freeangel]

Paying people NOT to work—the obama credo

[MontaniSemperLiberi]

We are losing our country.

The appointed director of a clean up fund can’t reduce people’s claims. Only a judge can based upon a law congress passed and the president didn’t veto.

This is a basic constitutional issue.

[Venturer]

>>>>>>>I agree. If you made $200 a day as a fisherman and BP paid you $500 a day, then you have no claim.<<<<<<<<

I have no problem with that as long as if you were making $500 a day fishing , you are making $500 a day cleaning up.

If there is a difference in pay that difference should be made up.

Of course those getting paid $500 a day for their loss as fishermen and not cleaning up are the smart ones here.

It is a bit like a penalty for working.