Open Thread

Benson, I think business will survive. Especially oil exploration. If anything, this crisis will encourage them to look for oil in safer places. This is the USA, not Romania. Businesses of all kinds are still going to do what they do here. It’s the largest market in the world. PERHAPS if they know that this is no longer the Wild West, and anything goes, wink, wink, they’ll think about doing things in the right way. Businesses, both foreign and domestic, need to know that there are standards for doing biz in the USA. We profess to care about the environment, worker’s rights, quality products, etc, etc. We should mean it, and stick to our guns. If they want to make money, and of course they do, then they’ll adjust to doing things OUR way, not the other way around. We are the sovereign nation, not Mega Gotbux, Inc.

It seems that no one had a plan what to do if the unthinkable happened. There were lots of ink about warlruses, who haven’t been seen in the gulf since moses came off the mountain.

Just as in finance no one appreciates the “fat-tailed’ event. Rarely happens but when it does watch out.

I WAS JUST ROBBED IN COMPLETE DAYLIGHT ON A CROWDED SOHO STREET CORNER! and i read an article that those urban locovore “farmers” that are popping up all over brooklyn are receiving welfare payment subsidies from the us government and our tax monies!

*rob*

I’m sorry, (not really) but outsized disasters deserve outside consequences. BP took risks. They cut corners to increase profits and save money. Was it worth it? To them? To the Gulf? No. It’s not. And they have to be held up as an example of what NOT TO DO.

Penalize them. Make T. Hayward sit there and take his spanking. Make them set the money aside. It’s the GULF OF MEXICO, it’s not a dinky plot of land in some remote place that effects no one. Quibbling over the nuances of how it was handled is foolishness. And thinking that foreign companies are not going to invest here is foolishness. They will. They’ll have to be smarter about how they do it/manage their equipment/businesses. So be it. I’m sure they’ll come up with a way. In fact, they’ll probably come up with even more unscrupulous and stupid ideas. It’s always been that way. But in this case, BP must pay. And they must get spanked.

What would you have Obama do? Have the Federal Gov’t pay for it? I just don’t understand why you seem to be arguing for less corporate responsibility? Real people (not small people) are being hurt by this. Companies can act/behave more smartly. They can minimize risks more. But they don’t. They skirt regulations, break rules, and hope they don’t get caught. You’ll call it innovative or risk taking. But really it’s just a way to chase the almightly dollar over doing the right thing. Look at those stats re: violations by the oil industry! BP has the worst record of all of them!

So what would you have Obama do, Benson? Put on a wetsuit and go down to the source of the leak and fix it himself? Seems like everyone is great at armchair quarterbacking here. I’m not saying Obama handled everything right, but you act as if he somehow has the ability to fix everything with a wave of his hand, and he just hasn’t done it.

Joe Barton, on the other hand, is an embarassment to government, and was not embraced by his own party for taking it upon himself to apologize for Congress. Who does he think he is?