Who Should Pay For BP's Fuckup?

[Mikey]

According to the US Chamber of Commerce, it's you and me...

“It is generally not the practice of this country to change the laws after the game,” said Tom Donohue, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “. . . Everybody is going to contribute to this clean up. We are all going to have to do it. We are going to have to get the money from the government and from the companies and we will figure out a way to do that.”

Donohue made his remarks during a roundtable with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor in Washington, D.C.

The event came at a time when the BP liability cap is coming under increasing scrutiny.

At present, BP’s liability bill is capped at $75 million.

That cap could be lifted, however, if the company is found to have acted with gross negligence or to have broken rules that led to the spills.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2010/0 ... eanup.html

According to the GOP, it's you and me...

So today I asked Boehner, "Do you agree with Tom Donohue of the Chamber that the government and taxpayers should pitch in to clean up the oil spill?" The shorter answer is yes.

"I think the people responsible in the oil spill--BP and the federal government--should take full responsibility for what's happening there," Boehner said at his weekly press conference this morning.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010 ... -spill.php

Collective responsibility.

Ain't Socialism a wonderful thing?

[indyfrisco]

I think only people making $250k or more should pay for it.

-Obama

[BSmack]

Spin, deflect, ignore

check

[Screw_Michigan]

I think only people making $250k or more should pay for it.

-Obama

Why do you hate personal responsibility?

[Mikey]

I think only people making $250k or more should pay for it.

-Obama

So you apparently think that all US taxpayers should pay for it equally?

[indyfrisco]

No, I think no taxpayers should pay for it. BP has something like 50 billion in cash/liquid assets, no? Let that well run dry first. They're only 1.5 billion into that now.

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

At present, BP’s liability bill is capped at $75 million.

Not so fast, my friend.

Gee... thanks for the URL. I just read the next sentence in the post you responded to.

[PSUFAN]

As we all are beneficiaries of the extraction and utilization of petroleum, to varying degrees, we share responsibility in this. Meanwhile, BP clears almost 3 billion a month; the vast majority of this should be taken care of by them.

[mvscal]

How about they cap this well

That's what they were trying to do when it blew out, dumbfuck.

[trev]

Celebrities should pay for it.

[indyfrisco]

As we all are beneficiaries of the extraction and utilization of petroleum, to varying degrees, we share responsibility in this. Meanwhile, BP clears almost 3 billion a month; the vast majority of this should be taken care of by them.

We are all beneficiaries of Tylenol, but if they mass produced a batch with cyanide in it killing many and causing mass hysteria, taxpayers should not pay a dime until the producer is run dry of cayshe.

Unless the government is the one extracting that crude, the People have no skin in the game and are not responsible for paying for it. I'd go as far to sy that if BP expendsall their assets to clean this up and goes bankrupt and there is still work to be done, tax the other Big Oil producers as a lesson.

[Screw_Michigan]

As we all are beneficiaries of the extraction and utilization of petroleum, to varying degrees, we share responsibility in this. Meanwhile, BP clears almost 3 billion a month; the vast majority of this should be taken care of by them.

We are all beneficiaries of Tylenol, but if they mass produced a batch with cyanide in it killing many and causing mass hysteria, taxpayers should not pay a dime until the producer is run dry of cayshe.

Unless the government is the one extracting that crude, the People have no skin in the game and are not responsible for paying for it. I'd go as far to sy that if BP expendsall their assets to clean this up and goes bankrupt and there is still work to be done, tax the other Big Oil producers as a lesson.

You learn something new every day.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

Tell the Israelis that the well is a secret "Gaza Freedom Tunnel".
They will seal it up (for free, too).

[PSUFAN]

The truth is, Americans haven't been interested in fortifying the regulatory structure that would have been necessary to prevent this catastrophe - another area where we are all culpable. As things stand, we actually don't want BP or offshore drilling to fail, if we expect to maintain our very high standard of living. What will the economy of the gulf area look like without oil? Many, many small and medium sized businesses are supported by it.

[indyfrisco]

PSU,

And those small businesses are those who are "paying for it" now by loss of business. BP owes them. Not us. Not another bailout. We can't keep printing money AND stealing from those who earn it while cost of goods and services go up and companies are laying people off and no raises given.

[mvscal]

The truth is, Americans haven't been interested in fortifying the regulatory structure that would have been necessary to prevent this catastrophe - another area where we are all culpable.

The regulatory structure is just fine. The problem is that BP bought it. Just like they bought the White Hut. Onogroid's noser boy ballerina spent five years living in a house rent free with BP picking up the tab. They were exempted from just about every report, regulation and requirement there is.

This well was trouble from the get go and everybody involved knew it. That's why BP's CEO cashed out a huge percentage of his options. It's why Goldman Sachs shorted BP just before the blowout. The criminal negligence involved goes far beyond BP.

[Moving Sale]

Onogroid's noser boy ballerina spent five years living in a house rent free with BP picking up the tab.

Must you lie about everything?

[Diego in Seattle]

The truth is, Americans haven't been interested in fortifying the regulatory structure that would have been necessary to prevent this catastrophe - another area where we are all culpable.

The regulatory structure is just fine.

[PSUFAN]

Onogroid's noser boy ballerina spent five years living in a house rent free

Whom? I don't speak Hate Radio Polemic.

My statement has to to with POTUS administrations - this one and almost all previous - gladly humping it to the bank graft in hand amidst the dismantling of the regulatory structure for the benefit of a few industry piglets.

[mvscal]

Onogroid's noser boy ballerina spent five years living in a house rent free

Whom? I don't speak Hate Radio Polemic.

Who not whom.

His chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel.

[Dinsdale]

The regulatory structure is just fine.

As long as the feds have the power to fine BP off the face of the earth, then yes, it's just fine.

I have a feeling that since BP has bought and paid for the American Government, it probably won't happen, but it'd be the right thing to do.

The "more regulation" crowd cracks me up. A head-up-their-asses lot, if ever there was one.

Newsflash, brainiacs -- shit was HEAVILY regulated. The tards you voted for just decided to sell off their stake in the "regulation."

We don't need more beauracracy. Just fine BP until they're dead and buried, and see if the next drilling outfit plays as fast and loose with safety as BP.

[PSUFAN]

We don't need more sham regulation. We need actual sensible regulation.

The "regulation is always a cuss word" folks crack me up. Since your boy Reagan, "regulation" has meant "lobby cash delivery service". What he succeeded in obscuring for you is that left unchecked, industry will take the cheapest road...every single time. That what they do...not because they are evil, but rather because they always seek to minimize cost. The check of regulation is always needed.

Industry has to be guided towards safety via regulation...not by Big Goverment, but by people who demand it of their government. First we need to recall that it is possible.

[mvscal]

We don't need more sham regulation. We need actual sensible regulation.

We have sensible regulations. The problem is that process was corrupted and government officials routinely exempted BP from those sensible regulations.

Much like we have sensible immigration laws and do not need any "immigration reform." We need to enforce the laws and regulations already on the books before we start dicking around with new ones.

[mvscal]

Regulation is what caused this mess in the first place. There are plenty of places to drill for oil that are not 5,000 beneath the Gulf of Mexico. But regulators put them off limits.

Pure bullshit. The reason they were drilling 5,000 feet down is because that is one of the largest deposits of oil on the planet.

[Diego in Seattle]

Regulation is what caused this mess in the first place. There are plenty of places to drill for oil that are not 5,000 beneath the Gulf of Mexico. But regulators put them off limits.

Pure bullshit. The reason they were drilling 5,000 feet down is because that is one of the largest deposits of oil on the planet.

Can't argue with that.

And it's not just the actual drilling where the oil industry is allowed to run amuck. Again, look at BP Cherry Hill, where five or six people died earlier this year.

[Truman]

Regulation is what caused this mess in the first place. There are plenty of places to drill for oil that are not 5,000 beneath the Gulf of Mexico. But regulators put them off limits.

Pure bullshit. The reason they were drilling 5,000 feet down is because that is one of the largest deposits of oil on the planet.

You just made 88's point, mv.

Since Federal regs prohibit drilling in the shallower waters just off our Coast, BP and others have been forced to drill in less-than-ideal places such as the deep-water Gulf. With all the risk and great expense associated with deep water drilling, not to mention having to develop the technical know-how necessary to drill over a mile deep in the ocean floor, there better SURE be a shit-pot full of oil down there for them to even think about drilling.

Gotta admit, I'm missin' Cap'n Jack and the fresh shrimp and oysters he used to sell road-side on weekends. 'Fraid BP has put him out of business....

[mvscal]

You just made 88's point, mv.

Since Federal regs prohibit drilling in the shallower waters just off our Coast, BP and others have been forced to drill in less-than-ideal places such as the deep-water Gulf.

Are you fucking retarded or something?

They're drilling there because there are 15 billion barrels of oil down there. That doesn't have anything to do with federal regulations on shallow water drilling.

The Deepwater Horizon rig, located 45 miles south of the Louisiana coastline, was attempting to exploit an oil field discovered in 2006, by a consortium of oil companies. The first well in this field, called the Jack well, was drilled in 7,000 feet of water, to a depth of more than 20,000 feet below the sea floor. It found a major field in a geological area called the lower tertiary trend. It is estimated that the formation may hold up to 15 billion barrels of oil, which could boost America’s reserves by 50 percent.

http://tucsoncitizen.com/wryheat/2010/0 ... the-waves/

[Moving Sale]

brainiacs -- shit was HEAVILY regulated.

You are dumber than a box of wet deck screws.

[Moving Sale]

there are 15 billion barrels of oil down there.

The 20th Century called. They are intrigued.

[PSUFAN]

Regulation is what caused this mess in the first place. There are plenty of places to drill for oil that are not 5,000 beneath the Gulf of Mexico. But regulators put them off limits.

Regulation doesn't necessarily equal security or safety. The Food and Drug Administration regulates the living hell out of just about everything within its jurisdiction, but shit (literally) still ends up in the food supply.

This situation will go the way all disasters go. In response to a big disaster, a huge number of regulations will be enacted. The politicians will say they have taken care of the problem and that we are safe. And then things will go back to the way they were before the disaster. The big crater where the Twin Towers used to be ought to have told you that.

Well...I can't quibble with that.

[PSUFAN]

I think Kevnic should pay for it all.

[Jerkovich]

Notice how this discourse ended with that ignorant remark, ass bag.

[Derron]

Capitalism can still work, ya know.

Not if we can do anything about it, it won't.

Sin,

President Muslim Messiah and the Democratic Party.

[Diego in Seattle]

Capitalism can still work, ya know.

Not if we can do anything about it, it won't.

Sin,

President Muslim Messiah and the Democratic Party.

What's capitalism?

Sin,
President President Petzel Choker

[Goober McTuber]

Notice how this discourse ended with that ignorant remark, ass bag.

Apparently not, fuck-nozzle.