The Obama administration has decided to pursue charges against BP for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Is this a good thing? I wonder if they will charge any of the government regulators with crimes? If BP broke the law it had to be with the help of people within government agencies charged with overseeing oil drilling operations.
BP employs over 80,000 Americans and has already lost $75 billion in value on the stock market. The cost of the clean-up with the inevitable parade of civil lawsuits is going to lead them into financial hell and maybe even bankruptcy. Why does Obama want to prosecute on top of the coming lawsuits?
I think the real issue here is that BP represents what the political left hates the most – a big oil company making big profit. With the ridiculous number of laws on the books, the government can punish whoever they choose. 40% of Americans will enjoy watching BP being punished.
Should their crime be compared to a drunk driver killing a kid on a bicycle, or getting a ticket for rolling through a stop sign? Will the government seek to imprison BP executives or just confiscate their money?
We can certainly expect less drilling and higher oil prices in the future. Other big oil companies should fear the long arm of the law as the government will be coming for them, too. 40% of the drilling in the gulf is done by foreign countries, including China and Cuba. I wonder if Obama will go after them?
The left will brag about how great it will be to run our cars on algae and electricity, while the economy goes the way of BP. Whether we like it or not, our economy is an oil based economy. Giving up oil is tantamount to giving up our way of life. Some even celebrate that possibility.
The government is doing it’s best to outlaw all accidents turning personal tragedy into goldmines for the lawyers. This may all come down to something as small as a 6 inch bolt being used in place of a 3 inch bolt. The bolt broke under unrealized pressure from being under a mile of water. One of the men who died on the rig may have put the bolt there thinking everything was fine.
Do you believe the executives sitting in a boardroom in London are actually agreeing to reduce oil drilling safety and standards to make more money? The government is utterly incompetent in dealing with this. At this point, it would not surprise me to see the government take over BP.
I believe in a free market. BP will have to face customers, shareholders, and lawsuits as part of the capitalist system. This will be the best response to any guilt that BP may have.
It’s time for cooler heads to prevail.
Tags: BP, government regulation, liberals, oil spill