Thoughts on B.P.

I'm exhausted by the media and government's constant demonization of B.P..

Let me explain...

B.P. was terribly negligent and MUST pay for every bit of damages it caused. 

But B.P. was not alone in this.  And the Federal Government's finger pointing is not only childish and dishonest, but it is destructive and harming us all.

After Exxon Valdez, the oil companies got together and lobbied the government to cap their damages, should a spill of such magnitude occur in the future.  "Who would agree to that?" you ask yourself.  The Federal Government would.  Section 1004 of the Oil Pollution Act limited the liability of oil companies to $75 million per spill, plus removal costs.  In exchange, the oil companies agreed to the stricter regulations by the government. 

When B.P. wanted to drill off the coast of Louisiana, they asked the state for permission to drill in 500 feet of water.  Louisiana agreed, but the Feds said no way and moved them out to 5,000 feet.  As a result, B.P. drilled in an area where

• no oil company had ever been able to monitor the flow, nor was
• the government able to to tell B.P. how to monitor the flow, and
• the law of the land limited the liability of B.P. 

Does this sound like a good situation?  It wasn't. 

But now, the government is changing the rules in the middle of the game.  They're changing the law retro-actively, and the ability to do this gives a HUGE amount of power to the Federal Government.  Vice-President Joe Biden threatened the chair of B.P. to establish a TWENTY BILLION DOLLAR escrow fund, which B.P. neither has nor owes (at this point) according to the law.  VP Biden threatened B.P. to 'to give us the money or we'll take it' without the due process of law.  Where is the authority in the Constitution OR precedent of law to do this?  Don't get me wrong, B.P. is responsible, but the government doesn't have the right to seize assets!! If the government can seize private property from B.P., who's to say they won't seize YOUR assets when it is popular or convenient to do so?  (Think guns or gold.)

But as Rahm Emanuel famously said, "Never let a crisis go to waste!"  They will use this emergency to destroy capitalism by pushing through cap and trade legislation. 

By demonizing B.P., the executive branch has effectively reduced the stock's value by half.  What does this do for the innocent stock-holders?  How does this help the local franchise owners who are just trying to support their families? 

I leave you with two questions:

1. What's better, a rich B.P. who has the cash to pay for cleaning up the oil spill and repair the damages, or a poor B.P.? 
2. Who would spend the money more effectively?  B.P. who wants the most bang for their buck, or the Government who couldn't care less about the cost and will simply repay favors for friends, whether or not they're effective. 

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