It's a Gusher!!!!
I'm having one of those "why the hell do I even keep this blog going" periods. I have been fairly uninspired, politically. I may shut the damn thing down and just start using it to post weird drawings.
But, till then...I guess i should manufacture something to say.
Ok! Politics! Here we go!
The BP/giant fucking gaping hole spewing oil thing...that sucks. Externalities. Externalities. Externalities.
And watch...nobody is going to do a goddamn thing about it. There will be commissions. There will be hearings. Shame will be dispensed. Speeches will be given. Vehement expressions of disapproval and shock will be published in commission reports and in congressional resolutions. And, topping it all off, BP will get a stiff fine and a stern warning to NOT DO THIS AGAIN, YOU NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY DOG!!! (now, can we have our oil again, pretty please?).
To which BP will respond with much contrition and promises of a green energy revolution, and they will pay their fine with downcast eyes and they will get back in their limos and go back to work and quickly replace the pocket change that they just let the government shake out of them.
That's my prediction anyway. You think a bank is too big to fail, wait till you see an oil company.
"FEED ME SEYMORE, FEED ME NOW!"
posted by Joe @ 1:10 AM
2 Comments:
Why is it when massive corporations make a mistake it's attributed to mendacity but when government makes a mistake they are to be given the benefit of the doubt? If one casts aside intentions of profit does it free them of sin?
I'm sure there was a lot of bad judgment on that oil platform that led to this disaster. Eleven people were killed and BP and it's subcontractors are going to have to pay handsomely for that but at the end of the day none of this was remotely intentional. Every year demand increases and supplies of the "easy-oil" wanes forcing these companies and their engineers to take on greater risks. After the accident occurred recovery ships and unmanned submersibles were on side in an attempt to close valves within hours. When this failed 10 days later they deployed a completely new and untested 125 ton concreted dome over the well. When this failed they had another smaller dome. When this failed they inserted a vacuum hose and today they stopped the leak by injecting heavy drilling fluid into the well. I think the company has responded in a remarkably agile fashion to an extremely challenging problem.
Some will say that steps need to be taken some nothing like this can ever happen again but that's nonsense.
More regulations? They weren't held in compliance with existing regulations because the career bureaucrats in charge were to busy tweaking while surfing porn.
Moratoriums on similar drilling operations? Four dollar gas will kill any incumbency.
Government takeover? If the government was in charge a year from now we'd still would be hearing spin on how feverishly our brave union roughnecks were trying to get a handle on the spill.
Mistakes happen and the market is responding.
Uh huh...a giant oil rig exploding is just "one of those things" !!! Nothing we could possibly do to prevent it! It's like the sun coming up in the morning...just a statistical inevitability. And BP's 75 million dollar liability cap...oh, how they will weep for that lost revenue!!! WEEP!!!
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