BP Slush Fund

[stebo0728]

Ok so I thought Id weigh in on this "slush" fund that POTUS is wanting BP to cough up. I have a few issues with this. Firstly, this means that the GOVERNMENT will then decide who gets what and how much?!? And the GOVERNMENT will be able to deal out BP's money any way it sees fit. Yah thats workin out real well with our tax money right now aint it?!? Im not in any way trying to absolve BP of their responsibility, they should compensate fairly, and to those who individuals and businesses who actually deserve compensation, but why does the GOVERNMENT need to be the ones to decide this? OK...so....lets assume BP complies and coughs up the slush fund. Is BP gonna have the balls to then demand immunity from further civil suits from people demanding more money? This money is supposed to take care of anyone who has a civil claim, and so if they cough it up in the front, they deserve immunity from future claims. Do you think they'll get that? I sincerely doubt it. In fact BP will most likely be dealing with litigation for decades to come.

[Bubba1]

Ok so I thought Id weigh in on this "slush" fund that POTUS is wanting BP to cough up. I have a few issues with this. Firstly, this means that the GOVERNMENT will then decide who gets what and how much?!? And the GOVERNMENT will be able to deal out BP's money any way it sees fit. Yah thats workin out real well with our tax money right now aint it?!? Im not in any way trying to absolve BP of their responsibility, they should compensate fairly, and to those who individuals and businesses who actually deserve compensation, but why does the GOVERNMENT need to be the ones to decide this? OK...so....lets assume BP complies and coughs up the slush fund. Is BP gonna have the balls to then demand immunity from further civil suits from people demanding more money? This money is supposed to take care of anyone who has a civil claim, and so if they cough it up in the front, they deserve immunity from future claims. Do you think they'll get that? I sincerely doubt it. In fact BP will most likely be dealing with litigation for decades to come.

Before getting yourself worked up, I don't believe POTUS can simply order BP to establish an escrow account for spill victim claims. He suggested it with an independant board managing it (not congress) as a show of good faith by BP, to expdetite initial claim payments, and perhaps to prevent BP from doing exactly what Exxon did. Exxon used US legal system loopholes and effective lobbying to escape paying the majority of what they should have paid for the Valdez disaster.
Exxon's punitive fines were initially $2.5 billion + reparations. Well, fast forward a few years and the US courts have since reduced their fine to $500 mill. And most of the people devastated by the Valdez disaster have yet to see any reparation money. They probably shouldn't hold their breath at this point. If you're outraged with BP, you should be equally angry at Exxon.

The escrow account is a noble idea, but $20 billion is only a small fraction of the overall cleanup costs. This disaster should easily cost more than 10 times that before its done.

[szh]

An old thread ... but this rant is funny and sad at the same time: http://www.wimp.com/fareedzakaria/

He is so right.

Z

[audtatious]

Yep....I didn't really care if he showed emotion or not as long as BP was doing their part to fix the problem. What I didn't like was that one of the responses of the Admin was to try and shut down drilling in the gulf when he had just supported it right before the spill.

Fair-weathered friends (and Admins) suck

Honestly, I would rather he spent time working on getting real non-Gov job growth in the US instead of the fake focus on the gulf and working on his golf swing