Contumacious
Radical Freedom
About That $20 Billion
by Jim Davies
I was very disappointed to hear how the D.C. Mafia had subjected BP to what the possibly vertebrate Joe Barton (R-TX) called a "shakedown" for $20B to compensate those hurt by its oil spill, but had also made the company agree not to cap that sum (meaning the bill may be higher yet) and to let a government nominee administer the payments (meaning it is almost sure to be higher yet). Coupled with yet more apologies outside the White House, and inside Congress to the monotonously loathsome Henry Waxman (D-CA), this looked like an abject capitulation; for it has not yet been established that BP is even to blame for the spill, and the law which government wrote limits its liability anyway to $75 million. That was the basis on which BP hunted for oil, and on which its owners invested their money. Now that it has voluntarily exceeded that limit by a factor of at least 267, who can ever trust its word again?
The word of the Company, that is. The word of government has long ago been recognized as worthless, for if it finds any of its laws inconvenient (like the one that taxes the income only of those made legally "liable" for it) it will simply ignore them and do what it wants. We know that. But BP is not government. Is it?"
.
by Jim Davies
I was very disappointed to hear how the D.C. Mafia had subjected BP to what the possibly vertebrate Joe Barton (R-TX) called a "shakedown" for $20B to compensate those hurt by its oil spill, but had also made the company agree not to cap that sum (meaning the bill may be higher yet) and to let a government nominee administer the payments (meaning it is almost sure to be higher yet). Coupled with yet more apologies outside the White House, and inside Congress to the monotonously loathsome Henry Waxman (D-CA), this looked like an abject capitulation; for it has not yet been established that BP is even to blame for the spill, and the law which government wrote limits its liability anyway to $75 million. That was the basis on which BP hunted for oil, and on which its owners invested their money. Now that it has voluntarily exceeded that limit by a factor of at least 267, who can ever trust its word again?
The word of the Company, that is. The word of government has long ago been recognized as worthless, for if it finds any of its laws inconvenient (like the one that taxes the income only of those made legally "liable" for it) it will simply ignore them and do what it wants. We know that. But BP is not government. Is it?"
.