President Obama is going to use his heavy-handed negotiating techniques today against BP and demand that they write a balnk check. They should refuse.
BP obviously was culpable for the explosion and mess. That's not the issue. They already said they would pay all "legitimate" claims.
But now, Obama sees this as his chance to punish yet another large company and bring it to his knees. A chance to manipulate business into making him look good. He may even be fancing a GM-style takeover.
He used words like "insist" and "demand" and "make them pay." Who does he think he is? He doesn't have this power.
They are paying for the cleanup already. Now he wants them to help him buy votes by paying people that are out-of-work because of this - no matter how loosely they might be affected. What about the millions of other Americans that are out of work? NASA, for instance. Oh, that's right. he did that one.
Thousands of people who are out of work in the Gulf are that way because of his unilateral decision to suspend drilling for 6 months. At the rate he makes decisions, it could be a year or more before this passes - and that will likely be to late for a full recovery.
Obama is President. He is not king or dictator. He cannot demand that a foreign-owned and based company do anything other clean up the mess they caused. Beyond that, BP should stand firm.
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He seems to THINK he is a king.
Very good point Steve. Forcing a company in to bankruptcy certainly will not solve the problem.
Chi-com oil company will buy it out of BK and THEN Barry will be in do-do.....
Dorothy,
And he acts like it. :)
Steve
Dan,
When you have non-business people like Obama and his team trying to approach this, you get this nonreality thinking. :)
Steve
Wallace,
That would be sweet. :)
Steve
Just got off a phone call with myvery wealthy financial advisor and mega real estate investor. He thinks I should look at buying VP (I know this guy, he handles amny of my accounts, and I trust him, and he has a great rep). The expense BP is experiencing is a drop in bucket for them. That is why they are being so "cool" about it while OBama sweats and tries to point the finger at them. BP is likely not going anywhere and nowhere near bankruptcy. It is a huge multi national corporation.
It was the first time he has faced the issue on national television - he needed to look good and in control to try to regain some credibility. It was too little too late. He should be making sure that all resources are at hand to clean up the mess not punish a company that will pay dearly for this catastrophe.
Steve - BP should say "Yes", but not to the administration. They should set up a trust or escrow account but have some third party like Price-Waterhouse, or some other such firm manage it. Certainly not any government entity.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the post. And I guess the misrepresentations made by BP and the potential long-term effect on the Gulf region should be laid at the government's feet as well. Ever read Moby Dick ?
Steve, Wanting to nationalize the oil companies is just another reason why Obama doesn,t want the oil leek contained
Tom,
Except that their worth (stock value) has plummeted. This is the danger. :)
Steve
Margaret,
This is a case of "piling on." BP admits to wanting to help. He is trying to earn political capital as well. :)
Steve
Mike,
Agreed. I mean saying "No" to Washington. :)
Steve
Patrick,
We are not at the blame phase now. We are at the fix-it phase. :)
Steve
Hugh,
This is a Hollywood script for him. :)
Steve
They definitely need to stand up to him and not cower down.
Congratulations this post is now featured in the Silent Majority Group of Active Rain.
Mike,
I should think they would want to - especially if the cameras aren't there. :)
Steve
Nick,
Thank you for the feature. :)
Steve
I suspect BP knows that Barry has blinked and they just need to wait out November elections.....
Wallace,
Why would they ever let Obama control the fund? This just plays into his hands unless he totally blows it. :)
Steve
I would have loved it if the lawyer for BP had looked at the administration's negotiating team and asked where in the US Constitution they found the power to demand the money...
I'd want to give them the following choices...
The statutory cap is some pittance... like $75m or something. BP had the driver's seat, but they ripped off the wheel and handed it to Obama.
Lane,
I agree with your analysis, and your scenario is brilliant. :)
Steve
Too bad that executives aren't as rude (or stupid) as most of the elected officials they have to deal with. There could be some REAL entertainment if a CEO sat there and schooled them for a few minutes...
Obama wants to be King; no - Dictator has a better ring to it. He comes into a situation any time he likes (59 days) - sets down dictates (not abiding any laws), and then goes back to whatever he wants.
Lane,
Except that there is one axiom in life - you can't argue with a stupid person. :)
Steve
Lois,
That pretty much sums it up. Thanks. I think he was last seen on the golf course. :)
Steve
You are so right on Steve!
"Useful idiots" was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.
Put differently, a democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive.
In our times, American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes by the current administration in Washington, and few people seem to be concerned about it.
The president's poll numbers are going down because increasing numbers of people disagree with particular policies of his, but the damage being done to the fundamental structure of this nation goes far beyond particular counterproductive policies.
Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere.
And, without constitutional government, freedom cannot endure. There will always be a "crisis" - which, as the president's chief of staff has said, cannot be allowed to "go to waste" as an opportunity to expand the government's power.
That power will of course not be confined to BP or to the particular period of crisis that gave rise to the use of that power, much less to the particular issues.
When Franklin D. Roosevelt arbitrarily took the United States off the gold standard, he cited a law passed during the First World War to prevent trading with the country's wartime enemies. But there was no war when FDR ended the gold standard's restrictions on the printing of money."
Read the entire article here: http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/537967/201006211813/Is-US-Now-On-Slippery-Slope-To-Tyranny-.aspx
Georgia,
Thanks for those insightful comments. We will be years repairing Obama's intentional damage to this country. :)
Steve