In light of the recent oil spill in the Gulf, oil giant BP is reportedly putting $20 billion dollars in a compensation fund (called the escrow fund) for victims of the Gulf oil spill and will not pay shareholders a dividend this year. It is also being widely reported that there may not be a cap on the amount BP will be asked to contribute to the fund…
What do you think of BP’s action and Obama’s role in all of this; the way he’s handling things etc?
Is Obama out to destroy BP? I mean, lets break it down - this was an industrial accident, so Obama’s role in all this should be to just protect his fellow countrymen and nothing more. The fact that he thinks he can forcefully take a load of money from a company (private at that) and have them take responsibility for the whole financial situation including compensation is absurd.
And with what face can The US justify trying to “balatkar” BP out of money, given the fact that the US has not given any financial compensation to the countries that have suffered and are still suffering from the financial market crash.
The stance of the govt from day 1 has been absolutely political, and nothing else. You can see the media counting the number of trips he makes to the area, the time he spends there, the words he uses in his speeches etc. Its all political.
BP is doing all that it can to help the situation. I think that companyies like Transocean and Halliburton have gotten a free ride, since everyone is so focussed on BP, whereas they too hold some level of responsibility in this.
I think BP and its partners in this venture should be responsible for the full cleanup and full restitution to people's whose lives they have impacted. how its done I dont particularly care about.
as far as US banks go, the countries impacted by them due to their operations in that country are free to go after the banks as well.
The stance of the govt from day 1 has been absolutely political, and nothing else. You can see the media counting the number of trips he makes to the area, the time he spends there, the words he uses in his speeches etc. Its all political.
BP is doing all that it can to help the situation. I think that companyies like Transocean and Halliburton have gotten a free ride, since everyone is so focussed on BP, whereas they too hold some level of responsibility in this.
While Transocean and Haliburton may have shown negligence, the ultimate responsibility of running the show safely lies with the oil company. As the news trickles, it is becoming clear that there was indeed gross negligence on the part of bp personnel. They clearly instructed HAL to pump a low cost cement which in conjunction with failed surface equipment (BOP) caused the disaster. Although, Transocean should have checked out the BOPs, however, it is the responsibility of the Operator to ensure timely checking of BOP (Blowout Preventers)
Industrial Accidents? All the failure investigations reveal that, almost 100% of industrial accidents occur because people bypass the prescribed rules and guidelines. These failures always point out lack of management control and inadequate risk analysis as the main causes of the accidents.
its political and has more to do with democrats election votes and in general inflated American ego than anything else. Would the Americans have reacted the same way if it was one of their own company. I dont think so.
Here is an example of the American greed. I was watching an interview with one of the affected guy, I think he was a fisherman. He said his monthly income before the disaster was around $4000/month and now he was receiving around $1000/day form BP and he was still moaning.
BP is resonsible for the disaster and should clear up the mess but the American have behaved as they usually do - we are the only superpower in the world and we will do what we want to. Reminds me of "power corrupts and absolute power...."
