UK - US could it be divorce ?

[TracyTN 237]

They'd want to be paid for saving the Gulf Coast? Aside from it being the JOB of the government employees I thought he'd include in that discussion. I suppose if they insisted on pay, then yes, BP should pay.

I agree about conflicts of interest, but I'm afraid that PG brain isn't allowing me to understand what MMS is. LOL

[KaiserD 12]

Well for the government employees yes, but I should think the best people to come up with solutions to solving the problems don't work for the government. If expertise outside of BP is needed here, I don't think gratitude for saving the Gulf Coast is going to cut it for them

I don't really know a lot about oil regulations either I looked it up yesterday, the MMS is the Mineral Management Services, they were the ones with the employees having sex with the oil industry reps, giving them inside info, drugs, money e.t.c. According to the Daily Show they had quite a few collective responsibilities that made the conflicts of interest possible, like collecting money for the fines and so on.

I hope your memory isn't too affected by being pregnant, mine went to hell and it never came back again I haven't found anyone else who said their memory stayed bad long after baby was born though.

[TracyTN 237]

Well for the government employees yes, but I should think the best people to come up with solutions to solving the problems don't work for the government. If expertise outside of BP is needed here, I don't think gratitude for saving the Gulf Coast is going to cut it for them

I don't really know a lot about oil regulations either I looked it up yesterday, the MMS is the Mineral Management Services, they were the ones with the employees having sex with the oil industry reps, giving them inside info, drugs, money e.t.c. According to the Daily Show they had quite a few collective responsibilities that made the conflicts of interest possible, like collecting money for the fines and so on.

I hope your memory isn't too affected by being pregnant, mine went to hell and it never came back again I haven't found anyone else who said their memory stayed bad long after baby was born though.

I dunno. If the president called me and asked me to help, I doubt the next question out of my mouth would be 'how much does it pay?' But maybe that's why I'm not an oil company exec or expert.

Ah ok - I missed that story. Definitely not helping matters any!!!

I have my moments - but it doesn't seem too permanent yet!

[Captain Oates 910]

I was one of the most passionate Obama advocates, even donated money to his campaign. I believed his promise of change, such as a public healthcare option (didn't happen), believed that we would get the hell out of the wars (didn't happen; $1,000,000,000,000.00 of taxpayers' money spent so far), believed in immigration reform (didn't happen), believed in banking reform (didn't happen), in short, I believed in a man who would kick ####, right away, while showing big corporations the erected middle finger. None of this turned out to be the case.

I know Bush was a crook, a moron, completely incompetent, deeply embedded in the corporate landscape, helping his buddies in oil and warfare out.

What almost makes Obama worse is that he has no stand at all. His balls are in a glass jar at home, and he is as incompetent as Bush was. Sure, he's more intelligent, better educated, and most of all gives better speeches. But what levels this out is that he betrayed so many of us who stood up for him and believed what he promised yet never delivered. In my opinion Obama is a career politician, a multi-millionaire looking for popularity and buddies in every aisle.

Truthfully, I wish the Democrats would elect another Presidential candidate for 2012. Won't happen as well.

Not often I totally agree with a post coz I always have to get my own two penneth in - but I totally agree with every word of this and can't add to it

The guy is a politician like Blair - he is a write off

[Captain Oates 910]

BP shares up 13% today.

In order to clean the oil up, and pay UK tax and US tax and pay US and UK pensioners, and employ the South coast people, BP has to survive.

Those who would kill BP would just send oil prices up 3 times and ruin big chunks of the two economies and finacially hurt many pensioners

Edited June 10, 2010 by saywhat

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

BP shares up 13% today.

In order to clean the oil up, and pay UK tax and US tax and pay US and UK pensioners, and employ the South coast people, BP has to survive.

Those who would kill BP would just send oil prices up 3 times and ruin big chunks of the two economies and finacially hurt many pensioners

Agree with you on this. It can be very difficult sometimes to think dispassionately when emotions understandably are running very high, but the longer term impact of a BP demise should not be ignored. Should there be fines, prosecutions, heads on sticks? Absolutely. But to destroy this company would be against the economic interests of both the US and UK.

[Captain Oates 910]

Agree with you on this. It can be very difficult sometimes to think dispassionately when emotions understandably are running very high, but the longer term impact of a BP demise should not be ignored. Should there be fines, prosecutions, heads on sticks? Absolutely. But to destroy this company would be against the economic interests of both the US and UK.

nine to go...

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

So glad you're keeping count.

[DukeOfYork 28]

What I'm getting tired of is the constant blaming of BP by Obama and other government officials. Yes, I get it, BP gets it: They are ultimately responsible. The impression I get is that the government pointed the finger first at BP and told them to get started on the clean up all the while ignoring the plans we have set in place for oil spills in the gulf.

I work as a property claim rep for a big insurance company. When a drunk driver crashes into my insured's house, I don't just tell the insured to sue the driver and get his/her insurance to pay. We pay the claim, fix their house and THEN we assign blame, get our proofs in order and then request payment from the other insurance carrier through a process known as subrogation.

Obama should have just stepped up to the plate first and started the mitigation process asap and then give BP the bill. But they wanted to play the blame game and the longer it went on, the worse the damage got.

This is yet another of many reasons why I don't trust the US government to handle anything correctly, be it a hurricane response, oil spill clean up or health insurance.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I wouldn't worry, the US government is more of a corporatocracy then a democracy. He's just making noise because the media has said he's been too quite on this issue. BP and other corporations collectively have more power and outrank Obama.

In some respects he's acting like Ahmadinejad in that he's spewing random ####### for domestic consumption only.

Just Bob's post is interesting because it shows that Americans still think that their elected reps have the ability to change the course of the nation. The fact of the matter is the US is a bit like a large vessel at sea. Changing elected leadership with wildly different ideals only ever amounts to a helm change of a few degrees but the route will generally be the same. The fact of the matter, right or wrong, is that the course of the US is not decided in the White House or Congress but in the board room.

Edited June 10, 2010 by Sousuke

[visacat 1]

If you add together the corporation tax and production tax paid by BP, together with the National Insurance and income tax paid by its employees and the VAT and fuel excise duty paid by its customers, you get £5.8bn, which is about enough to fund the entire budget of the Department for International Development.

Wowzers!!!

[Captain Oates 910]

What worries me is the undercurrent of hatred for Britain

Something to do with O's granddad being waterboarded by the Brits which we know isn't torture anyway coz ####### Cheney says so.

I picked up on this a couple of years back so this just confirms it

I hope Tony Hayward who O wants sacked, stands his ground at the White House meeting.

Imagine the Queen telling Goldman Sachs they can't pay a dividend until they paint the outside of their London office. Hey you get offa my cloud. The US doesn't own the whole world - yet

I may have to write to Mr O and remind him of his Yorkshire roots (The Crabtree family) on his mother's side.

I wonder if he gives a stuff about his mother's side - I will ask sgt James Crowley

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

What worries me is the undercurrent of hatred for Britain

Something to do with O's granddad being waterboarded by the Brits which we know isn't torture anyway coz ####### Cheney says so.

I picked up on this a couple of years back so this just confirms it

I hope Tony Hayward who O wants sacked, stands his ground at the White House meeting.

Imagine the Queen telling Goldman Sachs they can't pay a dividend until they paint the outside of their London office. Hey you get offa my cloud. The US doesn't own the whole world - yet

I may have to write to Mr O and remind him of his Yorkshire roots (The Crabtree family) on his mother's side.

I wonder if he gives a stuff about his mother's side - I will ask sgt James Crowley

Alan my love, you put it better than most. Part of what I find distasteful about this whole predicament is the overreaching being attempted by the US government into the affairs of Britain plc. The appropriate bodies to put pressure on BP are its shareholders, the UK government and the regulatory bodies there. I'm sorry if that sounds callous, but the internal workings of a UK domiciled public company with its primary listing in London should be handled in the appropriate venue, and that ain't the White House.

(do I get another point?)

[Captain Oates 910]

Alan my love, you put it better than most. Part of what I find distasteful about this whole predicament is the overreaching being attempted by the US government into the affairs of Britain plc. The appropriate bodies to put pressure on BP are its shareholders, the UK government and the regulatory bodies there. I'm sorry if that sounds callous, but the internal workings of a UK domiciled public company with its primary listing in London should be handled in the appropriate venue, and that ain't the White House.

(do I get another point?)

TWO .....7 to go....

I don't think people in the US know what's brewing over there.

I have googled OBAMA BP UK CAMERON and there is hell on. Cameron is trying to keep the lid on it but the London Mayor and Tebbit etc are foaming at the mouth and biting the carpet with rage. If somebody doesn't get hold of this soon, the US may be on their own when they go into Iran, north Korea, Venezuela, Texas, Paris, Somalia, Yemen, Mars, Arizona

I mean the Brits were hissed about GW but they had gone all fuzzy and warm and pat on the back for Mr O. All that is blown now and all this revenge for his granddad could hurt both countries if it isn't stopped. I think Tony Hayward should call for his resignation and a cut in Presidential pay.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Frankly, I have no clue since I'm still sitting on a train headed south from Canada with only an iPhone to keep me connected to the world. (Grim thought, that.) Tony Hayward was a big mistake when he won the chief exec crown, that whole incident with Lord Browne was a storm in a teacup. Browne may have made a mistake in his choice of boyfriend, and a mistake in trying to cover it all up, but he was a damn sight more respected in the City than Hayward at the time. How bittersweet to feel vindicated in my hunch that going with Hayward was going to end in tears.

If the US ends up alone, they'll have done it to themselves. I spend time frequently telling US Investors that you can't act in a British boardroom like you do in a US one; cultural sensitivities and nuances need to be heeded. The American blowhard who steps into a meeting ranting and raving will be written off as a lunatic and ignored. Obama: take heed.