obama hailed by pak media for bp issue

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   pisean282311posted 13 years ago

   It is curious that while the Indian prime minister looks for ways to lower the hurdles for foreign investors to enable them to escape any liability should their projects cause a human catastrophe like Bhopal, US President Barack Obama, the Indian prime minister’s inspiration, is rowing in the opposite direction.
   
   “As far as I’m concerned, BP (British Petroleum) is responsible for this horrific disaster, and we will hold them fully accountable on behalf of the United States as well as the people and communities victimised by this tragedy,” he proclaimed as his country faced the worst environmental disaster from an unremitting oil slick. “We will demand that they pay every dime they owe for the damage they’ve done and the painful losses that they’ve caused.”

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      leebertteaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      How will they pay if they are bankrupt? How will they pay if they are denied the ability to derive income from drilling in deep water?
      
      I agree they should pay, but ultimately it is we, the people that will pay. We will pay in higher energy prices, higher food prices, and the loss of income form the destruction of our environment. We will pay.

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         Doug Hughesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I don't give a damn if the USA forces BP into bankruptcy. We (the USA) will have first claim on assets - cash and  facilities, which other companies will be eager to buy at a bargain. BP stockholders wil be wiped out. The surviving oil companies in the Gulf will spend big bucks doing  what they must to make sure they CAN turn off any damn well - any damn time. The guy fueling his Ford does NOT have to pay this time - as long as he refuses to allow  the GOP spin this tragedy to spare Big Oil and transfer the expense to the little guy. And the move has started already in Congress to do exactly that.

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            JON EWALLposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Doug Hughes
            '' BP stockholders will be wiped out ''
            Do you have any idea who those stockholders are ?
            Check them out        Teachers  union pension funds, State pension funds, Retired senior citizen and other US citizens.
            You really are for a takeover, sounds like socialism to me.
            Wake up and  get beyond the propaganda and the stupidity of our government.

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               Doug Hughesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               According to a study by a UCSC professor William Domhoff, over 80% of all stocks and mutual funds are owned by the richest 10% of Americans. As always the VERY rich want to portray the fall of BP as a calamity for the poor working person - and as always it's a lot of smoke designed to conceal who is being protected.
               
               http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesameri … ealth.html

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                  KFlippinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Let us assume you are accurately quoting your numbers.
                  
                  If 10% of Americans own 80% of all stocks, then within that 10% are the very people that literally support the federal government of the USA.  So, those very people have already taken a tremoundous hit to their personal capital saved for retirement, therefore, they have much less to pay for personal services and consumption items, much less apt to help support new businesses, tightened their charitable contributions....cause they don't know what shoe will fall next and they worked their axis off, sacrificed, saved, took care of themselves and their own, only to be caught with their pants down as financial calamity ensued.  What's left? 
                  
                  In time there will be surveys, studies, etc... which will clearly reflect that today it is much less than 10% of Americans who control the wealth of this country, drive much of the consumption, drive much of the small private employement.  They've been burned, may never recover, and that is a critical factor in our federal government's recovery of the massive massive massive federal deficit.  You don't bring in tax dollars with the biggest capital losses in history on the books of many of those 10%.
                  
                  It's not "smoke" that BP is a holding in many pension funds, retirement accounts, etc...and it could well be a calamity for some folks, the decline of BP's value.  It is interesting the lack of concern for the little guy out of hatred for the truly rich guy -- the very truly rich guy who no doubt made a fortune in the collapse of our economy, like Goldman Sachs. 
                  
                  The sad thing is, our own government fully knew of this impending calamity, had ample warning of the dangers of the laxity of our financial system as far back as Clinton - they wouldn't listen, and Barney Frank and that congressinal veteran slime from Connecticut are prime instigators and culprits of the disaster, IMO.
                  
                  Whew, didn't mean to kind of run on like that...but I'll leave it as is.

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            KFlippinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            ????????
            
            To Quote You - "My GOD - there is life from another planet visiting Earth and posting on hubpages - too bad it's not intelligent life."
            
            Okay then, it seems you think it the better idea for our government to sit back and let BP clean this mess up as best they can, no matter how long that takes, no matter how many birds, turtles, shrimp and fish die, no matter how much oil arrives on shore, sit back, point fingers, hold hearings, and privately gloat over the coming windfall of BP's assets......and then swoop in and take over their assets, as you're assuming the cost will be so great to clean up and make restitution for lost wages, etc... that it will destroy BP.  Okay then. Hmmm.  Is that the real goal here?  In the administration's handling of this tragedy? 
            
            So much better for Pelicans and Turtles and our country if we had jumped in with all we've got and seen this cleaned up asap, and then sent the bill to BP -- they could have sold a half interest in their company if necessary to pay the big bill.  Can't do that now!  But then, I'm a moron, what do I know.

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               PrettyPantherposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I can't speak for Doug, but making BP pay for the consequences of their neglect and incompetence does not mean that the government sits back and does nothing to help clean up the oil spill.  The government should use all of its available resources to help with cleanup, but BP should be required to pay back every dime spent by the government, at every level, to clean up their mess.  If that bankrupts them so be it.  Like Doug said, then every other oil company will be highly motivated to develop the technology to avoid the same consequence in the future. 
               
               It's ridiculous to think that we shouldn't hold them 100% financially responsible for this outrageous and preventable disaster.

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                  Doug Hughesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  The US gov't sent BP a bill for 70 million so far - to repay the US for money we are spending. I hear lots of claims of 'penny-pinching' without a single example to substantiate.

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               KFlippinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I had no idea that there has been a movement in the works since at least early May to actually Seize BP's assets in the USA.  It has been nagging at me ever since I threw that idea on the table here as an absurdity, albeit a plausible one given the past couple of years of bailouts and takeovers, etc...and the constant alarms always ringing about the socialistic nature of this administration's policies.
               
               I was so surprised by one hubbers very specific ideas about BP's assets and their hope to see them cut off at the knees financially, the words had a quality of .... informed truth? to them.  And another hubber elsewhere was really wanting to know just how much value there was to BP's American assets. Seemed odd to me, nagged at me, so I did some looking around this morning, and I was absolutely shocked at the litany of discussions about this very thing. So now I know why some hubbers are keenly interested in the issue of BP's assets, and that seizure of those assets is in no way an 'absurdity' anymore.  Even that great and respected herald of the liberal media, Rosie O'Donnell, is on board with the idea!
               
               Given that BP has no doubt been aware of this ANSWER petition to seize their assets for quite some time, and given that the administration certainly has, I'm surprised they are even bothering to hang around and clean up 'their' mess, if the ultimate goal in the handling of this 'mess' is to cripple BP and make them state-owned assets with a money flow.  Under those conditions, futuristically, with a government seizure, not 'their mess' to clean up.
               
               
               May 8, 2010:  ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), which is mounting a campaign to have the U.S. government seize BP’s assets.
               
               http://www.politico.com/news/stories/06 … z0qezoIP2k
               
               ____
               
               June 6th: America tells Barack Obama to take control of Deepwater – and seize BP:
               
                 http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010 … obama-told

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   earnestshubposted 13 years ago

   Just a note.
   BP has not been British Petroleum since 1998!

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