|
Some people might have been shocked on hearing “twenty billion dollars for the clean up in the Gulf”. Not me. My first reaction, after catching my breath a bit, was this: that’s a good start. It probably should be twice or three times as much, but it wouldn’t make much sense to bankrupt BP to get it, would it?
Thing is, BP can afford $20,000,000,000.00. They were getting ready to pay out about ten billion in dividends to their stock holders this year. The size of these massive oil companies, with billions of barrels of oil in proven and unproven reserves around the world, is difficult for the ordinary mind to comprehend. They take in more money than most nations and have more raw economic power at their command. They don’t call oil black gold for nothin’.
Here is something that most people don’t stop to think about where oil is involved: the oil is free. Once you find it, drill for it and get it up, the oil is free. It is part of the natural resource base of the world. It belongs, in fact, to all of us, to the richest and the poorest among us. It is somewhat like air and water (less important, of course) in that it was provided by mother earth herself. It is not manufactured, but rather refined into a useable product. Thus, huge profits are all but guaranteed. (Of course, you have to buy the leases at sea from the government and on land from rights holders, but the oil companies have known for a hundred years how to stack those deals in their favor.)
Yeah, of course the oil companies spend billions getting it and they would laugh at the idea that the oil is free. Likewise, those who see the world in stark terms of ownership versus natural human rights, but, hey, that’s their problem. A lot of people believe that what has evolved as accepted practices in granting the “right of capture” to those who can first get to natural resources is, somehow or another, more or less preordained by god. They don’t believe anyone owns anything, except those who can take and, then, once it is taken, they assert that ownership is immutable. Well, again, that’s their problem.
In any case, Obama gets a big splash and he helps to put to rest the idea that he is doing little or nothing about the disaster in the Gulf. Twenty billion is, indeed, a good start.
One area of concern is that he appointed the 9-11 arbiter, Feinberg, to administer this fund. This fund is far, far different from handling the pay outs from the terrorist attacks. This situation demands speed and fairness and the ability to realize that speed is more important to many people who get their living from the Gulf of Mexico. Plus, there might be a tendency to hold back payments until the full damage can be assessed and to ensure that future needs are met as they arrive. This could be its own disaster. Once again, the Obama people believe there is an expert for every occasion and nothing is so good as an expert from the past. This might prove to be true, but the fund itself could become the cause of great controversy and, in the process, additional pain for the people of the Gulf Coast states.
There might be many people in Louisiana and elsewhere today thinking they’ve just won the lottery, that money is going to be coming their way for not working. Caution is in order. 20 billion is a lot, but once you start spreading it around among thousands of hotels, restaurants, fishing charter businesses and commercial fishing people, it gets thin fast. Those making the largest claims will be those who were making the most money before the massive spill of oil. So, some of the rich owners of hotels and other businesses will want to place themselves first in line. What’s more, they will have the lawyers, the lobbyists and the influence to try to make certain they win.
As mentioned elsewhere on The TerryReport, the clean up of the Gulf is going to take years. Most of the job will have to be done by nature, not by people picking oil blobs up off the beaches. Many people who depend on the Gulf for income and jobs will have to think about leaving the area, or going into another line of work, once they get their money, if they want steady employment in the future.
Doug Terry, 6.17.10
|
|
