Goldman Sachs And Bp

[Mikhail Liebenstein]

Ok, I've absolutely no sympathy for BP or big oil, but contrast the difference in treatment between BP and say Goldman Sachs.

Goldman gets its AIG bets paid thanks to a bailout despite having ruined the economy and the lives of many.

BP will be hung out to dry and if the oil well keeps leaking as it now looks, then BP could lose tens of Billions not just the Billion originally suggested.

[Supertop]

But engineering is rather grubby dont you know

Much better to wear an expensive suit and toss about with share prices using other peoples money

[cashinmattress]

Goldman is just as dirty in this environmental catastrophe as BP as they are funding the 'clean-up'. It doesn't matter here, they are all hedging and making money.

Media ignores Goldman Sachs’ ties to Corexit dispersant

There is a VERY REAL chance of this disaster destroying a major component of the Atlantic food chain.

There is going to be a toxic legacy, into the decades and beyond, because of this cowboy policy carried by the majority shareholders in BP. The Gulf of Mexico will see the indigenous fishing industry wiped out, tourism pushed back from the beach resorts, and the wider local economy go straight to hell.

Yes, its a shame that its happening in the gulf and to America, but this will be the Yanks only chance to redeem themselves and consider a life no so heavily constrained to petrochemicals and abundant cheap energy.

[rented]

There is a VERY REAL chance of this disaster destroying a major component of the Atlantic food chain.

Are you talking about the phytoplankton by any chance?

[The Pale Rider]

Ok, I've absolutely no sympathy for BP or big oil, but contrast the difference in treatment between BP and say Goldman Sachs.

Goldman gets its AIG bets paid thanks to a bailout despite having ruined the economy and the lives of many.

BP will be hung out to dry and if the oil well keeps leaking as it now looks, then BP could lose tens of Billions not just the Billion originally suggested.

Once BP were a great company to work for, looked after their employees, until Lord Browne got his way.

Now they are almost entirely out of Britain.Pulled out of the north sea, sold their british refineries and concentrated on exploration. The refinery I work at was taken over by a highly leveraged outfit called INEOS.

Needless to say I withdrew my blessing to the BP business after that.

BP's commitment to safety is the minimum required so I am not surprised they leave a trail of bodies and incidents in their wake.

They shall reap what they sow.

[cashinmattress]

Are you talking about the phytoplankton by any chance?

Every single living thing is being poisoned by the oil leakage and by the dispersant.

Here's a short list of fish that are effected:

Scamp, greater amberjack, black sea bass, gag, reg barbier, snowy grouper, speckled hind, red snapper, roughtongue bass, red porgy, blue angelfish, blackfin tuna, bank butterflyfish, blackfin snapper, gray snapper, cubbyu, bank se bass, warsaw grouper, porgy, reticluate moray, soapfish, vermilion snapper, yellow tail reeffish, tattler, blue angelfish, grouper, short bigeye, tomate, wrase bass, dwarf goatfish, lizardfish, spotfin butterflyfish, bigeye, doctorfish, damselfish, founder, whitespotted soapfish, almaco jack, blue chromis, sand perch, jacknife fish, squirrelfish, scorpionfish, belted sandfish, puffer, cardinal soldierfish, leopard toadfish, purple reeffish, creole fish, porcup8inefish, moray, lane snapper

then there are the crustaceans, the invertebrates, the plankton, the cetaceans, the birds, the insects, mammals, reptiles, you name it

Its going to be dire, possible Soylent Green dire for a heck of a lot of folk.

[Georgia O'Keeffe]

Ok, I've absolutely no sympathy for BP or big oil, but contrast the difference in treatment between BP and say Goldman Sachs.

Goldman gets its AIG bets paid thanks to a bailout despite having ruined the economy and the lives of many.

BP will be hung out to dry and if the oil well keeps leaking as it now looks, then BP could lose tens of Billions not just the Billion originally suggested.

Maybe they should have tried buying insurance trather than going the self insurance route, tightwads

[Guest sillybear2]

Once BP were a great company to work for, looked after their employees, until Lord Browne got his way.

Now they are almost entirely out of Britain.Pulled out of the north sea, sold their british refineries and concentrated on exploration. The refinery I work at was taken over by a highly leveraged outfit called INEOS.

Yet in the US they are being castigated as "British Petroleum" as if the blown out well is some kind of revenge for the Boston Tea Party.

[happy_renting]

I think another interesting comparison is between BP in the US, and Union Carbide in Bhopal, India.

In each case, a large multinational was responsible for a disaster involving a foreign operation using local labour.

In each case , the buck stops with the large multinational.

In the BP case, US labour operating a rig hired from Switzerland caused the initial disaster. Idications are that both BP and US regulators cut corners. BP has at least accepted responsibility.

In Bhopal, Union Carbide was responsible for a leak of methyl isocyanate gas in 1984, killing an estimated 3,700 to 20,000 people and poisoning many more. Union Carbide attempted to escape responsibility and blamed the local operators. The abandoned plant still leaks toxins. The victims were paid paltry compensation. Legal wrangles continued for decades.

With the failure of Top Kill I wonder if this is the end of BP, or whether the global insurance industry (read: Lloyds) is about to take a HUGE hit. Anyone here a Lloyds 'name'?

[crouch]

Ok, I've absolutely no sympathy for BP or big oil, but contrast the difference in treatment between BP and say Goldman Sachs.

Goldman gets its AIG bets paid thanks to a bailout despite having ruined the economy and the lives of many.

BP will be hung out to dry and if the oil well keeps leaking as it now looks, then BP could lose tens of Billions not just the Billion originally suggested.

You sound a little surprised by this.

[Georgia O'Keeffe]

With the failure of Top Kill I wonder if this is the end of BP, or whether the global insurance industry (read: Lloyds) is about to take a HUGE hit. Anyone here a Lloyds 'name'?

Ive got a mate called Tarquin will that do?

[The Pale Rider]

Before this there was the Texas City incident.

[cashinmattress]

Now they are almost entirely out of Britain.

Almost, except for the Unity platform and Forties pipeline. They make a cut of off every bit of Forties crude as that is the main distribution header for the field, and a lot of the North Sea.

Very very lucrative. They sold everything else though.

[CokeSnortingTory]

Interesting perspective from Dmitry Orlov: http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2010/05/lost-leaders.html

I agree with his basic analysis that we are being run by morons.

[Seydel]

This is shaping up to be the biggest doom event in anyone's living memory.

An oil slick of thousands of square miles (plus gases) that thanks to the Gulf Stream will hit Britain and most of Europe.

I'm going to buy a small mountain's worth of grub tomorrow 'cause if this plays out the way the mainstream media is desperate not to outline there will be fighting in the supermarket aisles before too much longer.

[Guest sillybear2]

Interesting perspective from Dmitry Orlov: http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2010/05/lost-leaders.html

I agree with his basic analysis that we are being run by morons.

"At some point it becomes clear that there is no oil well—just a large, untidy hole in the sea bottom with hydrocarbons spewing out of it"

That's a moronic analysis, the well head and BOP are perfectly intact, and he seems to suggest BP are simply interested in collecting oil simply for the $$$, well that must be some of the most expensively produced oil in history.

[rented]

Every single living thing is being poisoned by the oil leakage and by the dispersant.

Here's a short list of fish that are effected:

Scamp, greater amberjack, black sea bass, gag, reg barbier, snowy grouper, speckled hind, red snapper, roughtongue bass, red porgy, blue angelfish, blackfin tuna, bank butterflyfish, blackfin snapper, gray snapper, cubbyu, bank se bass, warsaw grouper, porgy, reticluate moray, soapfish, vermilion snapper, yellow tail reeffish, tattler, blue angelfish, grouper, short bigeye, tomate, wrase bass, dwarf goatfish, lizardfish, spotfin butterflyfish, bigeye, doctorfish, damselfish, founder, whitespotted soapfish, almaco jack, blue chromis, sand perch, jacknife fish, squirrelfish, scorpionfish, belted sandfish, puffer, cardinal soldierfish, leopard toadfish, purple reeffish, creole fish, porcup8inefish, moray, lane snapper

then there are the crustaceans, the invertebrates, the plankton, the cetaceans, the birds, the insects, mammals, reptiles, you name it

Its going to be dire, possible Soylent Green dire for a heck of a lot of folk.

It's hard conceive of that kind of wholesale damage and poisoning of the wildlife and ecosystems. Then add in hurricanes disturbing the water and it travelling around the world in the gulf stream...

I see now that it might continue leaking until August at least (assuming they don't just try and nuke it). Uh oh

(I had to look up Soylent Green )

[Guest sillybear2]

It's hard conceive of that kind of wholesale damage and poisoning of the wildlife and ecosystems. Then add in hurricanes disturbing the water and it travelling around the world in the gulf stream...

I see now that it might continue leaking until August at least (assuming they don't just try and nuke it). Uh oh

(I had to look up Soylent Green )

Yeah, because irradiating the gulf would make things so much better

I've had quite enough of the armchair generals with two huge SUV's parked outside, the same people who cry like babies when gasoline exceeds $2.50 a gallon. Same goes for a president who drives around in a 20 car motorcade and has a 747 all to himself, then goes into self-righteous rants about the evils of Big Oil.

[hayder]

i read about this.

wasn't the oil spill in the gulf war MUCH bigger than this, yet within a couple years all became normal, fishing resumed etc...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_oil_spill

not to mention that the persian gulf is much narrower than the mexican, meaning that the concentrations were much higher. It was 11M barrels of oil!! shocking stuff. this is puny by comparison.

there was also a previous event in the gulf of mexico itself... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixtoc_I_oil_spill

which spilt out 3 million barrels of oil!

An average of approximately ten thousand to thirty thousand barrels per day were discharged into the Gulf until it was finally capped on 23 March 1980, nearly 10 months later

the BP one, is once again being blown out of proportions!

Edited May 31, 2010 by hayder

[Guest sillybear2]

i read about this.

wasn't the oil spill in the gulf war MUCH bigger than this, yet within a couple years all became normal, fishing resumed etc...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_oil_spill

not to mention that the persian gulf is much narrower than the mexican, meaning that the concentrations were much higher. It was 11M barrels of oil!! shocking stuff. this is puny by comparison.

there was also a previous event in the gulf of mexico itself... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixtoc_I_oil_spill

which spilt out 3 million barrels of oil!

An average of approximately ten thousand to thirty thousand barrels per day were discharged into the Gulf until it was finally capped on 23 March 1980, nearly 10 months later

the BP one, is once again being blown out of proportions!

This is America remember, a litigious nation of spoilt children, fortunately that also means short attention spans, so the sooner BP deal with this the better.

[Mikhail Liebenstein]

Yeah, because irradiating the gulf would make things so much better  

I've had quite enough of the armchair generals with two huge SUV's parked outside, the same people who cry like babies when gasoline exceeds $2.50 a gallon. Same goes for a president who drives around in a 20 car motorcade and has a 747 all to himself, then goes into self-righteous rants about the evils of Big Oil.

What we really need is a giant meteor or comet to seal the well, or did the dinosaurs try that one?

[interestrateripoff]

I agree with his basic analysis that we are being run by morons.

Hardly a ground breaking conclusion We've all know that for years.

[Executive Sadman]

Didnt they change there name to Beyond Petroleum?

Seems quite appropriate now.

[R K]

Yet in the US they are being castigated as "British Petroleum" as if the blown out well is some kind of revenge for the Boston Tea Party.

Indeed.

I wonder who might ultimately benefit from BP being closed out of the Gulf and US waters generally?

As ever, cui bono?

[OnlyMe]

What we really need is a giant meteor or comet to seal the well, or did the dinosaurs try that one?

What this and the likes of Katrina really show if is there were anything on a monumental scale then basically as an individual you are on your own and in utter denial if you think you can rely on either the state or the corporations that currently exist today.