Mon May 24, 2010 at 11:14 AM
The BP oil leak catastrophe is ultimately the result of corrupt, unfettered, unregulated capitalism. While we need a robust domestic oil industry while we migrate to a more sustainable source of energy, the industry must be regulated giving the potential it has to cause mass pollution, habitat destruction, climate change, and more. Moreover we must have a government that is funded and always ready to protect citizens from corporate bad deeds.
To be clear, the oil industry like every major industry employs responsible engineers, scientists, and others. Unfortunately their decision making process is invariably influenced by their leader’s loyalty to the capital markets than to employee or the country’s well being. It is for this reason that the “drill baby drill” in America phrase has no value as our unregulated markets allows that American oil is not necessarily destined to our markets but to the capital market’s of the highest bidder and thus having no effect on our security.
Gulf States leaders have all but indoctrinated the voting majority of their citizenry that small government and little regulation are their paths to economic prosperity. The BP oil leak is a confluence of both tenants; little regulation for ensuring concrete methodologies to address oil spills and a government that does not have the resources to mitigate either the direct impact of the spillage or the structures to provide financial subsidies to the hundreds of thousands whose employment, businesses, and wealth will be adversely affected for years.
Many believe President Obama should be more engaged in the oil spill disaster. In fact he must offer further engagement as long as the Gulf Coast politicians strongly and overtly request government resources and repudiate corporate de-regulation that in effect was the cause of this catastrophe. Absent this, once the President allows the government to take command, he owns it and BP and Gulf Coast politicians will turn around and blame government for the further deterioration of this catastrophe even as they demand a big government solution.