19 replies to this topic

[Blaskowicz]

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/06/06/bobby-jindal-signs-bill-to-block-lawsuits-against-oil-and-gas-companies

 

Well, damn.

[Lysistrata]

This is all politics... and Bobby Jindal is a brilliant politician.

 

If you're going to get over a problem you have to first get over the problem, and that is something the activist eviornmentalists have not allowed to occur when it comes to the BP oil spill of 2010. This will end this, and allow Louisianna to get back to business.

 

The bigger picture here is the Senate seat of Mary Landrieu. She has been desperately trying to gloss over her disastrous deciding vote on Obamacare by being a champion of energy. Her position on this will further complicate her losing battle to convince Louisiana voters that she is really a Republican.

 

On to the dismal case of this bad excuse for an Attorney General called Buddy Caldwell.

I have a real problem with life long Democrats that suddenly switch to Republican in 2011 just to keep their job.

[onbekende]

I thought americans liked sueing eachother?

[AngelCruzdelaSant]

I thought americans liked sueing eachother?

Not unless it's about multi-billionaire dollar companies. Lysistrata, the damage that the oil spill had has still not been corrected and so it can't be put in the past. If the company destroyed Louisiana's coasts, it's the company's responsibility to fix it. Doing this only lets the company (who is lining the pockets of the politicians backing this) get away with their actions. Clearly that's what we need, for companies to not be held accountable for what they do.

[Blaskowicz]

I thought americans liked sueing eachother?

 

So did I, but apparently large companies are exempt of it because of "frivolous lawsuits". It doesn't make much sense to stop lawsuits against companies that caused an ecological disaster, in my opinion

 

What state are you from, Lysis?

[Lysistrata]

Las Vegas, Nevada... the state of that spineless parasite known as Harry Reid.

You know... that guy that's in the back pocket of unions, Hollywood hypocrites, and those imbiciles that want to bankrupt the country by scaring us into the thought that we can buy our way to a change in the weather?

 

If your goal is to get to cleaner energy, you need to create a better, cheaper way do deliver it... not just a different way.

You will never have the support of the people by forcing them out of work and making it too expensive for them to live.

How many billions does BP have to cough up before it's enough? I think they have been punished enough.

 

I'll follow much smarter people... like Steve Wynn, Sheldon Adleson, Mitt Romney, and Charles and David Koch.

You can keep George Soros, Tom Steyer, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton.

[AngelCruzdelaSant]

Lol, they paid billions. How much do you think the fisheries lost, the taxes Louisiana lost, and the environmental damage that needs to be fixed costs? No, billions of dollars is not a large penalty on a giant corporation. They have the responsibility to fix the problems they created. If corporations want to be people, they need to accept responsibility like people do. This is not a question of liberal Vs conservative. This is about a company buying politicians so the government can step in and protect them. Government apparently shouldn't step into business when it may harm profit, but if the government can protect business and absolve them of responsibilities then it's A-ok!

[Rhizoctonia]

I have zero remorse for gas companies.  They screwed up, pay up.  How many billions it takes to fix, or at least try to recover to as close as things were prior spill is exactly how many billions that they should pay.  I don't have an exact number, much smarter people who deal with these types of things probably do.  There's bound to be plenty of lasting issues as a result of this spill, and from people who don't live or work in the area, we probably don't know exactly how much effect it will do to people's jobs so it's easy to say o they paid a few billion, that's enough.  BP makes 10-20 billion a year.  And hell, the same so called blowout preventer that failed is still being used today...so they obviously are not too worried.

 

It's mere politics, more then likely because of this BP will somehow help with donations or incentives to Jindal and future campaigns.  Politicians are all bought, it don't matter if they're Republican, Democrat, other...it's all the same BS. I'm personally sick of both parties, as I'm a Republican but there's as much BS flinging conservatives as there are liberals, the only difference is Liberals control most media.  But that's for another topic.

[Lysistrata]

The question remains unanswered... How many billions does BP have to cough up before it's enough?

 

I think your real answer is you want BP out of business... am I right?

Governor Jindal of Louisiana has said "That ain't gonna happen".

[AngelCruzdelaSant]

The question remains unanswered... How many billions does BP have to cough up before it's enough?

 

I think your real answer is you want BP out of business... am I right?

Governor Jindal of Louisiana has said "That ain't gonna happen".

I want BP to fix their mistakes. Exactly as Rhizo said, they need to pay as many billions as it takes. Why should corporations have the power to hold all of America hostage? Why is BP so important that they don't have to follow one of the basic laws of morality you learn when you are five? If you break something fix it. If you cause an environmental catastrophe, fix it. If you taint drinking water because of your failures, fix it. If you destroy industries because of your failures, fix it. If you ruin countless of peoples' lives because of your failure YOU FIX IT. Why should companies get to do whatever they want? Is it because they create jobs? Well, why are the jobs they create more important than the lives they ruin?

 

This is the problem with the idea of giving corporations freedom. They only care about profits, not about what is right. Please see the entirety of America from 1870s-early 1900s. 

[Lysistrata]

And someone has laid down the law and said they have fixed it. You won't be satisfied until they are out of business. You lose.

[Rhizoctonia]

I don't know why you're putting words in our mouth.  I don't think anyone here has said they want BP out of business...just pay for the damages they've done.  Sorry if we don't feel a simple slap on the wrist is enough.  They drill oil....obviously there's risks involved, but they've made billions from drilling.  Well, the risk they take happened...now pony up.  You act like it's bound to put them out of business..it's not. The amount of money they have paid is not even over the amount they make per year.  I would imagine your feelings would be different if you or your families business has been extremely impacted due to this and now making it hard to pay bills or keep your business afloat.  I would imagine you would want just as everyone else to have some compensation from a company that was the cause of this.  

 

People/companies should be held liable to the mistakes they make.  You would think the same if a mechanic changed your oil but forgot to put new oil in and ruined your engine.  You'd expect that mechanic to pay to replace that engine.  BP obviously knows the risks involved in what they do...and they try to make limit the risks.  Obviously it wasn't enough, the preventer failed, and oil was leaked.  If you're not willing to pay for the possible consequences for the risk you're taking, then don't do it.

 

It's kinda ironic, as most Republicans were against bailing companies out like the automobile and the banks for the risks they were taking, like the banks giving out loans to people for houses they couldn't afford...yet you're basically saying you're fine bailing BP out for their mistakes with the risks of drilling.  I banks deserved to get hit hard for their actions, just like BP is for their spill.  

[AngelCruzdelaSant]

And someone has laid down the law and said they have fixed it. You won't be satisfied until they are out of business. You lose.

The law is not the authority on morality. This is BP trying to put the law down to protect BP from their responsibilities. I seriously doubt you want to go down this road of arguing.

[AngelCruzdelaSant]

Another thing Lysistrata that Rhizo pointed out. If BP goes out of business, then that is capitalism. THEY took a risk, and that risk blew up. THEY have to deal with the fallout. If they can't pay their dues, then they go belly-up, sounds perfectly like capitalism to me. Again, why is government intervention in business bad, except when it makes businesses money? 

[Blaskowicz]

I'd like to see BP (and just any other company, really) be accountable for its actions. In this specific case, we've got an oil spill caused by negligence that was caused by them, or contractors. Whoever was responsible is up for the courts to decide.

 

And that's my key argument: courts. 

 

Whoever's right or wrong, regardless of my personal opinion, must be left to the judicial system in order to be settled down. I'm sure BP, whose financial report shows it had a net profit of $23 billion last year can afford a legal team and, if reparations are due, pay them. Interestingly enough, BP sued the contractors of the platform for $40 billion, the estimated total damages of the accident.

 

Exonerating BP from the courts does literally nothing but obstructing the legal processes. I agree a lot of people you mention, Lysis, are smart. Heck, they're financial geniuses. But they aren't known to help the guys below. And, in this case, those affected by an oil spill.

[Lysistrata]

$20 Billion fund in immediate aid

$7.8 Billion class action settlement for those affected

$4.5 Billion in Government penalties

 

Yeah they ponied up... and if someone doesn't say "enough", the vultures just keep pecking.

You lose on this, but you always have the courts. Maybe the Supremes will take it up and decide that BP needs to go?

[Blaskowicz]

$20 Billion fund in immediate aid

$7.8 Billion class action settlement for those affected

$4.5 Billion in Government penalties

 

Yeah they ponied up... and if someone doesn't say "enough", the vultures just keep pecking.

You lose on this, but you always have the courts. Maybe the Supremes will take it up and decide that BP needs to go?

 

Well, yeah

 

It's up to the courts to determine that. It's why we have them. Not a perfect system by far, but a decent one at making sure peace is kept, and justice is dealt.

[AngelCruzdelaSant]

$20 Billion fund in immediate aid

$7.8 Billion class action settlement for those affected

$4.5 Billion in Government penalties

 

Yeah they ponied up... and if someone doesn't say "enough", the vultures just keep pecking.

You lose on this, but you always have the courts. Maybe the Supremes will take it up and decide that BP needs to go?

And again you pretty much ignored everything pointed out in this thread. This law is going to stop many lawsuits against BP, it isn't that they haven't payed "enough" it's that they are going to use a politician to pass a law to make sure that they don't have to follow any more responsibilities. If you cannot see this as inherently immoral I don't know what to say. If Louisiana decides that BP needs to pay more to fix the environmental impact BP had, then why should BP not pay more? Why are you ok with a corporation buying a politician to protect itself from responsibility?

[Lysistrata]

I've ignored nothing. You ignored the words "class action".

That means everyone that has been affected by the spill of 2010, has sued BP, and they have been paid.

Zealot liberals are the only ones screaming it's not enough.

Bobby Jindal is the Governor of the fine state of Louisiana.

It's his job to create a friendly envioronment for businesses to create, and retain, jobs in his state.

At the same time he will expose Mary Landrieu as the progressive socialist she really is. Louisiana hates them.

[Duderonomy]

The sad thing is that anybody responsible has already moved onto better jobs. BP had safety issues for years, including a refinery explosion. During those years, they had record profits based on cost cutting. Guess where that money came from? It's not necessarily just about the damage they did in the Gulf. Their track record indicates a company culture that needs big incentives to change. The possibility of further lawsuits should be just one of those incentives.

 

BP has paid a great deal already, but hopefully other companies take this into account when they consider whether it's worth paying for extra safety precautions. Shell had a pipeline leak in Louisiana last year. They paid whatever it took to stop it and clean it up. Little damage was done, and their efforts ensured that the environment and people of Louisiana were protected. While no one can live on this Earth without having an impact (how much natural gas does it take to run our computers and servers?), we should encourage responsible use of our resources. There's no free market way to do that, so we have to rely on the law and courts. Not an elegant solution, but better than nothing.