You have to feel a little sorry for BP. They most likely never saw the 20 billion dollar shakedown coming. And why would they? We've been telling them for years that regulation is bad, capitalism is good and the free market knows all. And yet at the first sign of trouble those very same free market supporters are now telling BP they have to cough up billions of dollars for some glorified slush fund?
The very same government that sang the free market praise when things were good is now hanging BP out to dry for doing the very same things the government said it was ok to do, in response to the very same events deregulation inevitably causes. Regulation is meant to avoid such disasters. By rolling back such regulations and refusing to enforce the ones that were left the message was clear: the loss of those eleven workers, the loss of countless jobs and the destruction of the environment are all acceptable losses. They are collateral damage. And we are supposed to happily accept that as the cost of doing business in a free market economy.
What, in this country's attitude towards big business, would have lead BP to believe they would ever be held accountable for what they did? Not a damn thing. BP must be pissed right about now, and with good reason. This is not how a free market works. Now slush fund. No increased regulation. No protection of future workers. No assistance to those losing their jobs over this. No clean up of the environment. These are all acceptable losses, remember?
I can't believe republicans aren't standing shoulder to shoulder with Barton on the creation of this slush funds. No more bailouts we were told... the market will take care of itself. What happened? You'd almost think it was an election year of something.
Update: this is snark, I should have labeled it as such. Sorry for the confusion...