Hell has frozen over!

Commentary By Ron Beasley

The British are upset that Obama is attacking the very own corporate criminal.  The most tribal and corporate Republicans and conservatives are taking BP's side.  No surprise, so why the title?  I agree with everything conservative Don Surber says in his post, No Britain, BP must pay.

I see where David Gardner of the London Daily Mail is not pleased with the $20 billion that BP much set aside and the suspension of its dividends for the next year.

The copy desk headlined his story: �Obama bullies BP into �13.5 billion fund for oil spill victims� but British pensioners will pick up the bill.�

David Gardner reported: �And the news was a major blow for Britain�s pension funds, which rely on BP�s dividend income to provide �1 in every �6 they receive each year. Since the fatal explosion in April, the value of the company � formerly Britain�s biggest � has halved to �63 billion.�

Well, that�s how it works.

You invest in a company, it creates the biggest ecological disaster in history and it has to pay. The stock market already fined it $90 billion or so.

If you have one-sixth of your money bet on that one company, you were foolish. Every idiot in West Virginia knows you should diversify your portfolio. The British might want to investigate their pension fund managers and find out why so many eggs were placed in that basket. Political pressure? Kickbacks? Sheer stupidity?

Those British pensioners have been receiving dividends with blood all over them for years. Those dividends they have been receiving were payed for with lives and environmental damage.  I have little sympathy for them or for myself - my European mutual fund has taken a big hit.

From the London Telegraph: �David Cameron has made an
appeal on behalf of BP�s British investors as it was forced to suspend
dividend payments over its US oil spill. The Prime Minister called for
the company to be protected from excessive compensation claims as
President Barack Obama made it agree to potentially unlimited damages.�

Appeal?

Appeal?

How about an apology?

A British-based company just spilled an
estimated 100 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico �
ruining the fishing industry and thousands of miles of beaches of the
United States � the largest tort in history � and the head of the
British government is pissed because Americans (�small people� in the
Swenglish of BP�s chairman) want the people responsible for the largest
tort in the history of mankind to pay.

According to the London Telegraph, the
prime minister said:

�BP is an important
company. It is an important company for people�s pensions, it employs
thousands of people in the UK, it pays a lot of tax. It�s important to
try to give some level of clarity and certainty so that the company can
actually continue and be financially stable. �They do need a level of
certainty, and this is BP�s worry, that there won�t be claims
entertained that are three or four times removed from the oil spill.
This shouldn�t be about going after BP for the sake of it.�

Of course they should.

Bubba Gump did not cause this spill. All he
ever did to the environment was chug out in his boat every day, haul in
the shrimp and sell it to the wholesaler.

And yet Bubba Gump is now out of business.
And it was not Hurricane Camille that done him in.

This catastrophe really is BP�s fault.

BP should pay.

That�s the rule of law. Has been since King
John signed the Magna Carta; likely before. Civilization is based on
such accountability.

David Cameron should be ashamed to stick up
for BP.

I would add that the corporate politicians and tribal Republicans should be ashamed as well.  I haven't said it before and I might not say it ever again but good job Don. 

BP screwed up. BP should pay. And if that means no more BP, then so be
it.