Economics Questions

Re: Infinite $ damage from BP oil spill?

ravochol — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:05:43 GMT

Oil Gushes Unchecked After Problem With Cap

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/06/23/business/AP-US-Gulf-Oil-Spill-Containment-Cap.html?_r=1&hp

Re: Infinite $ damage from BP oil spill?

ravochol — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:25:59 GMT

It seems to be happening... raining oil in Louisiana...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un8co1d4zb4&feature=player_embedded

Re: Infinite $ damage from BP oil spill?

marko331 — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:20:39 GMT

the main issue is its hard to prove that one is entitled due to the lack of clear definitions of property rights and the like.

Re: Infinite $ damage from BP oil spill?

IDigSluts_ky — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:11:42 GMT

Th lp just commented on the oil spill. They are skepticial of third party negotioations between Obama and BP, as they should be.

http://www.lp.org/news/press-releases/libertarians-say-government-shares-blame-with-bp-for-oil-spill

They think they courts should resolve it. That didn't work out so well with Exxon. The American people got screwed on that deal.

Re: Infinite $ damage from BP oil spill?

BrianAnderson — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:59:43 GMT

I just hope this oil spill doesn't force people to think the wrong way about fossil fuels. Not to downplay the oil spill - it is a terrible tragedy. But people keep assuming that the gulf spill has something to do with oil use, when it really is a small accident in comparison to how much oil we consume. PBS estimates that around 79 million gallons have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico so far, but people fail to forget that we use 820 million gallons of oil per day. The amount of oil that has spilled into the Gulf of Mexico is barely 10% of our everyday consumption. If we expect to have the capabilities and lifestyles that we have, we need to be reasonable in our expectations that not everything will always go 100% as planned.

The lady at the bottom of the segment you posted complains about the $15 per hour, but I feel like she might have a different opinion if they were getting paid $10,000 per hour or something like that. Even though she says there shouldn't be a price on someone's life, there always will be when we face accidents. Not to mention that, when we find alternative energy sources, there will no doubt be consequences to using those as well.

If anything, BP will never be able to collapse and declare bankruptcy. If they get to that point, I guarantee ExxonMobil and all of the other oil companies will come in to liquidate BP's shares and each pay a fraction of the payments depending on the size of BP they buy. Rockefeller will definitely have his Standard Oil back after a long many years.

Re: Infinite $ damage from BP oil spill?

marko331 — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:44:21 GMT

more likely than not BP will go broke before they give payouts the main reason is that the government will try and make them pay in one big sack this will be counterproductive in the long run to clamints as claims will more likely than not exceed assets so that there will be a shortfall in money.

There is alot of emtion surrounding this issue at the moment and it is hard to decide how to proceed. In these circumstances more often than not government will usually do something in order to make the voters feel safe.

Re: Infinite $ damage from BP oil spill?

ravochol — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:33:44 GMT

wow, view from space

Infinite $ damage from BP oil spill?

ravochol — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:47:19 GMT

Below is a recent excerpt from an article which implies that the BP oil spill + dispersants might be so toxic, that just going near it to clean it up might be poisoning the cleanup workers. Other estimates have put the area of the Gulf affected by the spill as as much as 40% of the whole Gulf.

Further, consider that many of the chemical compounds in the oil and the dispersants are both toxic and can evaporate - so logically, they'll enter the 'water cycle' and result in toxic rain or just polluted air. Google "BP toxic rain" to see further expositions on this posibility. So the toxic effects could be spreading over the U.S. wherever the wind blows.

If the spill really is going to result in widespread cancer, poisoning etc, in humans as well as in all the life of the Gulf, I don't see how BP can (justly) survive financially as a company... they'll have to be entirely sold off to pay for all these damages, and then even that probably won't cover the whole cost. What happens then?

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/gulf-oil-spill-health-effects-062110?click=esq_new

After studying cleanup workers from the Exxon Valdez spill, Ott is convinced that today's Gulf fishermen are not merely risking their short-range health. "The Exxon Valdez oil was considerably less toxic than Louisiana sweet crude, and it wreaked havoc on any life forms that encountered it," she says, including brain lesions, coma, and death. "We are setting up here for a giant human tragedy — decades of misery — especially if a storm or hurricane spreads it to normal everyday people onshore."

Ott claims that Exxon exploited OSHA loopholes, such as a two-year filing limit even though overexposure symptoms can take decades to appear (another loophole: rejecting early claims as negligible cold and flu symptoms), to deny medical coverage to cleanup workers. "Now BP is using the loopholes. People are not supposed to be getting sick, but it's happening."

Savage, the Exxon Valdez worker who has been sick for decades, will continue to share her story, even if only a fraction of Gulf fishermen will hear it.

"These 18-year-old kids are throwing away their lives for fifteen dollars per hour to clean up the oil," she says. "That's the price on their lives, and there shouldn't be a price."