Reason Writers Around Town: Shikha Dalmia on BP's Victims

The leftarati is demanding the nationalization of BP. Chris "Hardball" Matthews recently hectored: "Why doesn't the president go in there, nationalize the industry and get the job done?" Salon's Joe Conason, likewise, advocates taking a leaf from Norway's page and nationalizing the whole industry to constrain a "dangerous economic sector." Former labor secretary-turned-Berkley-professor Robert Reich insists that if the government can take over AIG and General Motors, then why not BP's North America branch? And Rosie O' Donnell has opined… oh nevermind, who cares!

But the harsh truth, notes Shikha Dalmia in her latest Forbes column, is that neither the government nor the company can make the victims of the spill whole again. "But the absolute worst thing one could do to them is consign them to the tender mercies of a government-controlled BP," Dalmia writes.

Read the whole thing here.

Comments

[Jordan]

Former labor secretary-turned-Berkley-professor Robert Reich insists that if the government can take over AIG and General Motors, then why not BP's North America branch?

I remember those halcyon days when those of us who sounded this warning were met with cries of "lol slippery slope fallacy." Those were the days.

[lunchstealer]

Oh, Christ. Again with the Reich. Seriously, why do none of these assmunches ever consider just letting a corporation die in massive debt from its mistakes, selling the pieces to its smarter or just luckier competitors, and be done with it?

[libertymike]

I'd rather hear what Rosie has to say than Robert ReissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssscccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh
has to say.

[Episiarch]

Awesome, we're sinking to the political level and sophistication of Venezuela.

Obama is an unmitigated, unadulterated fucking disaster.

[Tony]

What does this have to do with Obama?

[shrike]

Because Obama took over AIG, seized Bear and Washington Mutual for JP Morgan, forced BoA to take over Merrill Lynch, put Fannie/Freddie into receivership, began the auto bailouts, wrote the banks a $700 billion check, and forced brokers to stop short-selling.

Wait - that was Bush.

[Subsidize Me!]

Wait... So what does any of this have to do with Bush?

[Subsidize Me!]

Other than your post-Bush Bush Derangement syndrome?

[cynical]

Have you ever actually seen Obama and Bush somewhere at the same time?

[tkwelge]

Obama was hardly a voice of opposition to any of these policies, and he even had a hand in some of them. He was in the senate when most of these policies were passed, and he played a direct role in supporting some of them. As president, he has been directly responsible for much of the use of the TARP funds. You're also pretending that we are here to defend Bush, also.

[Tony]

Other than the eponymous derangement syndrome?

[Episiarch]

His moronic fans, such as yourself, think he's god and can and will do anything. Do you think there would have been these calls for nationalization under Bush from these people?

[Pro Libertate]

Episiarch,

But, but BUSH! BUSH!

BUSH!BUSH!BUSH!BUSH!BUSH!BUSH!
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USH!BUSH!BUSH!BUSH!BUSH!BUSH!
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BUSH!BUSH!BUSH!BUSH!BUSH!

[Episiarch]

Exactly. Don't look at the moron behind the curtain currently, look at the previous moron behind the curtain. Nice try, Tony-Dorothy, but we're not in Kansas any more and you didn't have the brains all along. Oh, and Toto is dead.

[Pro Libertate]

Jesus, we're totally fucked, aren't we?

I think about those movies, where aliens have come thousands of light years to conquer us, and we're portrayed as this plucky, resourceful species that can overcome them. Ha! We'd lose in about fifteen seconds. Probably after half of us betrayed the other half to join the fuckers.

Egad.

[Episiarch]

I'd betray you in a heartbeat, and all they'd have to give me was some hookers and blow, like Joe Pantoliano in The Matrix.

[libertymike]

Speaking of Joey P, wasn't he awesome in Midnight Run?

BTW, been meaning to ask you, where in the hell has Elemenope gone? I have not seen him here in so long.

[Pro Libertate]

Dude, he's in Baby's Day Out. That's just wrong.

I observed that when watching a review of the "film" by the guy who did the 90-minute review of The Phantom Menace.

[Tony]

I disagree with the premise that Obama is doing a bad job. His job being cleaning up the myriad disasters left him by his predecessor. Bush is not irrelevant, you just want him to be for pathetic partisan reasons. Pathetic because you're supposed to be above all that.

No one would have called for nationalization of BP under the Bushies because the oil industry already owned the Bushies, making it an absurd contemplation.

[Tony's Porn]

Yes, Bush caused the oil spill just to fuck with Obama.

[Subsidize Me!]

Please cite said "disasters."

[Tony]

Please cite said "disasters."

Two of the longest wars in US history, an economy heading toward depression, serious decline in international standing, extreme regulatory neglect, and basically 8 years of ignoring every real problem in the world in favor of creating brand new ones.

What, were you in a coma?

[Subsidize Me!]

@Tony

Two of the longest wars in US history

Which both continue, despite promises to the contrary.

an economy heading toward depression

Definitely not Bush's fault any more than that of government in general... But so much as a President can influence the economy,Obama has done more to further the disaster by following roughly the same course as Bush.

serious decline in international standing

Ask the Queen how she likes her iPod. How is international standing measured, again?

blah blah blue team bullshit

I was hoping you'd cite some "disasters" Obama has fixed. He's continued most every shitty policy Bush started.

[Renditions]

Good one Tony, without your boy-toy i might have been stopped

[barfman]

Bush is not irrelevant, you just want him to be for pathetic partisan reasons.

*barf*

[lee]

Wait a minute, so the Bush hating left and the democrats all vehemently opposed drug benefits for seniors, no child left behind, homeland security, and expanded government role in airline security? They must have voted against all of Bush's war related spending and ripped Obama for his reluctance to leave Afghanistan, right?

Bush (and much of the GOP) was one of these "compassionate conservative" who thought government could play an active role in promoting welfare and morality. He was, in fact, perfectly compatible with much of the left who would gladly spend gobs of money to institutionalize diversity and throw Cinco de Mayo parades. Not to mention the insane amount of money they give to the unions and state workers.

By now Americans have learned that the federal government will blunder in the face of crisis, no matter who sits in the white house. Katrina, BP, doesn't matter. Bush and Obama aren't libertarian. The latter is having a grand old time demonizing BP which the government was supposed to regulate, and not lifting a finger about the red tape that's preventing private innovator and local government from assisting in the disaster.

[tkwelge]

Few people here are arguing that Obama CAUSED any of the problems that we are in now. The argument is that what Obama is doing RIGHT NOW is different from what he should be doing. You keep falling back on the same damn straw men.

[Pro Libertate]

Just what we needed--a horrible president to go with our horrible Congress.

Honestly, I was thinking quite often during the Bush years that he was unknowingly setting us up for an even worse government. Ditto that GOP Congress.

[Dustin Wiondow]

Oh wow, that sure makes a lot of sense dude.

Lou
http://www.anon-vpn.at.tc

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Which part, praytell?

[G-d Bless Rand Paul]

Rand Paul said it best: Accidents happen. Why must we always look for someone to blame? It's un-American.

[PR]

Socialism Joker was so ridiculous

[Alan Vanneman]

Damn it, tell me what Rosie said!

[Rosie]

NOM NOM NOM NOM

[jester]

Something really bad like Ixtoc could never happen under nationalization. If we had only nationalized FEMA (it's a British multinational, IIRC), the Katrina aftermath debacle would have been avoided. Right?

[Michael Ejercito]

Something really bad like Ixtoc could never happen under nationalization.

Someone needs to tell Robert Reich, Chris Matthews, and Joe Conason what Ixtoc is.

[Plate-O]

Or for a more recent example, this event which occurred a couple of weeks after the BP explosion:

CARACAS, May 13 (Reuters) - A Venezuelan natural gas exploration rig sank in the Caribbean sea on Thursday, less than a month after a deadly explosion in the Gulf of Mexico destroyed a BP-owned oil rig and created a natural disaster.

Most of the 95 workers escaped by boat after water apparently rushed into one of the giant submarine rafts suporting the football field-sized structure. The captain and three engineers stayed to try and fix the $200 million rig. They dived to safety just as it lurched into the waves.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenew.....256518.htm

The rig was leased by PDVSA, Venezuela's nationalized oil company.

[Anonymous]

Ixtoc really is the best counterexample to those wishing for nationalization; Pemex spent 100m on cleanup in 1980, which comes out to about 250m adjusting for inflation, and they got out of the rest by asserting soverign immunity.

[Cartman]

my mom said if i wanna be a lesbian i gotta chow down on some box

[Subsidize Me!]

I'm getting elect Charlie Crist and Christian book publishing ads... Must be all the talk about carpet munching.

[Tulpa]

BP actually was nationalized until 1987...

[J sub D]

"Why doesn't the president go in there, nationalize the industry and get the job done?"

Because this ain't fuckin' Venezuela, you blooming idiot! Does Matthews even think before he opens his trap?

Now I'll go RTFA.

[No Name Guy]

Besides which, the Gubnment doesn't have the technical skill nor common sense to get the job done.

On the latter, reference: Stopping construction of sand berms, not using skimmers from overseas, stopping the barges from sucking up oil to see if they have enough life jackets on board.

[Seward]

"Salon's Joe Conason, likewise, advocates taking a leaf from Norway's page and nationalizing the whole industry to constrain a 'dangerous economic sector.'"

*rolls eyes*

StatOilHydro is not remotely immune from oil spills and in 2001 StatOilHydro was privatized - the Norwegian government now merely a majority owner of the company.

[Spoonman.]

My sister works for StatOil (Hydro is something else now) in the US and has to deal with a lot of Norwegian legacy bureaucracy. She has to call Norway to make travel arrangements.

[Ken Shultz]

You know, no one ever complains about fuel prices in Mexico.

I lived there for the last year, and I never heard anyone complain about the prices...

They're all PeMex of course--run by the government, which means, of course, that they keep the prices low at the pump for political reasons.

I'm not a friend of the environmentalists, or those who want to cap and trade, etc., but nationalizing BP would be a disaster for that sort of thing. I'm sure your local representative would love to campaign next year on keeping gas prices low--and if you're someone who's worried about climate change, then the US nationalizing an oil company is the last thing you should want to see for that reason...

There's no way alternative fuels will be able to compete with gasoline that sells below market rates, and there's no way politicians over the long haul won't use a nationalized oil company to try to give their constituencies cheap gasoline.

No freakin' way.

[Plate-O]

Not to mention that thanks to years of mismanagement and the Mexican government using them as piggy bank, PEMEX is in the unique situation of being an oil company that loses billions annually.

Of course, our own fiscally prudent politicians would never bankrupt something under their watch, right?

[J sub D]

If anyone thinks that the federal government (with the right people in charge, of course) is going to pay out claims expeditiously and fairly I strongly suggest they talk to a disabled veteran about how that's all working out for them.

[Astrid]

Or just one trying to get GI Bill payments...

[Coeus]

I've been waiting for an opportunity to post this:
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6593/648967
It gives a pretty good explanation of why the previous tries to cap the well have failed. Don't know if it's true, but it seems to hold together as a theory.

[Rich]

Warren, is that you?

[Coeus]

If that's a dig of some sort, you're gonna have to be more specific.

[Rich]

It's actually a compliment of some sort: Warren is famous around here for his "DOOM!!" comments.

[R C Dean]

Jeebus. Nationalizing BP would set off a chain of financial defaults and failures that would dwarf our previous Worst Financial Crisis EVAH! Meaning we would be enjoying:

(1) The Mother of All Bailouts, to be followed by:

(2) Great Depression 2.

Its such a horrible idea that I'm sure the White House has Top. Men. working on it right now.

(3)