The BP Oil spill was caused by an unregulated free market

[swirling_vortex]

Well, you knew it was coming.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8248706

cheming daemons (1000+ posts) Fri Apr-30-10 06:23 PM
Original message
Memo to teabaggers and dittoheads: The BP Oil spill was caused by an unregulated free market



The guilty party? Randian, "Atlas Shrugged"-ish, unfettered, free market capitalism.


Try all you want to pin this on Obama. Conservative economic philosophy is the culprit. BP was allowed to build and operate this rig with little or no regulatory oversight by Washington.


And why is there little or no regulatory oversight of the oil industry and their offshore drilling?


Ronnie's crusade against regulation and "big government" is why. Followed up nicely by the three Presidents that followed him.

First of all, the notion that the oil rigs are unregulated is laughable. Secondly, if oil rigs are supposedly unstable, why haven't we seen rigs blow up on a yearly basis? The simple answer is that it hurts the bottom line. If anything, under a free market system, BP may very well be forced to go bankrupt because of all the lawsuits that would hit them for property damage. More than likely when all of this is said and done, BP will probably be hit with a fine and that'll be the end of it.

[Dan D. Doty]

Yes, Cheming Daemons, Socialism will save our souls, keep us on a diet and make all cats love us, even when it rains.

Why don't you read Ayn Rand's first book, WE THE LIVING. ( maybe you'll learn something).

Thats unless you want a nation where everyone who disagrees with you lives in total fear of being arrested for ... well ... not agreeing with you.

[swirling_vortex]

Yes, Cheming Daemons, Socialism will save our souls, keep us on a diet and make all cats love us, even when it rains.

Why don't you read Ayn Rand's first book, WE THE LIVING. ( maybe you'll learn something).

Thats unless you want a nation where everyone who disagrees with you lives in total fear of being arrested for ... well ... not disagreeing with you.
Right, and once again the DUmmie did not take a basic microeconomics class. The problem with doing business out in the ocean is who owns it? Well, no one really. What we encountered here is the same issue that we have with too much fishing, that is, The Tragedy of the Commons. Environmental areas are not usually owned by private individuals, but rather by the government. It has always baffled me that just because a piece of land is covered by water, that nobody can own it. If those areas were the rigs are located were privatized, do you think other companies like Exxon would appreciate having oil leak all over the place? Of course not. Privatization ensures people to obey property laws, which would also help enforce things such as safety checks. If they break that, then they have to come to a deal to fix the damage or get sued.

What's going on here is akin to my neighbor dumping his sewage in my yard, except in this case all the land is owned by the government.