Should we root for BP to be driven out of business?

[bluestateguy]

I don't just mean bankruptcy, but lights out, out of business, and liquidation.

Should we wish for that, or is that not the best possible outcome here?

I hear BP is worth over $500 billion in assets. Should we be saying, "hand it all over"?

[H2O Man]

1. Nationalize it. n/t

[Luminous Animal]

7. Yep.

[leftstreet]

10. +1

[Poll_Blind]

24. +1

PB

[muntrv]

2. Sure! I can get behind that!

[WeDidIt]

3. Not for a few years. n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. No and I will tell you why

as much as I despise BP... they form many a retirement fund, as in the core of it, in the UK, as well as more than just a few retirement funds in the US...

Also if they go lights out, believe it or not that will not help the people in the Gulf, even if it was very satisfying.

[BeFree]

8. Corporate world needs a lesson

You screw up like this and you are dead meat.

It's now, or never.

[HipChick]

9. +100..you are very correct

[William Z. Foster]

23. seize their assets

Seize their assets and pay off the retirees, and this time no more idiocy of putting retirement funds into the stock market.

The only way that the people of the Gulf will not be helped is if the government lets the BP billionaires make off with the loot.

Is there anything more obscene or depraved than those billionaires hiding behind poor working class pensioners? The same propaganda was floated about the Wall Street bailout, and every other corporate give away - "but think of all the poor little people who will be harmed!" It is extortion, it is dishonest, it is morally depraved, it is obscene.

[Nye Bevan]

5. If the damage they caused adds up to $500 billion or more, then yes, I guess.

But if the damage is less, then I guess not.

[name not needed]

6. Seize their assets and sell them off to their competitors.

Put the profits toward building a High Speed Rail system in this country.

[NutmegYankee]

11. That's a lot of lost jobs.

Some companies reform after a harsh shock to their system. I'd rather wait and see.

[HooptieWagon]

12. No, provided the execs and directors go to prison for negligence, manslaughter,etc.

[Synicus Maximus]

13. No. Americans own 39 % of BP. Not to mention the jobs that

BP provides. But if we feel we should cut off our nose to sprite our face..................

[humbled_opinion]

14. Exactly

Yes... Obama had a chance to take this catastrophe and use it as a catalyst to get America off of oil once and for all. He could have said in a very articulate way that it is too risky to allow drilling on land and at sea, the oil itself is polluting the planet and the carbon emission byproducts are warming the planet at an alarming rate, therefore as President I am taking the lead and getting us off of oil once and for all. JFK used and address to rally the nation behind putting a man on the moon and in fact we did a few years after he called for it, HOW? American ingenuity, even thought the space exploration was in its infancy we still got it done. Just like today renewable energy is in its infancy and we need a catalyst to force us to GET IT DONE.

Effective in 2011 America will no longer produce or manufacture Gasoline combustion engines for transportation vehicles. The government is seizing control of all oil production and will ration the gasoline to people based on their ability to pay for it at a cost that puts us all in it together i.e. if your income is below 40k per year for a family of 4 then you will pay a standard rate of $2 per gallon and the govt will subsidize 50 percent for the purchase of your alternative fuel vehicle. You are more then welcome to continue to use your gas car until it finally breaks down but the sooner you move on to an alternative vehicle the better. If you make between 40k and 100k family then you will pay $4 per gallon and for every 25K above that amount your cost will increase by $2 per gallon. That forces us all to put skin in the game.

[backscatter712]

15. Fuck yes. Just seize their assets and use them to pay for the mess!

Seize the entire company! All bank accounts, all their rigs, ships, equipment, their mineral rights, everything they own. Seize their assets, auction them off and pay for the cleanup that way.

[AnArmyVeteran]

16. Only if we can seize all the personal assets of every executive at BP leaving them paupers

[Initech]

17. Someone needs to be held accountable.

[OHdem10]

18. No, we need BP with money in order to make good on the cleanup

and taking care of those harmed by the Oil Gusher.

[Canuckistanian]

19. Why not? The "invisible hand" and all that.

Isn't it inevitable that it goes out of business? Isn't this the natural order of the universe?

It'll be replaced by a more ethical entity, just like Enron was, right?

[rucky]

20. After they pay every penny they owe. Not before.

[dionysus]

21. not while they've got money to pay out claims. after that, fire away.

[William Z. Foster]

22. nationalize

Nationalize the oil industry. The only alternative to that is the exact reverse - they own the government and all of us.

[howaboutme]

25. I root for the Chairman and CEO to be jailed

In our country this will never happen. Their unethical culture and decisions may have cost many lives and lost livelihoods but the rich are never held accountable. The global corporate governance structure is purposely designed to prevent accountability.

I agree with the one Congressman who said they should consider committing Hari Kari if they were ethical.

[kenny blankenship]

26. What does it take to deter reckless corporate behavior?

A corporate extinction now and then for habitual offenders and those who do the greatest damage would set an edifying example for the other corporations, educating the officers of management as well as the shareholders, who are supposed to keep management acting honestly and responsibly. And there can be no moral objection to it, unlike capital punishment for real people. Shareholders must understand that they can lose the full value of their investment in a company. That's the law. Management figures must understand that when they are to blame for a catastrophic loss, the consequences can include never being trusted with other people's money ever again, and they may end up selling shoes or steak knives door to door.

[MellowDem]

27. I have family that works for BP...

they'd be kinda screwed. Course, one of the other oil giants would just become even more giant as a result and take their place in the market. As it is, BP will be paying for a long long time to come. They're a huge company and they make a lot of money from all the oil they drill, money that can be used to pay off the cost of the spill over the coming decades.

There is no legality in nationalizaing BP. It's not going to happen. The solution is to have better government oversight and stronger regulations. That has always been the solution.

[depakid]

28. dupe

[depakid]

29. The hen in the pot lays no more eggs

Props to the poster on LBN for that little nugget of wisdom.

[jobycom]

30. Yeah, punish the 99% of the people who did nothing wrong to get a few leaders who did.

That makes sense.

The answer isn't to destroy corporations, but to elect leaders who will regulate corporations and enforce those regulations. Corporations are just big dogs. If you let them run free, they're going to dig up your flowers and bite the mailman. Fence them up, and they will guard your house faithfully and be your best buddy.

[lonestarnot]

32. I do not believe that for one second as greed cannot be eliminated.

[jobycom]

33. I do not believe that for one second as I know what you meant to say.

:shrug:

[lonestarnot]

35. Corporations are persons, they are not dogs. I'm sure you know all about corp. personage.

[treestar]

31. No, just for them to pay the damages their negligence caused

That may put them out of business - if so, then they earned that under the capitalism they are so fond of.

I would feel for their employees, that's always a consideration - there are many "small people" working for them, I am sure.

[scheming daemons]

34. Not until A)the relief wells are done and B)the cleanup is done

Killing the company before that kills the work that needs to be done.