Let's be clear: I treasure the Brits. Just like our leaders always say, it's a "Special Relationship." Like so many on this side of the Pond, I pretentiously mimic their affectations, up to, and including, calling the Atlantic Ocean "the Pond."
I get a huge kick out of the way they talk, even though they are incapable of correctly pronouncing my name They can't say "Bob". No matter how hard they try, it comes out somewhere between "Bub" and "Boob." And "Pentagon" is "Pentagin." Professor Henry Higgins had a good question when he asked "Why can't the English learn to speak?" Maybe it has to do with their stiff upper lips. But hey, you gotta love 'em.
But this time they've gone from understatement to overboard. Suddenly, all the US anger at BP, once called British Petroleum, is being taken as an affront in the UK.
How dare we get so crude about the crude oil fouling an entire region of our country, courtesy of BP? How could we get so worked up over the company's, dare I say, dithering?
It seems that our new national pariah is a national treasure over there so jolly old England is not so jolly about the scorn we're heaping on their pride and joy.
Part of that esteem is tied to dividends. The oil behemoth has a long record of paying substantial ones to its stockholders. That would include a sizable chunk of the British population. So those dividends are now paying, uh, dividends when it comes to PR. Those who get them are rallying around their cash cow.
But if dividends mean so much to them that business practices don't matter, why don't they search out even more lucrative opportunities? Surely, some financial whiz incorporate a dividend paying drug cartel. Maybe a porn film maker would be the way to go. Imagine the prospectus to say nothing of the crowds at the shareholders meetings.
Before the Brits start firing their shots at us colonists on the other side of the Pond, they might want to consider the havoc BF has wreaked on the Pond of Mexico. This is something else we have in common. We all have earned the right to be right to be really angry at BP.
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What we're angry about is people calling this a British problem, when BP employs more Americans than Brits and pays 40% of its dividend income into American pension funds. And as for "its stockholders, a sizable chunk of the British population" - Britain did have a bigger percentage of "beneficial owners" of BP stocks than America prior to this disaster - *by one percent* (40% as opposed to 39%). Hardly the vast majority you seem to be insinuating.
Be as angry as you want at BP, by all means! Just don't think the "British" part of their name means a whole lot any more.
(Also, you do know that Britain =/= England... right?)
If an American company had done this off their coast, they would be calling for assassinations on company heads and wanting all-out war on the US.
But since it isn't hurting their shores, why worry about it? It is the American's problem and not their problem so America should help the British out and stop hurting BP
Idiots
I am so sick and tired of hearing about the investors. I could care less about shareholders, what I'm concerned with is STAKEholders -- everyone who'll be effected by the disaster.
I think the issue of investments when it comes to punishing BP with boycotts or just a general loss in value should bring us into a dialogue about the value of blindly investing in companies.
In my opinion you invest -- gamble -- in a company and loose, you loose. We're not bailing you out. We're not gonna shake up the bookies, we're going to let you fry.
Maybe it's time we start rethinking the way we invest our retirement. Maybe it's time we rethink just how wise it is to tie our retirement finances to free market principals.
Those in the UK cannot afford to boycott BP, or place blame, or defame it because they're retirement DEPENDS on it's success -- therefore therefor tying their hands and keeping them from doing 'the right thing'
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Save the Gulf -- volunteer, collect donations, raise awareness, write/call your representatives, rouse the rabble -- do anything, just act.
http://www.handsacrossthesand.com
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http://detour-mind.blogspot.com
http://deadquickgulf.blogspot.com