Arianna On Olbermann: BP Should Pay For Gulf Recovery, Not Taxpayers

Arianna joined Keith Olbermann on MSNBC's "Countdown" Thursday night to parse BP executives' complaints that the oil giant is struggling to pay its dividends. The company made $17 billion last year alone, she pointed out.

BP's protest is really code, Arianna told Olbermann, designed to lay groundwork for a taxpayer bailout of BP along the lines suggested by the Chamber of Commerce and House Minority Leader John Boehner.

Instead, she endorsed the creation of an escrow fund to handle oil spills damages claims that would be spun off from and independent of BP. She also called on politicians who have taken contributions from BP to donate that money to a gulf relief fund.

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Comments

[BillyHewitt]

12:33 AM on 06/26/2010

All the information I have to date I believe justifies a warning be issued to everyone in the Gulf of Mexico (within 100 miles of Gulf of Mexico) to get out as soon as possible. The two major threats are 2 types of toxic gas clouds (created by corexit chemical dispersant and hydrogen sulfide) and the real potential for a methane caused tsunami (this would be a double tsunami) killing all people and boats in the Gulf waters instantly then 2 tsunamis that would race across the gulf at 400mph.

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BP has opened pandoras box and they can not close it. Now the world must suffer. Bye Bye GOM! Hello North Carolina the oil is just off your beaches, enjoy! Europe you are next. Obama and the democrats banned the bible and God in their lust to embrace sin and homosexuality.
From a disgusted and outraged American, Bill Edmond

[MrJoyboy]

10:02 PM on 06/12/2010

What is this "equation" Keith keeps talking about? He sees equations everywhere.

[John Robert Marlow]

08:57 PM on 06/12/2010

I think Arianna's heart is in the right place on this, but also that debates about who’s going to pay the cleanup bill are largely irrelevant. There is not enough money in the world to clean up the oil and dispersant already out there, even if such a feat were possible. And the oil (and even-more-toxic dispersant) keeps coming.

BP will be driven into bankruptcy or takeover. Because they were too cheap to pay a real insurance company, they are self-insured. (Why that was permitted is yet another matter.) When BP ceases to exist, the U.S. taxpayer will be stuck with the bill.

Like BP, the government neither wants the burden of nor can afford a proper and wide-ranging cleanup. And so the cleanup that does happen will not come close to what it’s technically possible to achieve.

BP's has one hope: that the U.S. government will continue its "hands-off" policy in regards to operations, enforcement, and liability.

On a related note, President Obama today made a beer bet with the British prime minister on the outcome of a sports event. Assuming the president is an intelligent and well-meaning man, there are two ways to view this:

Everything that can be done is being done (clearly not the case, unless the government is conducting its own, secret operations in the Gulf), and...

We're all f*cked, may as well have a beer and watch the game.

[theBooHooBand]

07:12 PM on 06/12/2010

Arianna Huffington and Rachel Maddow: now that's a dream team.

Another great example of why we love Arianna Huffington. Excellent, common-sense ideas. How nice it would be to see the double-standard for corporations disappear.

[pangborn]

06:05 PM on 06/12/2010

Here is some info on the ownership of BP stock:

The largest shareholders include institutional investors State Street Global Advisors,State Farm Insurance Companies, T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Fidelity Management & Research, PNC Wealth Management and Wells Fargo Bank.

Other large shareholders are mutual funds including Vanguard Windsor Fund II, Vanguard Energy Fund, Vanguard Wellington Fund, Fidelity Diversified Investment Fund, T. Rowe Price Equity Income Fund, Putnam Equity Income Fund and Riversource Diversified Equity Fund.

Now, all of you who want to destroy BP,should hope you do not have investments in any of the foregoing.

[BillyHewitt]

04:54 AM on 06/26/2010

There were no poor people BP investors only rich elite. Seize all BP assets and place all company officers in Guantanamo for waterboarding until they confess (Bush & Cheney solution) then introduce them to the Cuban firing squad. This should have been done a month ago by declaring BP a terrorist organization. Then nuke the well as Matt Simmons and Nick Pozzi and Russians have recommended. STOP THE OIL LEAK NOW! STOP THE COREXIT CHEMICAL DISPERSANT NOW! STOP THE TOXIC COREXIT RAIN CLOUDS NOW! SEND IN A FLEET OF SUPER TANKERS WITH GIANT SKIMMERS & SUPER SUCK TECH FOR CLEANUP THAT NICK POZZI AND SHELL OIL RECOMMENDED NOW! SAVE AMERICA NOW!

[pangborn]

05:35 PM on 06/12/2010

Ariana--tell us which pols received the most money from BP. Start with Obama and work your way down.

[TMock]

05:30 PM on 06/12/2010

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[gWibz]

04:48 PM on 06/12/2010

Stockholders aren't just big executives. You might want to check with Joe Six-Pack and the retired union guy who depend on these dividends for their income, before you start confiscating them.
The protesting against BP and boycotting of BP stations is a double-edged sword. On one hand, you want to show your anger at them for this disaster. On the other hand, if you reduce their stock value and reduce their income, it increases the potential for taxpayer liability.
I believe BP will have the money to cover this disaster (unless the lawsuits and claims just get ridiculous).

[TOOO]

03:19 PM on 06/12/2010

As usual, Ms. Huffington is right. Politicians SHOULD give back any monies they get from corporations such as BP.

Does anyone honestly think they WILL?

[Aby]

02:59 PM on 06/12/2010

Why are we assuming that no one in the oil industry has the expertise to handle this gushing well? Maybe other companies do, but they'd rather stand aside and let their competitor BP drown in its own sludge.

Obama could tap into what they know but aren't telling us by providing a significant incentive to any company (or university) that comes forward with the way to fix this now.

I believe someone in the oil industry knows what to do about this. They need an incentive greater than BP's demise to be forthcoming about what they know.

[TomPatCat]

11:35 PM on 06/11/2010

Has anyone taken into consideration the parks and wildlife including deer, fish and birds that could be affected should a hurricane come ashore. Round bands of hurricane storms bringing oil, rocks and debris will cause irreparable damage to our beautiful coastlines. I will let the media write the tombstone for our coastal areas, or maybe that reporter seen on the news with the last name Patterson that seems to know everything.

[SoSorry]

03:00 PM on 06/11/2010

"Instead, she endorsed the creation of an escrow fund to handle oil spills damages claims that would be spun off from and independent of BP. She also called on politicians who have taken contributions from BP to donate that money to a gulf relief fund."
All superb points. This is essentially a malpractice case. This mess was caused by BP and they are completely responsible for the cleanup and every other associated cost.

[EnterUsernameHere]

03:19 PM on 06/11/2010

She is a hypocrite. Her inability to competently run her companies cost the taxpayers money.

http://newsmine.org/content.php?ol=cabal-elite/rich-payoffs/huffington-paid-little-income-tax.txt

"The net loss from the corporation — $259,549 — appears as an offset on Huffington's personal tax return. In addition, she carried over corporate losses from previous years of $2.49 million."

[taquinas]

11:24 PM on 06/11/2010

It's called a tax loop hole. Don't see you going after the repubs and the corporations using them.
Typical teabagger.

[pyradius]

12:57 PM on 06/12/2010

Subtracting business losses from personal income tax is a standard part of the tax system and not a loophole.

http://taxes.about.com/od/taxplanning/a/loss_strategies.htm

[SomeGuy41]

02:57 PM on 06/11/2010

And the Brits, complaining about their pension loss because an INVESTMENT went bad isn't helping things either. It's an investment, there are no guarantees, sometimes you loose. I had absolutely no issue with Brits because of BP being a British company but when you start to complain about an investment going bad and it being American mentality or media, turn on the live cam of the leak. THAT'S WHAT'S KILLING YOUR INVESTMENT!

[rh654]

02:34 PM on 06/11/2010

BP should be responsible for whatever the law says that they are - there should be no retroactive changes and no expectations beyond that.

I don't support off-shore drilling and I support the strongest regulations if we allow it - but we allowed BP to get away with this crap - don't go back and change the rules under which BP did business.

If there was a crime - get it to the courts.

If there wasn't - perhaps WE will not let these companies get away with this crap the next time if we end up paying for it.

[hector74elp]

01:03 PM on 06/11/2010

I love Arianna... but
Every time I hear people say how the mega-corporations should be paying because they have billions in profit and yada yada yada.

These corporations have billions because they don't ever pay. They pay a fraction to lobby politicians never to pay. Our government is to weak to break these corporations apart. We are paying for this is the bottom line. With our taxes and/or every time we fill up at the pump.

Sorry to be the debbie downer here.