There should be NO cap on real Corporate liabilities. If they go under, so be it! It would probably make for a more equitable and vibrant marketplace, anyway, rather than these multinational, amoral, all-consuming, Corporate beasts that "live" forever.
BP should have $6 BILLION ready cash, from their 1st Qtr 2010 PROFITS, to begin to pay for the cleanup and repairs and damages.
If they're not in prison where they should be, when attempting to "clog" the well with golf-balls, duct-tape and junk-mail, I think they should also throw in some executives from BP, Halliburton, and Transocean!
Its seems as if insurance companies are willing to do anything to get your money out your wallet. It is so very important for people to realize that rate hikes are not always because of the economy or because the insurance company is taking on new expenses. The job of a company is to maximize expenses by any means necessary. We as the people must hold insurance companies accountable.
They cut any corner that presents itself in the interests of maximizing their share of the wealth of the world. This capping of damage liability just encourages more of the same. Why are we letting them get away with this?
We have a government that can ignore the electorate with impunity as they prostrate themselves before the giant corporations, eyes glazing over at the sight of all that wealth they don't want to disturb. It's happening everywhere as governments serve big business rather than the people they claim to represent. Why are we letting them get away with this?
That is a serious question—serious enough for them to label it as seditious: Why are we letting them get away with this? Why are we afraid to stop the pillaging of the people that this connivance between BP and government is but one example of?
The cost of the oil spill cleanup should be passed on to oil consumers. Like it or not, it is part of the cost of using oil. Why should anyone else pay it? Why should someone who gets all their energy from solar panels pay it? Why should 'taxpayers' pay it? It's time our society started recognizing all the costs of the environmental damage caused by our chosen lifestyle, and coming to grips with the fact that oil users (and their inability to elect a decent government) are the ultimate cause of this spill. Gasoline should be eight bucks a gallon.
Companies are generally not liable for exclusively economic damages under common-law tort, so the $75m, while low, was actually an addition of liability in response to the Exxon Valdez.
Regarding the question of costs being passed on to consumers: of course they will. Anything that costs BP will be passed on. Locating that cost in a tort suit rather than a tax will not change that. Moreover, those costs should be passed on. We are all culpable here; facile comparisons to i-banking are not helpful. Unless the costs of cleanup are passed on, we will continue to be paying artificially low prices for petroleum, which will lead to more such spills.
Its seems as if insurance companies are willing to do anything to get your money out your wallet. It is so very important for people to realize that rate hikes are not always because of the economy or because the insurance company is taking on new expenses. The job of a company is to maximize expenses by any means necessary. We as the people must hold insurance companies accountable.
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