BP, Oil Spill and Politicians

You might first ask what British Petroleum (BP), the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and politicians have in common.  Lets take a look at each of them and see if there is a common thread that most Naïve Americans do not see or understand.

British Petroleum (BP)

BP is a very large energy company based on oil.  They start with exploration to locate oil deposits.  Make the necessary assessments to drill or not, transport the crude oil to refineries which make lubricants, gasoline, jet and diesel fuel among other products.  BP takes their products directly to consumers by selling through gas stations and service departments.

The company employs people from different countries including the USA.  They drill for oil in different areas in and outside the USA.  One would expect that BP employ a large number of well-educated and trained scientists and engineers to keep the business going and to seek future energy sources.

Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

 About a month ago or so there was an accident in an oil platform located in the Gulf of Mexico owned and operated by BP.  Accidents happen.  Tree huggers want to believe that progress and energy can be easily obtained from alternate sources and are against drilling when it may affect them.  They are also against nuclear power and coal burning.  Perhaps we should go back to the Stone Age.  Nice try but the world population is so large that most of us would die of hunger and cold if we would eliminate the use of oil.

As we all know there are always two sides to a coin.  Naïve Americans have been told that the spill was the result of an accident.  We need to think about  [1] what the issue was and  [2] who is providing the public such information.

Most of us are home and / or car owners.  Given that the oil spill was related to an accident based on some equipment that failed, we should draw analogies to maintenance on our homes and automobiles.  My wife and I through the years have purchased around a couple dozen vehicles for our use and for our two sons (today each is responsible for purchasing and maintaining them). 

In general we have kept the cars very well maintained with very few exceptions.  This does not imply that every 3,000 miles we changed oil and filter.  Most times service was done a few weeks after the recommended time.  We do not check the engine oil level each time we fill up or for that matter the pressure on all tires including the spare.  Do you know of any Naïve American that does so?  You are in most cases supposed to.  If you do not believe me take a few moments and pull out from the glove compartment the car manual and read about what is expected from the driver.

Naïve Americans should give BP the benefit of doubt regarding the cause of the accident unless there is a full disregard for safety and maintenance.  Getting back to the analogy with the automobile, if one would be driving a car with the oil light on, the car overheating and perhaps smoking, then if the engine burns or the car catches on fire, we certainly would be at fault.

Politicians

This is were things get completely out of control.  There is a huge amount of money in oil.  BP makes millions of dollars in profits each and every day.  Apparently BP is a very healthy contributor to several politicians that have control and saying on when and how off shore oil drilling is performed in the USA.  Not only that, but politicians have given BP the authority to decide what and when to do things and what to report.  One does not have to be too bright to figure out that BP will try to play down the incident.  BP is reporting a small amount of oil leaking while other neutral observers are reporting over five times the amount.

What Naïve Americans need to understand is that our system is fully corrupt.  For example, when we hear about the ways things are done in other countries we get all worked up on how corrupt they are.  Typical examples come from Italy and Venezuela to mention just a few.  On the other hand, the world looks at our lobbying system and laugh at us.  Naïve Americans vote to elect politicians and then politicians do what lobbyist tell and paid them for.  We have legalized bribes and we do not realize the consequences that we have had, are having (BP is an example) and will have in the future.

When president Obama ran for office, he filled his mouth and campaign ads with the word CHANGE.  Nothing has changed in America for better.  We have seen on TV in the past few days Obama visiting the shores in the Gulf of Mexico and posturing changes.  In the mean time the oil spill is still uncontrolled and BP is deciding what and when to do.  The joke by politicians on Naïve Americans continues.