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Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/16/2010 1:09:36 PM

rulemylife

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BP agrees to $20 bil fund, exec apologizes

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama and BP reached agreement Wednesday on a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the giant British company's chairman apologized to America for the worst environmental accident in the nation's history.

BP is suspending its dividends to shareholders to help pay for the costs, said chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg. Obama announced the agreement after a four-hour meeting with BP officials. He also said the company had agreed to set up a separate $100 million fund to compensate oil rig workers laid off as a result of his six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling.

"The structure we are establishing today is an important step toward making the people of the Gulf Coast whole again, but it will not turn things around overnight," Obama said. He said the vulnerable fishermen, restaurant workers and other people of the Gulf "are uppermost in the minds of all concerned. That's who we're doing this work for."

Likewise, Svanberg, speaking for a company that has been assailed from every corner for the past two months, said, "I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies are — are greedy companies or don't care, but that is not the case in BP. We care about the small people."

The claims system sets up a formal process to be run by a specialist with a proven record. Instead of vague promises by BP, there will be a White House-blessed structure with substantial money and the pledge that more will be provided if needed. The news was applauded in the Gulf — a rare positive development in a terrible two-month period since the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers and unleashed a flood of oil that has yet to be stemmed.

Post #: 1

RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/16/2010 1:57:24 PM

Louve00

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My guess is now that some people have found out Obama did have an approach with BP and did get some results (but maybe since he didn't have confirmation on those things til today's meeting with BP), you won't get much input on this thread rulemylife. I, for one, am glad despite all the wah, wah, wah's. And when he starts regulating them (and I hope he does) I'm going to snicker at all their disgruntled No's and remember the gulf disaster. Thanks for posting the article.

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RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/16/2010 2:05:31 PM

luckydawg

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SO they are going to pay money.

what a surprise, no one could have seen that coming.

Thank God we have Obama....

What sucks for the threads is that he is using the same people making the compensation payouts for 911.

So the looney tunes will be going batshit very soon. Imagine what this will proove to Alex Jones and PA

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RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/16/2010 3:13:01 PM

LadyCimarron

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I'm glad the people effected by this are being compensated and so quickly btw.

quote:

ORIGINAL: rulemylife

Likewise, Svanberg, speaking for a company that has been assailed from every corner for the past two months, said, "I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies are — are greedy companies or don't care, but that is not the case in BP. We care about the small people."

I spit out my drink when I read that line. But I guess if I had to give someone 20 billion dollars I would suddenly start caring abou them too.

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Post #: 4

RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/16/2010 9:27:03 PM

rulemylife

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quote:

ORIGINAL: luckydawg

SO they are going to pay money.

what a surprise, no one could have seen that coming.

Thank God we have Obama....

What sucks for the threads is that he is using the same people making the compensation payouts for 911.

So the looney tunes will be going batshit very soon. Imagine what this will proove to Alex Jones and PA

You just can't bring yourself to acknowledge any positive developments from this administration?

(in reply to luckydawg)

Post #: 5

RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/16/2010 9:50:59 PM

Fellow

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It will be a scam artists and trial lawyers paradise fun to watch. It will go on forever similar to asbestos and tobacco. I would sell BP shares as fast as I can if I had some.

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Post #: 6

RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/17/2010 2:19:27 AM

LadyEllen

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Good idea Fellow; after all, $20 billion will be the ruin of them wont it?

Time to buy BP shares coming up folks?......... around mid to end July when its at its worst, just before the well is shut off and the price goes back up?

E

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Post #: 7

RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/17/2010 4:09:50 AM

Anarrus

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$20 billion set aside for the people affected by this mess is a good thing. But if you look at the bigger picture, tossing money at the problem may ease the pain but will it really fix anything that's happened?

However, it's a goddamn shame another $20 billion won't be set aside towards fixing the massive environmental mess this thing has caused and will continue to cause well into the future.
I only wish every one of the cocksuckers that had anything to do with this nightmare from top level decision making on down had to bath daily in light sweet crude and drink a full fucking glass of it with every meal.

It's a further goddamn shame that $20 billion wasn't put into developing alternative energy technologies years ago to make it viable and economically accessible to the general population and ween us off our shamefull addiction to carbon based fuels. Perhaps we wouldn't be in this fucking mess we're in now.

< Message edited by Anarrus -- 6/17/2010 4:33:34 AM >

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RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/17/2010 4:27:46 AM

Louve00

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And this is what I just read this morning. Jindall wishes Obama didn't make BP put that money aside so they can have more money to drill, later

. Knowing birds are dying and people are getting sick down there, I couldn't believe him!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_re_us/us_gulf_oil_spill_barbour

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Post #: 9

RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/17/2010 4:45:16 AM

rulemylife

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Anarrus

$20 billion set aside for the people affected by this mess is a good thing. But if you look at the bigger picture, tossing money at the problem may ease the pain but will it really fix anything that's happened?

However, it's goddamn shame another $20 billion won't be set aside towards fixing the massive environmental mess this thing has caused and will continue to cause well into the future.
I only wish every one of the cocksuckers that had anything to do with this nightmare from top level decision making on down had to bath daily in light sweet crude and drink a full fucking glass of it with every meal.

While I understand your anger, this agreement is very significant.

Damages to private parties had been capped at $75 million, which would have come nowhere near adequate compensation for the damage done.

In fact the $20 billion might not even cover it, but it seems to be an open-ended agreement where BP has pledged to increase the fund as necessary.

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Post #: 10

RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/17/2010 4:58:32 AM

SL4V3M4YB3

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Being charged $100 million for a government decision is a bit ridiculous.

Bend over and take it BP

, I would have said fuck off to that.

Although Obama says the 20 billion isn't a cap it obviously puts you in a weak position to claim against BP if the government fund didn't think your claim worthy. Secondly BP will just end up saying "Oh but you decided who should be compensated not us." Also they'll say "We could have managed the fund better and ensured more of the right people got the money."

The more you cut out BP's involvement the more entitlement they have to say that it isn't their problem. If the independent claims panel don't involve them or allow BP to scrutinise the claims then BP will take no responsibility for how the fund is dealt with or how quickly it runs out.

< Message edited by SL4V3M4YB3 -- 6/17/2010 5:23:29 AM >

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RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/17/2010 5:15:13 AM

rulemylife

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Louve00

And this is what I just read this morning. Jindall wishes Obama didn't make BP put that money aside so they can have more money to drill, later . Knowing birds are dying and people are getting sick down there, I couldn't believe him!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_re_us/us_gulf_oil_spill_barbour

I think Jindal supported it.

It was the idiot that governs Mississippi, Haley Barbour that came up with the ridiculous argument that we shouldn't be requiring BP to set up a fund for the victims because then BP will not be able to make enough money to pay the victims.

I saw him being interviewed on Fox saying this and it was an amazing thing to watch.

Check out the video:

Motor City Liberal: Barbour Is Concerned That Escrow Account Will ...

< Message edited by rulemylife -- 6/17/2010 5:17:40 AM >

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Post #: 12

RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/17/2010 5:25:25 AM

RacerJim

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quote:

ORIGINAL: rulemylife

quote:

ORIGINAL: luckydawg

SO they are going to pay money.

what a surprise, no one could have seen that coming.

Thank God we have Obama....

What sucks for the threads is that he is using the same people making the compensation payouts for 911.

So the looney tunes will be going batshit very soon. Imagine what this will proove to Alex Jones and PA

You just can't bring yourself to acknowledge any positive developments from this administration?

Nope. At least not until the positive developments caused by this administration outweigh/overcome the negative developments caused by this administration.

(in reply to rulemylife)

Post #: 13

RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/17/2010 5:25:54 AM

Louve00

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Ahhh...well, ya know rml...all those republicans looks the same to me (just kidding lol), but as I read it, I thought...how insane can you be??

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Post #: 14

RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/17/2010 1:48:20 PM

rulemylife

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Looks like we are getting all kinds of apologies.

Apparently Joe Barton thinks we should apologize to BP for requiring them to pay the costs associated with their mess.

Rep. Joe Barton to BP: I apologize' "

BP’s CEO Tony Hayward is on the Hill Thursday afternoon to answer questions about the oil spill in the Gulf. Democrats had warned that he would be “spliced and diced” over the company’s role. But when Texas Rep. Joe Barton — the ranking Republican on the Energy Committee — was given the floor, he took the opportunity to criticize the Obama administration’s response to the spill by apologizing to Hayward.

I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday. I think it is a tragedy in the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown. In this case a $20 billion shakedown. [...]

I apologize. I do not want to live in a country where anytime a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong, is subject to some sort of political pressure that is again, in my words, amounts to a shakedown. So I apologize.

The “slush fund” Barton references is the escrow account established by BP to pay for both cleanup costs on the coast, as well as mitigating claims from victims damaged by the disaster. Barton is not the only member of the Republican caucus attacking the escrow account.

Earlier in the week, Rep. Michele Bachmann called the escrow account a “redistribution-of-wealth fund” and said it was “one more gateway for more government control, more money to government,” even though the fund is operated by an independent third-party.

Then Joe apologized for apologizing:

After calling White House agreement with BP a 'slush fund,' Barton says he was misunderstood

WASHINGTON - Republican Rep. Joe Barton of Texas is issuing an apology — of sorts — about his apology to oil company BP.
Barton had complained at a hearing earlier Thursday that the Obama administration was forcing BP to set up a $20 billion "slush fund" for oil spill victims. Barton said he was ashamed of the White House's actions — and he apologized to BP. Vice President Joe Biden called those remarks "outrageous."

Hours after making the comments, Barton said his remarks had been "misconstrued." He said, "I want to apologize for that misconstruction."

God, I love Republicans, they're so much fun.

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RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/17/2010 2:04:45 PM

Lucylastic

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I can hear all the panicking GOP leaders rear ends puckering wildly

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RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/17/2010 3:15:55 PM

rulemylife

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Apology to BP's Hayward triggers uproar

BARTON NOT ALONE

But Barton was not alone among Republicans who question the $20 billion fund.

Georgia Representative Tom Price, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative House members, issued a statement arguing the same point.

Price said BP's willingness to go along with the White House's new fund suggests that the Obama administration is "hard at work exerting its brand of Chicago-style shakedown politics."

And former Texas Republican Representative Dick Armey, who was House majority leader and is a leading voice in the conservative Tea Party movement, told a Christian Science Monitor breakfast this week that Obama lacks the constitutional authority to set up such a fund.

In addition, conservative Republican Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota told the Heritage Foundation think tank that the escrow account was a "redistribution-of-wealth fund."

Barton is the biggest recipient of oil and gas industry campaign contributions in the House of Representatives, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Its data showed that Barton has collected $1,447,880 from political action committees and individuals connected with the oil and gas industry since 1989.

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RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/17/2010 3:22:47 PM

Lucylastic

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According to a GOP leadership aide, Barton met with House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) Thursday afternoon, and was told, "Apologize, immediately. Or you will lose your [subcommittee] position, immediately. Now that he has apologized, we'll see what happens going forward."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/17/AR2010061703756.html?hpid=topnews

they are doing more harm to themselves than dems could ever do
thats what is scary!

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RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/17/2010 3:40:26 PM

rulemylife

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Have you noticed the remarkable silence from our conservative posters?

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RE: Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes - 6/17/2010 3:40:33 PM

MstrPBK

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Nice gesture by our president to stay on top of British Petroleum (BP).

But this does not solve the larger problem of North America's dependence on oil. May I suggest that each of us do some deep soul searching and ask ourselves, our friends, our neighbors how can we actively decrease our nations (and continents) dependence on oil in the next year - next decade - next generation? this whole event should have been, and should be, a wake up call for energy resource usage.

Do we keep our status quo ... or ... do we make a conscious effort to change course?

MstrPBK
St. Paul, MN USA

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