I'm Missing Something

I hate to get back to the oil spill, but, as a coast dweller and a new father, I can't think about much else. I take my daughter sailing, because I believe there is something sacred on the water that cannot be explained, and must be experienced. I find it morally reprehensible that BP is ruining oceans, lives, and futures, and bumbling to find a solution.

But I don't want complain in hyperbole, or appeal to emotion. BP's third quarter earnings for 2009 were around 4.67 billion dollars.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/business/global/28bp.html

I've heard varying accounts, mostly from BP, about how they are spending som 20 million a day on clean-up.

Sources are saying that the spill clean-up and associated liability could top 53 billion.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0216823020100602

And, shockingly, that BP could survive this.

I hope they don't.

Simple math: aprox 4.5 billion per quarter is aprox 18 billion a year.

35 billion divided by 18 billion puts the recovery time at about 1.9 years.

Great, by the time my daughter is three. BP will have completely recovered from losses associated with this unnecessary manmade disaster. If gas prices continue to rise, it will probably take less time. I'll wager this though. Louisiana's wetlands and Mississippi's beaches probably won't be worth visiting in two years, accept as an object lesson. The bills will be payed, BP's CEO will have, "his life back," as he so eloquently put it, and life will go on.

I read that BP's stock slipped 2.something percent yesterday, and then rebounded. Shame on us for betting with our wallets. They will survive, and so, it's probably wise to hold onto their stock. I'm sure the mutual funds in my retirement account own some BP. Shame on us. If a 35 billion dollar clean-up doesn't put them out of business, our consciences should.

My dad is pretty damn conservative. Not an activist by any means. But, he reads National Geographic from cover to cover every month. He hasn't bought a drop of Exxon gas since 1989, and he will shame anyone who does. If the cost of this clean-up doesn't put BP out of business, we should.