Some Republicans dont want BP to pay for clean-up

My miscellaneous ramblings on this unresolvable topic(s) --

1. Barton proved once again that he's a bleeping idiot ideologue.

2. The $20B payment into an independently-administered fund is a shakedown. And makes about as much legal sense as the president's ability to fire the CEO of GM and to abrogate creditors' secured rights in the GM bankruptcy case.

3. BP should pay every dime needed for cleanup, and should be liable for damages that the spill caused. The big question is: What damages are legitimate, and what damages are too remote to be compensated for? And, how stupid is it to make BP pay the wages of drilling platform workers (and maybe the losses incurred by the platform owners) because the government mandated a 6 month drilling moratorium?

4. Obama is no more responsible for the oil spill than Bush was for Hurricane Katrina, but he's finding that he, like Bush, will get the blame because the news media has decided that he and the federal government have not acted quickly enough to prevent unnecessary damage. It is poetic justice, since Obama has made a career out of blaming Bush for everything.

5. The end of the Glass-Stegall prohibitions in, I think, 1998 allowed the banks to get into the investment business. Phil Gramm orchestrated elimination of those prohibitions. It was a terrible, terrible mistake that was participated in by both parties.

6. We'd all be better off if the members of Congress disappeared en masse and we started over.

Randy, labor costs are only a part of running a business, but wages are not like commodity. I am in the restaurant business and own 30 franchise locations. Labor is a major cost of doing business along with food costs. There are items that can be controlled by our managers. Food costs go up and down depending on the season as well as other itmes that impact markets, like the weather. A few years ago the wheat harvest was bad, so the cost of flour went way up. Cheese costs, meats and other items also go up and down.

The majority of small businesses fail because of lack of capital and poor management. I sold almost all of my possessions, cashed in my stock and 401K to start my restaurant company, I had very little cash reserves, but I was confident of my experience and abilities and rolled the dice.

There are no real ways to work labor costs into tax advantages, it is an expense pure and simple. With the new health care plan being monitored by the IRS, a person would be crazy to even attempt things like prepaid credit cards.

True, bigbob, labor (as well as some other necessary costs) are a fixed expense. But, while fixed expenses are fixed as a category, the dollar cost associated with them is not. As far as the credit card "scam" goes, it isn't a law/regulation yet, but forms of it are being considered. If that sees the light of day one has to wonder how "anti-business" the government is - talk about a license to steal...LOL. Your business must be part of a national, high profile organization if the IRS is already monitoring you regarding a program which has barely gotten off of the ground. If your business's wage average is less than $50,000 per year per employee (including you) there will be tax breaks in it for your company. What isn't fixed nor guaranteed is the profit margin you can realize from your operation.

Thanks, bigbob. I was off on the labor costs being able to be leveraged since I was thinking in terms of paying bonuses to employees as a way to reduce corporate taxes thus paying them instead of the government. You have obviously done a great job with your roll of the dice and you should have the acquisitions to show for it. But, it was a roll of the dice and as you know, there was no guarantee when you started and there is no guarantee that it will continue. While "the government" is not doing you any favors by increasing the minimum wage, it also isn't doing you any favors if they have to support poor people in other ways. Like it or not, there is that overhead and it isn't going away. Unless you and your family members can be at all 30 stores while they are open then you have two alternatives: hire enough people to do the jobs at whatever the prevailing wage is or sell the stores. If it's unprofitable there's no point in doing it. But, no one regardless of their accomplishments, is due special consideration from "the market" whether or not they are a line worker or an owner.

AlyssaWest you're smokin' hot!

Hot, stacked AND smart! She can have my undivided attention anytime. No one can seriously argue that BP shouldn't pay without sounding like a fool.

You go, Joe!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKgqKSSRPhY

Not dead yet shows some common sense imho. Rare.

The spill is a catastrophe for sure. We gotta learn from this mistakes and move forward. That is a legitimate role for govt.

We all want to reduce dependance on oil but not in " my back yard". Nuclear?... great. In my yard? Hell no. Windfarms.... great f' ing idea. Oh, off the coast of cape cod? Hey, not here, messing up my view. California bitching about price of gas, yes, but no nukes or offshore drilling, easier just to bitch

,

Thanks Alyssa,
Gorgeous, sexy and intelligent.......... damn girl!! We need to visit soon.

You have it exactly right. BP should pay and Obama has put a very qualified man in charge to administer the funds.
It's always the republicans crying that the government can't do anything right. They criticize Obama because he hasn't stopped the oil leak. They say the money won't reach those who need it. How do they know? It;s just a red herring.
Republicans can't have it both ways; if you want less government then Obama has to rely on public companies such as BP to have the technology to correct a catastrophic error on their part. Do you really want the U.S. government in the oil drilling business?
I think this should be an issue that Americans could agree on.

The Obamafia is in the White House.... Screw due process - pay up now.

But I also want to say I didn't vote for Obama!!!! And have yall seen the pictures of the spill....its so sad! Poor animals...okay so does anyone remember reading that 1/3 of the fish will die...in the end of times! Crazy but I know we are getting close!

bigbob,
I looked at the department of labor stats last year and only 3% of workers actually were paid minimum wage.
As you know the minimum wage was not raised for more than 10 years, therefore it was so low that most employers were already paying more than the minimum.
Raising it has had very little, if any impact on employers profit margins.

Back to the gulf oil spill; we have got to have some meaningful oversight of this business if we are to keep this disaster from repeating itself.