Regular readers know of my bromance with David Brooks; his column today is a good example of why I admire his thinking so much. In Drilling for Certainty, Brooks, himself, drills deeper and thinks more broadly, in search of the causes of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf. He equates this ecological catastrophe with the financial catastrophe we experienced with the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. “These systems, which allow us to live as well as we do, are too complex for any single person to understand. Yet every day, individuals are asked to monitor the health of these networks, weigh the risks of a system failure and take appropriate measures to reduce those risks.” He goes on to identify six principal reasons for why this often goes so horribly wrong, including the false sense of security that naturally comes with these complex systems, sighting the fact that more people are killed in crosswalks than while jay-walking, since we assume the crosswalk will protect us. It’s a great article. You should read it, although I think it is secondary to the force that precipitated the spill.
For whatever reason, Mr. Brooks has antipathy for populism. I think he thinks it’s counterproductive and anti intellectual, so he doesn’t ever want to pin the blame on the elites who run these shows. But what-the-hell, it really feels good, so let me tell you why I think the Gulf is now awash in sludge and will be for decades.
The overwhelming, undisputed, number one trend in business over the last 30 years (or more) has been the push to cut corners, save a buck, and never worry about tomorrow because that is somebody else’s problem. That’s why BP chose to use a cheaper well casing, and to remove the drilling fluid at the earliest possible time. That’s why there was no plan or equipment in place to do anything about the problem once the well blew. And once all the facts are in I’m sure there will be some similarly motivated action that lead to an impotent “blow-out preventer.” Anything to save a buck, including the sacrificing of the lives of the men who worked on the Deepwater Horizon.
As long as I’m doing my William Jennings Bryan impression, let’s also ponder who profits? Over these same thirty years while productivity soared, wages stagnated and middle class jobs disappeared at an alarming rate, the only things that are up are CEO pay, the percentage of wealth controlled by the top one tenth of one percent of the population, and the number of “free-market capitalists” who suck subsidies and favors from the government to the detriment of the public well being. Keep an eye out for Goldman Sachs, the great vampire squid. I’m sure they have their blood funnel stuck in there someplace.
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8 comments:
DB-
You ole revolutionary...being in your 60's is bringing out the 60's in you. There have been hundreds of millions spent on the technology of oil extraction and a pittance spent on the cleanup of the inevitable consequences. But if you were the CEO and had shareholders and the Board of Directors breathing down your neck....then what would any of us do? Like it or not the solution to this would seem to be a more enlightened regulatory approach. I agree with your points 100%, and this cost cutting to drive profitability is also the root of Toyota's problems. And the reallocation of wealth in this country to the richest of the rich at the expense of nearly every other citizen is the tragedy of our time. When is enough...enough?
The latest argument I heard for the need to drill offshore is for the US to be energy independent. That our military needs a source of independent oil.
The way to be energy independent is to make it a national effort to develop other energy sources and wean off fossil fuel.
If our military needs to have its source of oil, we should not pump the wells we have open dry. Rather, leave them for reserve.
Other than that, the price of oil is not driven down with the small percentage of production all our national wells produce.
This is not about reason. It is about profits. It is about the product of conservative and libertarian think tanks. Like Islamic fundamentalists and the gun lobby, these elements can never be satisfied.
Until the use of the "Big Lie" and spin are laid to rest, truth and responsibility will never fully see the light of day. You might as well believe in Santa Claus.
Language and law should allow light to shine in every corner. But the umbrella of money and influence, subtly applied, reduces them to bows and arrows against assault weapons.
When shareholders demand the highest return possible and executive pay is linked to stock performance, companies will do whatever is necessary to squeeze out added profits. This will continue to spell disaster until the nation has tough regulations backed up by significant penalties, including jail terms for executives found guilty of recklessness, and vigilant enforcement.
The only party paid by citizens to assure compliance is the government. Who issued the leases without examination? We outsource these duties to our public servants. Perhaps we should look very carefully at the record of regulators. Most of them a political appointees. After FEMA, the Massey mine disaster, Wall St. meltdown, BP spill, does anyone notice a trend?
I still believe in capitalism and I distrust the government even more than most businesses. It seems to me that the combination of extreme pay for a small number of people in exchange for modest short-term growth is the driving force in some of these very short-sighted moves.
Who benefits Not society. Not the employees. Not even the bulk of shareholders. Only short-term speculators and their overpaid, corporate lackeys.
I keep things alot simpler in my thinking. There are two things that caused this disaster, greed & off shore drilling. Two moves can prevent a spill from happening again;one, ban off shore drilling,two, outlaw the use of the gasoline engine by 2020. Stop,both are possible. If we can put a man on the moon.......And besides isnt this the nation of the: greatest minds, best in everything......
"We will have solar power when Standard Oil owns the sun." Buckminster Fuller
As per usual D'Blank's sage analysis hits the nail on the head. All this stuff has its genesis in the late '70's early '80's when the democrats were lazy, fat, stupid and fractured, and the republicans were lean, hungry and, as always, in the pocket of corporate America.
Deregulation of business became a winning political strategy with slogans like "Right to work" (anti-union) and "get government off our backs" (defund the government by lowering taxes and remove safety regulations).
The result was no decrease in spending which increased our debt and no regulation of potentially hazardous businesses such as mining, oil exploration, pharmaceuticals, and food production. Meanwhile the average worker gets sacrificed on the altar of the next quarter's profits.
Well, db old buddy, I can't say that I trust companies more than the government. Companies exist only to make money. They are totally out of control. At least we get to vote on who is in the government, though we don't seem to be doing a very good job of it. It is the only counterweight to the massive corporate takeover of our society. The government may be bloated, bureaucratic and inefficient, but at least their reason to exist is not to sell us crap at exorbitant prices. I know some folks are tired of us blaming Bush, but the repubelicans don't believe that government works and when they run things they make sure that it doesn't. It will take a while to root out the damage.
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