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> > > < > http://www.truthout.org/dave-lindorff-obama-has-learned-nothing-bp-blowout59577 > > > > Obama Has Learned Nothing from the BP > Blowout<http://www.truthout.org/dave-lindorff-obama-has-learned-nothing-bp-blowout59577> > > Monday 17 May 2010 > > by: Dave Lindorff | > *ThisCan'tBeHappening.net*<http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/> > > President Obama claims to have learned a lesson from the disastrous blowout > of British Petroleum drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico: a “cozy > relationship” between the agency that regulates oil drilling, the Minerals > Management Service, and the oil industry, he charges, allowed companies to > drill in vulnerable offshore areas without properly assessing the risks to > the ocean and its ecology. > > He’s only just figuring this out? > > Hell, we already had an example of the problem of “cozy relations” between > regulators and industry. The bank crisis that produced the current recession > was the financial equivalent of a much bigger oil-well blowout than the > Deepwater Horizon rig. It was a catastrophic blowout of the entire global > financial system--and it was precipitated by an identical “cozy > relationship” between US bank regulators and the banking industry that they > were supposed to be regulating. That financial blowout has left almost one > in five US workers without jobs now for two years, with no end in sight. And > like the giant hidden plumes of oil spreading out in deep layers of the Gulf > and heading for the Gulf Stream, it also spread to Europe and beyond, > hobbling economies around the world. > > But that’s only the beginning. If a “cozy relationship” between regulators > and the industries they are supposed to be regulating is a bad thing when it > comes to the oil industry, is this because the oil industry is particularly > evil and corrupt or is it the principle of the thing? Of course not. As > corrupt as the oil industry is, no one could say that industry is unique in > its efforts to skirt rules, buy legislators, manipulate prices or poison the > public. > > So why is the president only talking about this one “cozy relationship”? > > What about the drug industry and the Food and Drug Administration? > > What about the airline industry and the Federal Aviation Administration? > > What about the media and telecom industries and the Federal Communications > Commission? > > What about agribusiness and the Agriculture Department? > > What about the National Transportation Safety Administration and > Environmental Protection Industry and the auto industry? > > What about the chemical industry (and the oil companies!) and the EPA? > > What about the medical-industrial complex and the Department of Health and > Human Services or the FDA or the Medicare administration? > > What about the nuclear industry and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission? > > What about military contractors and the Department of Defense? (sic) > > The list of federal regulators that have “cozy relationships” with the > industries they are supposed to be riding herd on goes on and on. > > Clearly this president isn’t serious in condemning the “cozy relationship” > between this one industry, the oil companies, and its regulator, the MMS, > which he now says he wants to have broken up into two parts--a regulatory > arm and a revenue-collection arm. > > If he were, he’d be breaking up most of the federal agencies and > departments into two parts--one a hard-nosed regulator to protect the > public, the environment and the economy, and one, if needed, that might > promote the activities and development of a particular industry. > > He’s not even suggesting doing that, and in fact, has not suggested that > there is any problem at all with the regulation of the rest of the nation’s > industries, although all the available evidence is dramatically to the > contrary: that the whole regulator apparatus of the United States government > has been hijacked by corporate interests. > > We’ve had the equivalent of huge wild-well gushers in most industries just > in the past two years, including: massive outbreaks of contamination in the > nation’s food supply, the bailiwick of the USDA; a wholesale failure of the > auto industry to produce fuel-efficient vehicles, not to mention a deluge of > safety problems (EPA and NTSA); monopoly practices and price gouging in the > media/telecom industry (FCC); continuing concentration in the banking > industry and a continuing refusal to address the bankruptcy crisis (Federal > Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Comptroller’s Office, Treasury > Dept.); ongoing destruction of croplands and old-growth forests (Interior > Department and Bureau of Land Management), and corrupt bidding processes for > military weapons. And that’s hardly the complete list. > > If the president were honest and not just a charlatan, and if he were half > the scholar he is portrayed as, he would be saying that this thoroughly > predictable (and predicted) disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was the last > straw, and that he would begin a wholesale assault on the subversion of the > nation’s industry regulation regime. > > Instead, he stands exposed as just another political charlatan. His call > for “reform” of the Minerals Management Service is simply an attempt by yet > another slick politician, when faced by popular anger over one industry’s > appalling behavior, to pretend to be doing something. > > We can predict that it will all be for show, and that once the BP well is > finally shut down and the national attention has shifted to the next sports > or movie star scandal, the oil industry will be allowed to go back to > business as usual, putting coastal wetlands and the Arctic Ocean further at > risk of even greater despoliation, all so that American car companies can > continue to crank out gas-guzzling SUVs and power plants can continue to > pour massive quantities of carbon into the atmosphere unimpeded. > > _________________ > > *Dave Lindorff, a Philadelphia-area journalist, is the founder of the > ThisCantBeHappening e-newspaper. His latest book is “The Case for > Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006). His work, and that of fellow > journalists John Grant, Linn Washington and Charles M. Young, is available > at www.thiscantbehappening.net* > > *ThisCantBeHappening.net is a new e-newspaper produced by a four-man news > collective composed of journalists John Grant, Dave Lindorff, Linn > Washington, and Charles M. Young. It will be featuring original articles on > politics, economics, the environment, the courts, race issues, the wars and > culture. Check it out at www.thiscantbehappening.net * > > ** > ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
