REGULATIONS, RULES AND ROGUES

Beware of rogues who promote the idea rules and regulations are the cause of America’s problems. Our federal government was led for too many years by a philosophy such requirements weren’t needed, that the American people could count on those in the financial and corporate world doing what was right for all citizens. Additionally, those at administrative lower levels were lax, possibly encouraged or instructed to not even enforce existing regulations. I understand the desire to do as we darn well please, but I draw the line at allowing my willful acts to impinge upon what might jeopardize the welfare of others. Unfortunately, there are individuals who don't share such concerns, so laws, rules and regulations are made for our own protection.

We individuals have been subjected to the undesirable consequences of those who exploit in the name of money by ignoring regulations. We’ve seen this to be true in the automobile industry, in childrens products, in the food industry, and in coal mine operations to name just a few business types. I recall news stories during the past months involving major corporations around the world. We’re still reeling from our nation’s financial status coming close to collapse, but saved only because of the dollars you and I paid to bail out the offenders.

Even now the legislative battles continue over making needed changes to prevent a repeat of such folly. Congress is currently in the process of creating changes into a single bill before submitting for our President’s signature. So far, bankers and Wall Street’s financial managers have initiated few voluntary corrections to right prior corruptive practices in their institutions and markets. So, we must expect our legislators to adopt needed reform and top level administrators to insure regulations are enforced. We must monitor and continually prod our congressional and executive branch officials to act on our behalf. Frustratingly, all too often parties “log jam” meaningful action. They rigidly adhere to ideological positions – in the name of garnering power -- instead of genuinely participating in the art of compromise.

Presently we are exposed to another example of company officials hiding behind their distancing from ordinary people by virtue of what I refer to as “corporate think.” Those officials apparent prevailing beliefs based on their behaviors justify actions that might otherwise be considered immoral, unethical or questionable at best, just because “it’s business.” (Sounds like organized crime’s approach – think, “Godfather” movie.) Such a state seems to foster lack of respect for rules, regulations, and guidelines generally established to ensure operational or product quality and safety. The unscrupulous ignore these protective measures against potential disaster as in the instance of deep sea oil drilling. Possibly this has been due to willful negligence, but ultimately the major impact is on people and our coastal environment.

Certain drilling standards have allegedly been circumvented causing the operation to go awry. Compounding this violation, there were no provisions as required to address preventing oil spillage in the event a worst case scenario happened. This is contrary to guarantees implied or given by the company. Disaster has resulted. We can’t trust such companies to be honest. Regulation must not only be required but responsible regulators must check and be accountable. I don't really like the fact circumstances persist that incite me to write about such negligence, especially deliberate offending actions taken in the name of acquiring money, gains for excessive profit -- but that is “corporate think” in action.

Listening to the BP President's testimony before our U.S. Congress regarding polluting gushing oil, following that notorious Gulf of Mexico deep sea oil drilling rig explosion for which his company is responsible, was appalling. I suppose we can’t expect him to be too forthcoming given the potential legal liability, as I’m sure his attorneys have cautioned him, especially since the investigative determinations about precisely what happened has not yet been completed. Are we to believe he was a renegade whose behaviors didn’t reflect his company’s approach to business? That company president has been relieved of overseeing day to day recovery operations following his taking time off to attend his yacht Bob’s race. What do we expect from his replacement? Better public relations acumen?

Consider BP’s safety track record. The Alaska Dispatch describes BP is paying fines in the millions from a 2006 Prudhoe Bay oil spill on land to which they admitted guilt. BP is fighting additional fines you can read more about in Jill Burke’s article:

“BP denies the 2006 spills polluted wetlands, shorelines, rivers or the Beaufort Sea. It also denies it mishandled asbestos, a federally regulated substance, during work to prepare the pipeline for inspection. And it denies dozens of allegations that it violated a handful of other federal regulations.”

Reading this gives me real concern for conditions in our Gulf affected States – so far Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama.

What is required to insure BP behaves responsibly? Our President’s expectation that BP establish a sizable escrow account is a meaningful effort to insure financial security for some incurred costs. Read more and view videos at this White House website link.

(The Congressman from Texas sullied the name of Barton with his apology to big oil so come re-election time voters know where his allegiance lies despite his later forced muddling apology. I wonder what his reaction would be if oil from the ocean were polluting parts of his State? )

See this BP history of pollution fines with a quick glance timeline chart beginning in 1960:

Is BP another corporation “too big to be allowed to fail?” Shouldn’t we continue to forge ahead at full speed to eliminate our nation’s oil dependence?

A Federal Court Judge’s ruling has negated our President’s 6 month moratorium on deep sea oil drilling. Presumably the ruling will be appealed. Some fishing and other businesses protest the moratorium as creating more financial loss and human hardship in jobs. Others believe the long range goal for businesses and the environment is best addressed by determining more effective preventative and corrective measures for possible future spills before resuming drilling. Legally the ruling may be just, but law application does not always result in fully moral and ethical results in every respect.

The oil pollution saga continues with many more unpalatable facts yet to emerge I fear. The hurricane season has begun with expectations the storms may be as severe as the year that brought the devastation of hurricane Katrina to New Orleans, Louisiana. Their effects of spreading oil on our nation’s Gulf shores do not bode well for either wildlife above or below the sea’s water. Deep in the ocean the oil keeps gushing at a rate far greater than BP officials led all to believe as the estimates have kept increasing with each pronouncement of company and government officials.

Live feeds from remotely operated vehicles (ROV) can be downloaded at this BP link

The consequences of this environmental disaster exceed any meaning the word tragic conveys, considering the number of affected human lives and the likely alterations for generations to come. Is it too much to expect that maybe – just maybe in the future.....

– responsible individuals will enforce established regulations at official governmental regulatory levels, in the financial world, and at corporations?

– elected officials representing the people will enact legislation to insure there are no loopholes enabling others to escape their legal, moral and ethical responsibilities?

- consumers can be confident in the quality and safety of products?

– voters will scrutinize the actions of those we elect to determine who acts on our behalf and who doesn’t, then vote accordingly?

What do you think?

Robots to Stop Gulf Oil Spill ???

The latest attempt by BP using robots to stop the Gulf of Mexico oil spill for which the company has been so ill-prepared to resolve is reported to be risky. Refer to today's issue of the L. A. Times and probably other major newspapers for further information. An Internet news search for current up to the minute specifics wll reveal the success or lack thereof which will be of critical interest in the hours and days ahead.

Refer to the previous post for broader discussion of regulation and supervision shortcomings involving government and corporations from my viewpoint.

"Mud" in Gulf of Mexico and California

Special "mud" is being injected (or is BP now doing something different) into a blown out undersea well spewing huge quantities of oil and gas in a so far unsuccessful effort to contain that devastating fluid flow. Louisiana marshes, wetlands, dragon flies, other insects, turtles, birds, sea creatures are all under assault by this offshore deep water oil drilling gone awry that is killing the full grown, young and eggs containing future generations. Human families and livelihoods are experiencing life altering havoc and an uncertain future.

Once again individuals in government departments have possibly compromised their supervisory regulatory roll of insuring large corporations meet required measures to safeguard their employees and act in the public interest. The once arrogant slogan “Drill, Baby, drill!” has pundits paraphrasing now with “Spill, Baby, spill!”

Months preceding this environmentally destructive event the news was filled with the drama of West Virginia coal miners dying in underground mines. This large corporate owner operation was revealed in documents to have repeatedly violated safety regulations for which the company was fined. Meaningful inspections and then corrections designed to prevent this disaster may well have been compromised.

I suggest we should all be wary of any candidates for political office who rant against regulations when clearly a need for such has been proven to be necessary as we also consider the financial crisis to which our nation has been subjected. We can partially thank all those political administrative and legislative government leaders responsible for giving us deregulation in our financial system for these crises. Also, those responsible for oversight somehow overlooked or carelessly ignored enforcing existing regulatory stipulations. So we voters are challenged to carefully examine those for whom we choose to vote in our spring Primary elections and later in our General Elections this fall.

A different type of damaging “mud” from that in the Gulf is flowing in California. Currently I am being bombarded with repetitive recorded phone messages from proponents of various candidates and issues. They even fill up my answering machine when I’m not home to accept the calls. My daily postal mail is filled with print mailers and there is an excessive abundance of television ads that are mostly quite negative attacks on some candidate’s opponent. All this advertising has been most successful in influencing my vote – I’m not going to vote for any of them.

I note the California Republican Party has had a litany of candidates but now seems to have boiled them down to two – one a government official, the other from the IT world. They are busy with their anti-opponent statements on TV, phone and in print as the money they spend flows in torrents. The Democratic Party candidates have been much more low key with their field having recently narrowed primarily to one person – a former Governor. Probably the Democrats are reserving their funds for campaigning after our Primary Elections. I shudder to think of all the promotion we voters will be subjected to in the general election campaign if candidates are able to spend so much now within their own parties for the Primaries.

Consider the fact California has the largest economy of any U.S. state, is actually one of the ten largest economies in the world. Keep in mind recent news organizations have stated our state's economy is in worse shape than that resulting in the Greece financial crisis which impacted all of Europe. Certainly California has been building toward this financial condition for many years but we can’t blame the national financial crisis though our sad condition was exacerbated.

When I think of our elections this year I recall a few years ago, despite our raging state debt, the Republican Party promoted spending even more monies we didn't have in a special election recalling our then Democratic governor though only two years were left before a regularly scheduled election. I resented such squandering of resources we didn't have in order to pay for that special election. I thought how naive for anyone to believe replacing our then Governor with the opposite parties macho Republican candidate movie star glamour would somehow resolve our state's money debt issues, but he took over the office. I derived no satisfaction a few years later when that Governor was reduced to proposing the exact same cost saving measure for which he had condemned the Governor he displaced. Meanwhile taxpayers are still out all the money we had to pay for that special election.

I have yet to hear any of California’s current candidates for Governor offer workable concrete ways to correct our state's budget deficit problems. They seem oblivious to the fact that until our state legislators find common ground to present a timely realistic balanced budget each year any governor will be unable to act to resolve our state's financial condition or at least move in that direction.

Despite this state governmental challenge I do look forward to this Primary election because there is one issue about which I'm especially enthusiastic. If this issue passes, we may actually allow all California voters to select a slate of candidates not as limited as now. We'll be able to cross political party lines with our vote in Primary Elections. Legally voting in a California Primary Election will no longer require us to register ourselves with a specific political party thus forcing voters to select candidates from only that parties roster. The later General Election allows us to vote across political party lines for any candidate on the ballot but currently Primary Election voting is much more restrictive. Passing this measure will change that Primary Election voting situation. For those of us who rarely or never vote any one political party ticket in a general election, we'd also like more options when we vote in a Primary election.

If I conclude our government is persistently dangerously lurching too far toward any radical or extreme state I am likely to give serious consideration to a candidate from some other political party than the one in power to try to bring balance to the system. Too many of our electorate from both of the major political parties have fallen far short of acting in the best interest of those of us they've been elected to represent. After this upcoming Primary Election we’ll have to decide what incumbents to re-elect and the new candidates we choose to represent our best interests. I look forward to the June Primary Election results determining who will be candidates as California’s Governor and how they plan to approach our state’s financial problems.

Resolution of the Gulf of Mexico worst-ever-in-our-nation oil disaster remains unknown at this writing.