Failure of BP Could Also Hurt British Pensions

Via Zerohedge.

The Telegraph article makes a good point about the BP-bashing currently going on in our government and media right now. Back in 1988, an Occidental Petroleum rig exploded in the North Sea and killed 167 people. You heard no rhetoric from Margaret Thostaer about having her "boot on the throat" of Occidental, or of driving the company to ruin.

It may be that there was some gross negligence on BP's part. But the fact remains that deepwater drilling is a dangerous and risky business. Putting BP out of business to "punish" the company for the accident will have the undesirable side-effect of hurting one of our best allies: Britain. Many British pensions hold large shares of BP stock, and if BP goes under, then British pensions suffer. Which means that British citizens suffer. And many of them may blame the Americans for their financial pain, whatever BP's liability may have been.

Everything is connected in this brave new world. Rather than scoring points on a company all the lefties love to hate, Obama might consider what effect his actions and rhetoric are having on a valued ally.

posted by Monty at 08:42 AM

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