BCT Editorial – 5/4/10

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Oil spill shows why some government oversight is needed

“These are embarrassing times for those who demand that government keep its nose out of the private sector.”

[RWC] Straw man alert.  A foundation of this editorial is those who disagree with big government believe in no government.  I repeat for the nth time, conservatism advocates small government, not no government.

“The national and world economies are still struggling to pull out of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, one that was caused largely because the financial industry failed to police itself.  Instead of looking out for their own and the greater good, greed won out.”

[RWC] For nearly two years the Times has ducked any substantial discussion of the root cause of the recession, and now it proclaims it’s “largely because the financial industry failed to police itself.”  The “police itself” comment is amazing.  Our financial industry is highly regulated at both the federal and state levels.  To claim the recession is a result of a lack of regulation is an attempt to rewrite history and provide cover for leftist policies and politicians.

“Now, a massive oil leak from a BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico has shown why these companies need more state and federal oversight when it comes to drilling for oil and natural gas.”

[RWC] Unless you have a knee-jerk bias in favor of more government, you can’t make this assertion without knowing what happened.  Right now, all we know is an explosion took place (cause unknown) and oil leak failsafes failed (cause unknown).

“As The Associated Press reported, the environment crisis began with a massive explosion aboard the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon on April 20, more than 40 miles off the Louisiana coast.  (Let’s also not overlook the personal cost of this explosion.  Eleven workers are still missing and presumed to be dead.)

“For the first few days after the blast, BP officials assured the U.S. government that the oil leak that resulted from the explosion was manageable, not catastrophic.  Because of that assurance, federal officials decided to let the company take care of the situation.”

[RWC] In case you missed it, the purpose of this paragraph is to absolve the Obama administration of foot-dragging charges, whether fair or not.  As a reminder, the Bush administration didn’t get this absolution after Hurricane Katrina even though the administration had urged state and local officials to take action before Katrina hit.

“It turned out that the leak was five times larger than the company had led government officials and the public to believe.  The consequences of delay have been devastating.”

[RWC] Note the wording, “the company had led government officials and the public to believe.”  This wording makes it sound like BP was untruthful instead of incorrect.  I don’t know what BP knew any more than the Times does, but it would make no sense for BP to underreport the leak intentionally if for no other reason than a big oil leak is not something BP could hide.  Further, since BP is responsible for all damages, it would be in BP’s best interests to call for needed help ASAP to minimize financial exposure.  That said, people don’t always act rationally.  Either way, we won’t know until a post-mortem of the incident.

“In an echo of the financial meltdown, the news service reported that questions are sure to be raised about a self-policing system that trusted private enterprise to take care of its own mistakes.

“And rightly so.  If history teaches us anything, it is that companies (and the individuals running them) more often than not will look out for themselves first and foremost.  That’s why some government oversight it [sic] needed.

“But because governments (and the people who run them) are equally flawed, they, too, cannot be given unfettered control over the private sector.

“That’s why the goal must be to strike a balance between the two.  Keep that in mind as this matter is debated in the coming weeks and months.  More regulation is needed; it’s just a matter of how much.”

[RWC] “But because governments (and the people who run them) are equally flawed, they, too, cannot be given unfettered control over the private sector.  That’s why the goal must be to strike a balance between the two.”  This is a lame attempt by the Times to sound reasonable.  If you believe this is more than lip service, you weren’t paying attention to the rest of the editorial.  As a recap, the editorial led off with “Oil spill shows why some government oversight is needed,” proceeded to blame all problems on lack of regulation of the private sector, and concluded with “More regulation is needed.”