“This antiquated and protectionist law has been predominantly featured in the news as of late due to the Gulf Coast oil spill. Within a week of the explosion, 13 countries, including several European nations, offered assistance from vessels and crews with experience in removing oil spill debris, and as of June 21st, the State Department has acknowledged that overall ‘it has had 21 aid offers from 17 countries.’ However, due to the Jones Act, these vessels are not permitted in U.S. waters.

Source: Source

A business is like Paul’s Barber Shop, or Lew’s Deli. These are businesses in the sense that you and I would mean business. There are of course hundreds of millions of examples around the globe. There is nothing wrong with being in business, wanting to have greater prosperity, and working with the knowledge you gain in the industry of your preference.

A corporation is a creature of the state which at the very least is created to minimise the liabilities of those forming the corporation. At worst, it is a creature which crawls up onto the lap of the state and opens its big mouth into which the state vomits wealth, privileges, and power. These are then used to do all manner of evil. Almost every major corporation is functioning right now to restrain trade.

I find it very difficult to believe your scenario Jim. I don’t like the government or BP at all, but your statement seems to take some incredible claims for granted.

I may not have eloquently painted the picture of “a monstrosity of corporate-government policy”, but that was what I hoped to do. I simply did not spend energy bashing them for their malfeasance because so many others are doing it (just like you).

In an ideal world, all companies would work for a profit by their own energies without the help of the corporatist state. All that was meant to be shown here was the fact that we have just that (pretty much a global corporatist state). I realize this is a concept with which you are already intimately familiar, so therefore too simple a discussion (and not thoughtful enough, or damning enough of BP).

Cheers.

Of course BP (its executives, decision-makers and shareholders) deserve our strong disapprobation. This is a gamble that BP recklessly played with the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands, lulled by a sweet, collusive regulatory environment that BP had assiduously cultivated. That our government leaders/bureaucrats also deserve blame for their poor oversight and cupidity does not reduce one iota the blame that so richly BP deserves.

One part of the answer, of course, lies in completely eliminating liability limits, including the state-granted limited liability of shareholders, which turns corporations into risk-shifting vehicles that shift risks to innocent third parties, while creaming profits to shareholders that cannot be clawed back when the risks materialize.

This dynamic is precisely the reason that citizens call for increased government regulation; libertarians would do well to start paying attention to this driver of growing government and growing moral hazard.

Another part of the answer lies in insisting that other marine resource users have a veto over oil and gas development; this would enable bargaining, and end the tragedy of the government-managed commons, which produces Avatar-like situations.

TT

BP pays millions of dollars a month in lobbying fees and in campaign contributions to distort the political system, corrupt the politicians, buy off the bureau-rats, and we are supposed to cry for the poor corporation? BP is as much a creature of the state as a corporation can be, and corporatist, that is to say, fascist, economic policies have been their main goal from government since day one.

Remember they started life as the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, bilking the Iranians out of the bulk of the oil wealth of Iran. They pushed the CIA into overthrowing the democratically elected government of Iran back in the 1950s, for crying out loud. These people have been evil scum from the start.

Of course BP should be not only punished, but destroyed. It should have all of its leases taken away and those should be sold off to the bidders in the rest of the industry. All its assets should be taken away and sold off to the rest of the industry, and used to pay compensation to its victims. These things won’t ever happen, so don’t worry about them, just consider them as principled ideas against a monstrosity of corporate-government policy.

The management of BP committed mass murder on 20 April 2010. They knew about problems with the rig going back to 13 February 2010, they studied the situation. Tony Hayward couldn’t see a good outcome, so he sold off a large percentage of his shares (at least a third that has been reported so far, presumably in first quarter) and paid of his family estate’s mortgage. His estate in Kent should be seized and Hayward should spend the rest of his life paying compensation to his victims. But he won’t. He’ll get off scot free because the government shields him from responsibility for his actions.

Goldman Sachs was informed enough to sell off about $200 million in BP shares in the first quarter, too. So, you know, the corporate masters and the banking gangsters all get along fine. Only the people who are in the way of the blast when the rig explodes, only the people along the Gulf coast, get to do the suffering. Tony Hayward and his rich cronies go off and spend their weekend yachting. You know, so he can have his life back.

I have no sympathy for BP. I have no sympathy for the government. The von Mises institute would do better to publish more thoughtful pieces than this load of tripe.

The point of the article was not to ‘apologize’ for anything. I had hoped it would give a little glimmer of the twisted nature of the corporatist State.