Well to address this in the light of what is actually happening.
BP has already been paying claims, without the need of this fund.
They're way behind the demand. People and businesses have bills piling up with no income. BP is not set up to do this kind of thing. To say they were "forced" by the president to put that $20B in escrow is being very disingenuous of the big picture.
BP knows and admitted they caused this disaster and are responsible for it. They know if they drag their feet on these payments they won't be allowed to drill in U.S. waters for a very, very long time.
All you right wingers make me laugh. You bitch and whine because "Obama hasn't done anything" and "Obama isn't acting presidential" and all that other crap. Yet, when he takes a stand and convinces BP that it would be in their best interests to put not $10B, but twice that amount, in an escrow fund that can be administered by a professional with a bunch of experience in doing so, you cry like a bunch of babies accusing him of overstepping his power. WTF? :lol:
You can't have it both ways.
The truth is that you're all pissed because he took such a strong action and basically took all the wind out of Repubs' sails. Now, your only position is to defend big oil. No wonder you're all so po'd. :mrgreen:
Be careful what you wish for. :applaud
With so much to lose on their end, do you honestly think they won't pay the share of costs they are responsible for?
Their reputation precedes them. If those people had to wait for the courts to decide on things many of them would lose their businesses, their homes and probably go bankrupt. It seems none of you rightees care about that. But, you're more than ready to take arms to defend every legal right of the responsible party here. Whose ****ing side are you on anyway? :roll:
Like I said, this will speed up payments and make them look better in those people's eyes who they have hurt. They need to do whatever they can to help their image. This is a big step in doing that.
They also know that regulations are going to be tightened up after this. The more they can point back to how they helped resolve this crisis, they more chances they think they might be able to get some regs not tightened as much as would happen if they hadn't bent over backwards to help injured parties.
Kudos to Obama for getting this done. :good_job: