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The Forum > Article Comments > Why the oil spill isn't BP's fault > Comments

Why the oil spill isn't BP's fault : Comments

By Kris Sayce, published 18/6/2010

Because of a lack of private property rights there's no private owner putting pressure on BP to clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

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Kris, I believe your "private good, government bad" theory has crossed the line here! You cannot blame all bad things on collective action, and the free market does not solve all things: largely because markets can only be "free" to the extent that you can restrict the powerful players from changing rules to their benefit. Do you see the conundrum? In *theory* the free market works, in practice all "free" markets are manipulated by the most powerful/profitable to benefit themselves. To keep any semblance to "free" needs an independent umpire...the dreaded government. There is also the issues of natural monopolies, and the fact that "market corrections" that involve thousands of livelihoods, or a millionaire or two, are generally prevented from happening due to riots, social displacement, etc.
This spill was most definitely BP's fault, and more stringent safety rules with real teeth are the answer.
At a local Geelong oil refinery there are regular spills. The company just pays the fines, year after year because the fines are less expensive than fixing the plant. When the issue is raised they threaten to move to Asia. Jobs vs pollution: jobs win. Of course they will shut down and move to Asia anyway...but only when most profitable to do so. Privatising everything is a very silly idea!
Posted by Ozandy, Friday, 18 June 2010 11:10:14 AM
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Ridiculous

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10555&page=0
Posted by Severin, Friday, 18 June 2010 1:31:47 PM
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What a ridiculous article.
The author fails to mention one of the core attributes of a private property system is "exclusion". The owner gets to say who can and cant use their property.
I wonder if the author would be so keen on privatising the oceans if GetUp or Greenpeace were to end up as the owners.

<<In most cases where property is privately owned and where the owner values the property, it is better taken care of than property that is publicly owned.>>
Oh really. So all the farmers that farmed their land to desert or overstocked till the grass was gone soon to be followed by the soil or irrigated till their land was a salt pan are taking care of their property? All the open cut mines are "taking care" of the land? All the soil erosion and salination and loss of fertility we see all around this country and many others is "taking care of the land"? All the factories that polluted their sites so badly the government had to step in or the land has the be fenced off never to be used again were "taking care" were they? What about the toxic waste plume under the Orica plant at Botany. Great stewardship of the land there wasnt it.

Your article is a self serving crock, with no basis in reality, designed to hand the richest and wealthiest our oceans and all our remaining land so that they can then use their monopoly on everything to (further) enslave us all. Such is the face of modern capitalism. Well on its way to becoming the new feudalism, with slavery, exclusion and barbarity for all but a lucky few who would happily wipe out everything if it gave them a few more bucks and bit more power.

The capitalist fanboys are rising to defend one of their own because they are quaking in fear that if we the people go after BP for this and make them pay then all the other miscreant capitalists will be next. As they should be in a democracy.
Posted by mikk, Friday, 18 June 2010 2:01:30 PM
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BTW. We have tried true "free market" economies for many thousands of years...it is called "law of the jungle".
It wasn't until some societies formed non-individual institutions that this thing called civilisation was invented.
I still reckon the banks need to be as accountable as BP for their stuffups. The taxpayers handed over trillions without a single banker sacked or (multi million $)wages docked.
Posted by Ozandy, Friday, 18 June 2010 2:41:46 PM
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Hi mikk,
I thought the author was suggesting Greenpeace, WWF and the like own the oceans, either that or his favourite multi-national corporation or even Non-government organisation. I guess we all read the same words but interpret different underlying agendas. Greenpeace and WWF have certainly contributed their pseudo scientific campaign material to the IPCC climate science reports and it's been presented to Joe Public as peer reviewed science. We've got some common ground here mikk in terms of our anger, now we have to make sure we direct it in the right direction. We all want to save the planet, so is the IPCC lot the best to lead us? Personally I think not.
Posted by CO2, Friday, 18 June 2010 2:53:34 PM
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Sorry Kris, it doesn't weork that way.

Just ask the farmers who have coal seem gas mining on their properties. The state claims the resource & licence the miners/extractors. The land holder has no say, at all.

Many of them are complaining of gas leaks making them sick, & damaging their stock, but they are not even getting a hearing.

You'll have to find another control method, like perhaps, standards written into the mining lease.
Posted by Hasbeen, Friday, 18 June 2010 3:13:43 PM
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