Spill, Baby, Spill
By Barry Ritholtz - May 11th, 2010, 6:30PM
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Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data, ability to repeat discredited memes, and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Also, be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor even implied. Any irrelevancies you can mention will also be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.
May 11th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
From the cover of Today’s NYT: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/05/11/us/11oil2-cnd/11oil2-cnd-hpMedium.jpg
OT Bonus Link: The Love Police ruin the Conservative Party’s Press Statement at Downing Street:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sbTm-XShZ8
May 11th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Oh, sorry for 2 comments, but my NYT link was from their web site, not today’s paper.
May 11th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
:) It appears the sign is still reusable…………..
May 11th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
Sorry, but with today’s political mine field,pock marked with all kinds of tomfoolery and mis-information,I don’t think this is helpful…
Jerry
May 11th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
no doubt- let’s just drill in other countries and import the oil- why should we get dirty-
ahhh- love that nice view and clean air- this is the life
May 11th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
The scary thing is that I don’t think they’re actually going to change their minds on the topic regardless of what happens.
May 11th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
Even if people like Sarah don’t change their minds on the topic, a topic that I still wrestle with, at least we can hope that the cheap slogan gets the slow excruciating death that it deserves.
May 11th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
changja – I don’t either. Although we’ll see what kind of damage this does along the gulf coast and whether that changes any more minds.
Ahab – that’s the American way! Have you seen those pics Mish used to post on the pollution in China? Course they get us back by filling our toys with arsenic and lead and poisoning our pets. . . .
May 11th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Change their minds? Why would they do that? They just “make their own reality” anyway.
May 11th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Manny – good point :-/
May 11th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
She’s so Cute…and her disfunctional family is “in times” with most Americans these days…and even those on Wall St…(trophy wives & such) that she has a GREAT APPEAL all Across AMERICA!
So many people can relate to “Sarah (Caribou Killer) who “Made Good” that the Christian Bookstores in the South are filled with people who adore her…the Tea Partiers funded by the Koch Brothers are out there protesting with their paid for venues and signs by said (Koch Bros.) and LIFE IS GOOD for SARAH…and her Hubbie (oil rigging fisherman) and her assorted progeny who are happy to be out there on “REALITY TV!”
Hey…I sometimes wonder if McCain and SARAH wouldn’t have been GOOD FOR AMERICA…in these times given what it is.
I shudder…but what was the alternative. “Hope for Change we Can BELIEVE IN!”….
It’s all good here in America………!
May 11th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
BTW…the Louisiana Fisherman, the Casino Ops in Mississippi (Trent Lott) and the rest are salivating over MORE MONEY poured into their States for Clean Up.
Plus…they’ve feasted off the Cheney/Bush Oil Give Aways for years…and LIFE IS GOOD FOR THEM! They got rid of the “Welfare Folks” in the 9th District of New Orleans……and it’s the Carville’s and Matalins who are in the Historic and Profiting.
Let the Shrimpers GO Down…their jobs are MARGINAl…but keep that Oil & Gas Drilling Going…because THAT is the CASH COW and even if it’s an Environmental Disaster down there…it seems all those poor people locked in the SuperDome without basic facilities and those trying to get out (people of color) who were on the Bayou Bridges who were shot and bodies fell into river were just “Collateral DAMAGE!”
WHO COULD HAVE KNOWN? (Anyone think that Condi Rice will live in Infamy for that quote? Then there’s “We need to Move Forward and Not Look Back” about why we are in these wars and why our Economy has Collapsed from the current legacy after Bush.
It’s just amazing how Hoodwinked we are with the “CONSTANT ….SHOCK AND AWE” which writer Naomi Klein (do Amazon Search) predicted YEARS AGO.
Think of that almost thousand point drop in stock market LAST WEEK… And after the drop the Senate “dropped” KEY parts of BANKSTER REFORM. What a Conspiracy…. Who Couldaknown.???????
May 11th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
sorry I could not find the cartoon to go with this headline from ABC news
President Obama: Drill, Baby, Drill
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/03/president-obama-drill-baby-drill-.html
May 11th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Call me Ahab,
To answer your question, can you say balance of trade and current accounts, value of the currency, and jobs? Learn from this incident and keep on truckin……
May 11th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
You Tube …..Pilot’s video of the Oil Slick with Commentary……An interesting watch!
Amateur Video Of Gulf Oil Slick – Worse Than BP Admits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=did-S6XbpMM
May 11th, 2010 at 10:40 pm
Hey Toronto, let’s talk about the vast lakes of polluted water in the tar sands of Alberta you folks have created, eh? Injecting steam into the ground to liquefy the tarry deposits so you can pump them out is a great idea, but when the steam later condenses into millions of gallons of polluted water, what do you do with it? Apparently nothing, eh?
May 11th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
The big irony is that the Red states are the ones that are going to be hit the hardest. All those Southern states with big rich white folks with houses on the water. Those are some serious republican base that will be hit. Business owners, fishermen, tourism. If you were a drill baby drill republican that did well living on the coastal areas, now you might go bankrupt and need federal assistance.
The sickly sweet crude irony……..
May 11th, 2010 at 11:02 pm
TakBak04:
that’s an interesting and sobering video at your link.
I noticed, in the immediate aftermath of this disaster, that many right-wingers (or anti “tree huggers” or whatever) on the financial blogs, in the media, and in Congress tried to play this off — in typical uber-macho, fact-free yet authoritarian fashion — as a cost of doing the right thing (“dill, baby, drill”). I don’t think they understood that this isn’t a spill — it’s a gusher. A gusher one mile deep in the Gulf. This has the potential to be a Chernobyl level event. Kind of tough to put a price tag on something that big. Now, I think that reality is starting to sink in, and that the right-wingers are getting a clue that this could be a back-breaker politically, economically, environmentally, and culturally. Too bad that horrendous bad has to happen before some people comprehend the true cost involved with something of this magnitude.
The first oil well was drilled in northwestern Pennsylvania in 1859. 151 years, and we’ve managed to base our entire culture on burning fossil fuels to drive our cars. Every thing we do — from income to food gathering — requires us to burn oil. 151 years, and we’ve managed to pollute the shit out of our environment, including some major fuck-ups that have despoiled some of our most beautiful and valuable places (again, there’s no real way to quantify the cost of this). I thought markets worked efficiently. That profit potential would drive innovation. We’re not even looking for another way.
May 11th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
genomik-
hahahahahhaha-
let me just say you are quite the dumb ass-
suggestion- quit driving- walk everywhere you go- make your own clothes from your farm animals (which you I’m sure you don’t have)-
and what ever you do- don’t turn on your lights or heat or air conditioning-
and then you can bitch about anyone you want that does’t live up to your incredible ideals-
even the red states- whatever the hell that means
May 11th, 2010 at 11:20 pm
@Takbak04
Thx for the link.. Wow.
Reminds me of an interesting point T. Boone Pickens keeps harping on:
What the “real” cost of oil per barrel? When you factor in the fleets of cruisers in the middle east (many running on oil) , the HumVees, the soldiers, the soldiers’ disability, opportunity cost of soldiers on tour, the clean-ups, environmental damage, and many more points…
There is no real answer but the thought experiment would put it way north of the 80$ or so it trades right now. In terms of assessing the economics of oil, the ancillary expenses are conveniently ignored.
Hey, I gotta ask – why is the left so infatuated with Sarah Palin? Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh on their best days can’t draw smoke from the ears of liberals like Sarah Palin does. I’m basically center right (I think) and I couldn’t care less about her. Many others who vote Republican kind of feel the same (but we don’t tell this to the left).
I mean there isn’t anyone on the political landscape in the last 30 years as divisive ( and thus more TV worthy) than Sara Palin.
I can’t think of anyone from the left that irritates the right nearly as much as she does. Not for nothing, but I think the left is feeding the beast with this chick. She should have been forgotten by now. Just my opinion. Just trying to understand the psychology there.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:03 am
>> Hey, I gotta ask – why is the left so infatuated with Sarah Palin? Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh on their best days can’t draw smoke from the ears of liberals like Sarah Palin does.
Because — speaking for the Left — “we” watched the Couric interview and are simultaneously astonished, concerned and happy that *some* people in the “conservative” spectrum care what she has to say or even pay for her to read from her palm.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:20 am
Jeez, Just because Obama called for off shore drilling, why did those RACIST canadians portray our president with a dress and make fun of his administration’s complete mis-handling of the GOM oil spill?
May 12th, 2010 at 12:21 am
@scharfy The reason the left hates Palin is she is a logic bomb similar to Bush. They worry that if someone as incompetent as Bush could become Pres, then so could Palin. The right would still love her and follow her lemming like as they did Bush. The left actually makes better republicans than republicans cos Bush was no Republican, he annihilated the theoretical underpinning by creating the biggest debt/bureaucracy imaginable.
If that could happen, then Palin could easily win on tea bagging. Then we would become the laughing stock of Earth and our economy would collapse because everybody with logical knowledge would realize that America stood for belief not reality.
@Ahab, I can take it. I guess we need oil or some energy source, but my irony is probably Republicans on welfare would still vote for Palin. Even after drill baby drill destroyed their livelihoods, many right wingers will still vote to drill. I actually ride my bike alot around town, I live in a small place, I have a low energy footprint. I prefer nuclear over oil myself. I am sorta in the middle politically, but still mostly vote democrat cos republicans are really far out there. Even when I put on my Republican hat its mind boggling that Bush had 8 years! Our economy is a mess, volatility, both economic and militaristic is at all time high. Bush will go down in history as worst president, and still Republicans may manage to vote in Palin…….
Logic Bomb
May 12th, 2010 at 12:24 am
scharfy,
in a quick thought, Palin is used as the ‘Red Meat’ thrown to the ‘Left’ that, previously, suffered from BDS..
it keeps them occupied, and away from noticing that 44 is (much) “more of the same”..
How else could they be overlooking, in its most recent incarnation, the Elena Kagan nomination?
Haven’t heard her compared to Hariet Miers, have you?
May 12th, 2010 at 12:27 am
Why don’t we all relax for a moment. We’ve been deep water drilling and fracturing for 60 years or so with little or no mishap. BP had planned to announce, April 21, 2010, the next day, the largest oil find in the Gulf of Mexico. Period. Great news. You would at the very least have been extremely ecstatic.
Had it not been for this accident, we would have praised them for their endeavor, investment, temerity and skill, and saving the U.S. millions of $$$ we would have sent to our Islamic “friends”.
So what happened? Methane bubble. Blew the shit out of their triple redundant safety measures. Never happened before. Neither did Katrina or Mt. St. Helens.
Regarding New Orleans…It would have been cheaper to move it (the town is below sea level) than to rebuild it over and over again, and again, with our money, not theirs. If you choose to live in a fish bowl, so be it. It’s your decision, not ours.
Back to the spill…planes crash, volcanoes erupt, shit happens! If you choose to beat them to death and not heat your house this winter, drive your car, wash your clothes, cook your food, heat your pool. or drink water…Then by all means, go for it!
Fossil fuels, (oh my God), are 5 times more efficient than anything else yet developed on the planet.
If you don’t think it takes energy to make windmills or solar panels, or anything for that matter, then this discussion ends here. Good Luck.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:52 am
Barry, love the economic and financial components of your blog. The political commentary is grating, since it is so one-sided. By ignoring the ignorance and foibles of Obama, Pelosi, Reid, et al you perpetuate the intellectual dishonesty you love to rail against. Palin is at least adult enough to realize and articulate there are no energy free lunches – at some point, to exhibit any modicum of intellectual honesty, you have to be for some realistic sources of energy (sorry, windmills and solar panels do not yet qualify as ‘realistic’). There is a cost for every alternative – nuclear (the slight risk of a meltdown), coal (particulate air pollution), hydro (river ecosystem degradation), etc. Occasional spills are one cost of using petroleum. BP needs to pay a terrible cost for their sloppiness, to redress the damage about to hit my state’s coastline and serve as a warning. It’s easy to make snarky comments when you live in a state that imports energy from others who take the environmental risks, as many here no doubt do.
May 12th, 2010 at 1:07 am
elmerfudd
AMEN Brother.
May 12th, 2010 at 1:19 am
C’mon Barry…There can’t be that much cool-aid. DC is so concerned about their party and getting re-elected (Career pols who never got paid for performance) that they have put their interests before their Country. Can’t pay your debts? Here’s another loan!
When, in history, has that misguided scenario ever proven to be the solution to that problem?
Eg: I owe $2mil and can’t pay it off. Lend me a mil$ and I’ll see what I can do.
To quote my dear friend Arthur Cashin, “If I don’t clean my room and still get my allowance…Why would I bother?”
May 12th, 2010 at 6:46 am
This is unhelpful character asassination. Where are the editorials damning our oh-so-intelligent Veep Biden?
May 12th, 2010 at 7:24 am
Again you guys get suckered into more comment bait from BR.
Haven’t you figured out he is toying with you ?
May 12th, 2010 at 8:09 am
Option A, drill at home and risk killing geese and shrimp every 20 years.
Option B, import it all from the Middle East and risk killing 5,000 troops every 20 years.
Option C, figure out how to get jets to run on “solar” or “wind”…
Decisions, decisions.
May 12th, 2010 at 8:13 am
“Bush will go down in history as worst president, and still Republicans may manage to vote in Palin”
genomik- fair response- but no-one is going to be voting in Palin- I just can’t see that on the horizon as a possible outcome
May 12th, 2010 at 8:24 am
@george47-
dude- I didn’t know I had to put a /snark/ tag by my 7:07 comment- thought it was pretty obvious
May 12th, 2010 at 8:35 am
mmmmmm, Sarah Palin all covered in oil……meowwwww!
May 13th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
@elmerfudd ++
@BR – You’re much better at economics and finance. Both sides of the political spectrum like to paint the other side as simplistic morons. Reality is the political subjects of debate are debatable because they are complex. I don’t believe people come to your blog for this and you turn away more than you keep when you take the conversation here.