Wall Street sours on Govt Criminal probe into BP Oil spill
Posted By RichC on June 1, 2010
The U.S. Government through Attorney General Eric Holder announced that they have opened a criminal investigation into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. His comments spooked late day trading on Wall Street –"We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who has violated the law."
The huge spill from a well owned by British oil giant BP, has leaked – spewed – oil over a month and is damaging Louisiana and surrounding shores extensively. Businesses from fishing to tourism have been severely affected and the damage will total into the billions of dollars. Damage to the environment will be much harder to measure, but will surly to be a subject of debate well after the offshore well is capped and businesses have been reimbursed.
Of concern to many have been either the lack of a high priority response from Washington DC or the wrong response … proceeding with a“heavy handed criminal probe.” It might make more sense to tackle the immediate 
problem of stopping the oil, cleaning up the mess and taking care of the people before focusing on “criminal charges,” don’t ya think?
From my point of view, both BP and the Federal government were ill-prepared to shut down and containing the spill. I have little problem pointing the finger at the drillers and BP … but find is sanctimonious for the Federal government to see themselves as innocent in their oversight duties and in responding effectively after the spill occurred. What is really frustrating is that after about a month of “talking like they are in charge,” the Obama Administration is now jumping to the “criminal investigation.” Responding with such heavy handedness only spooks an already jittery economic recovery. Business leaders and investors, needed to expand business an put Americans back to work, already fear government takeovers and an intrusion into capitalism and free markets.
A little pro-business policy would go a long way to help the economy recover and ease the worry for those wanting to invest in American businesses and industry.
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