I'm All Over The Map

Who say's you can't burn water in your car?

Coincidences, we’ve all see them, some so timely that we wonder if they’re not the Hand of Providence in action.

When it comes to the world of Business and Politics though, I question if there is any such thing.

Consider.  Good timing, or prior knowledge?

Goldman Sachs dumps over half it’s holdings in BP stock just before the April blowout in the Gulf, on the advice of it’s International Chairman who had stepped down as BP’s Chairman just a year earlier.¹

Halliburton, just two weeks before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, bought out the conveniently Gulf based², premiere oil well firefighting firm of Boots and Coots³ for $240M.  Coincidentally, Halliburton was also the firm responsible for properly cementing the Deepwater Horizon well to begin with.

So when Deepwater Horizon went tits up, who was onhand to aid the cleanup?  Uh-huh, you got it.

I’m convinced that the others are getting in on the action as well.

When it became obvious that the well would not be sealed in a timely manner, why didn’t our government waive a 1920s era maritime law⁴ forbidding foreign ships to operate within 3 miles of the US cost, thereby allowing widespread international intervention to contain the oil? Surely it couldn’t have anything to do with a certain $20B escrow fund BP is paying into and that the government is going to manage^5,6, could it?

The sad fact is, official action to waive the Jones Act wasn’t taken until today⁷, with 140 MILLION gallons⁸ of crude released and washing up on beaches in 4 states, and the “cleanup fund” a well established fact.

I’d love to know what bank is going to hold that money, what interest rate it will draw⁹, and where that interest will wind up. Because if my calculator is right, the escrow account could generate $500,000,000.00 / year in interest alone.

I don’t think it’s coincidence that there have been a few big beneficiaries from the misery of the many.