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BP Claims Gulf Well Has Been Stopped
An anonymous reader writes with word that BP has announced the Gulf oil spill has been stopped.
Another reader adds more detail: "The last valve on the new cap has been closed, and the flow of oil and gas into the sea has stopped. That doesn't mean it's over. It is unclear whether the steel casing deep in the well can contain the pressure. The risk is that it could burst, which would eventually cause a rupture on the sea floor that would make things much messier to deal with. However, they're monitoring the pressure buildup carefully and if the pressure holds over the next 48 hours (indicating there is no leak below the sea floor), they'll assess what to do next. If it doesn't hold at the expected readings, then they'll re-attach the pipe used for producing to the surface and start collecting again. Regardless of what happens the relief well still has to be completed to permanently plug the well with cement, which could take a couple more weeks."
heya,
Ok, you're an idiot - corporations, or companies, or whatever, are *just a legal construct*. They're how our economy works. What do you think entrepeneurship is about? The small business around your corner, or the sandwich shop, they're also companies - so if you say COMPANIES ARE EVIL!!!! then friendly Bob around the corner who runs your local milk-bar is also one of these aforesaid evil people.
I suggest you go take a basic course in economics 101. We're essentially a capitalistic society, tempered by government control for externalities (i.e. to protect the environment, ensure minimum wages etc.).
If you don't have private corporations, you have what, exactly - government run companies? Lol. Gee, we saw how well that worked in USSR, Cuba, Vietnam, DPRK etc. Even China, once the last bastion of communism, basically went capitalistic in the 1980's, under Deng Xiao Ping.
Look, communism failed, ok, and it's pretty much a joke in the real world. Maybe in some dream world where everybody is altruistic, but it just doesn't work in our fallen world.
There isn't an alterantive to it, that we know of yet. You're right that we should have controls.
However, then you make idiotic statements like "limit their growth", or "they aren't needed". You seem to have very little understanding of how a modern economy functions, or what things like efficient allocation of resources means.
And I'm not American, so my American history is patchy, but this is the first I've heard of the founding fathers wanting to outlaw capitalism? They were communists? First I've heard of that - can any other American back that up?
Corporations aren't "worse" for people, or anything like that. Occasionally (or often, depending on your POV), management of these companies may make bad decisions. But that's just like Bob your local hardware store can make a bad decision, or you or I can make a bad decision. It's not the company, it's the people who are managing it.
Cheers,
Victor