Back to Hayward, to me he is no different than others of his ilk, I see this on Wall St all the time, not to mention other big business... there's an arrogance and a sense of entitlement that's galling to outsiders, but from the inside I think it's simple ignorance and wishful thinking: everyone lives like this, I'm just living a regular life, and politics should be arranged so that I can keep living this life - and thus providing the promise for all the meritocrats out there that they too can enjoy a piece of this.

Then there's the financial code words - Hayward may have been more forthright than some, but I would imagine you can dredge up similar from many other CEOs or CEO wannabes in big business. The need to increase profit quarterly drives all sorts of financial engineering (and leads to the sort of problems in, say, the last 4 financial meltdowns), and the suppression of worker wages (to be globally competetive). The distinction between socially enlightened and those completely self absorbed is in the amount of budget and PR given to image-making side-programs whose aim is to a) improve the brand-perception of the company and b) keep regulators and politicians off.

Into this, it is only reasonable that the public's general interest should be represented by an elected government. In other words, regulation and oversight. The degree to which the govt is bought is the degree to which the regulation and oversight is lax. Again, the socially enlightened politician (and corporate lobbyist) will concede some actual tooth to regulation, for appearance and to actually help safeguard the general public. The totally self-absorbed will go along with whatever Big Business needs.

Whatever the regulation, a corporation will, given an amoral and clueless management style, arrange it to the greatest benefit: take financial industry pay guidelines for example. There's a formula and you plug in your numbers... As with taxation, the big numbers aggregate from the middle of the bell curve. So, you cut pay there. For management survival, you have to keep your go-getters under you - to reap the benefits from them - and so you argue, the top producers must keep getting the big bonuses (and you, as their manager, directly benefit).

Sounds just like the Republican tax cutting, doesn't it?

Sounds like those who are getting welfare and government "entitlements" doesn't it?

[Nesster]

It sure does, doesn't it? Thing is, these bozos deserve it less than those whose income isn't in the millions. They aren't a good bet for society - the job creation bit is overstated and the job loss is understated, when it comes to big business. Small enterprise is another thing entirely, and is another group neither party really supports, due to where the bulk of money and votes is likely to come from.

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for an oil industry PR campaign, where say 5 cents of every gallon bought on a given day or week goes towards helping out around the Gulf. Something tells me I'll wait a long long time for something like that.

[jeffkrol]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/business/19nocera.html?scp=1&sq=nocera%20bp&st=cse
Talking Business - In 2 Accidents, BP Ignored Omens of Disaster - NYTimes.com

[reeftool]

There are a lot of valid complaints about Tony Hayward but this one doesn't hold water. NOBODY is going to work 24 hrs a day, every day, and he has every right to a day off and do what he wants. I wouldn't tolerate it and I doubt anybody else would either. WHether he goes to a yacht race or reads a book is nobodys business.

There are a lot of valid complaints about Tony Hayward but this one doesn't hold water. NOBODY is going to work 24 hrs a day, every day, and he has every right to a day off and do what he wants. I wouldn't tolerate it and I doubt anybody else would either. WHether he goes to a yacht race or reads a book is nobodys business.

If only we could get the Obaminator to work one day in 24 without golfing, going to concerts, basketball, etc. Well at least on this oil thing. Less he does to chicago senators the better.

[Oldschool]

If only we could get the Obaminator to work one day in 24 without golfing, going to concerts, basketball, etc. Well at least on this oil thing. Less he does to chicago senators the better.

You really should get your facts straight. GWB was the kin of vacations with 487 days at Camp David and 490 days at Crawford. No other president was ever close to those numbers.

You really should get your facts straight. GWB was the kin of vacations with 487 days at Camp David and 490 days at Crawford. No other president was ever close to those numbers.

Obaminator is catching up fast.

[Oldschool]

Obaminator is catching up fast.

And your source?

[Nesster]

When I see Tony and the BPs tone deaf and disjointed performance, I'm disgustingly reminded of all the other big companies' song and dance recently - the big automakers, big banks, big mortgage, big insurance, big everything.

I think there's something going on - these corporations are so huge and so self-contained, that they are countries and cultures of their own, mainly communicating with each other in common corporate speak. From the inside, really, people don't have a clue of the outside world and its realities. You spend your career climbing that corporate ladder and become expert at what you need to do to keep your place and get the next bigger one. Outside realities only approach you as spreadsheets and regulations, budget items, assignable to staffers, essentially.

[subeeds]

So Hayward is out and some other sacrificial lamb has replaced him. The robot knocked the containment cap off the well and now it's really spewing oil into the Gulf. I don't want to ask "what freakin' next" because I don't think I really want to know. I think of what is happening to the wonderful places of my childhood vacations and I don't know whether to cry or be sick or both.

[cardinal43]

There's that fascination with Obama, is that doing you a whoop of good?

He's in love with Obama. Can't you tell?

[jeffkrol]

If only we could get the Obaminator to work one day in 24 without golfing, going to concerts, basketball, etc. Well at least on this oil thing. Less he does to chicago senators the better.

As a funny counterpoint... WHAT is this man doing sitting through an 11 hour tennis match? Shouldn't he be shaving pennies somewhere? Glad to know he got sooooo bored that he had to check on the National Debt...
Debt up $1.7T during Isner-Mahut Wimbledon match - On Politics: Covering the US Congress, Governors, and the 2010 Election - USATODAY.com

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., managed to use this week's extraordinarily long match at Wimbledon to put that concern into perspective.

Shortly after the 11-hour, five-minute match between American John Isner and Nicolas Mahut, of France, Buchanan posted the following to Twitter: "Think Wimbledon tickets are expensive? Our National Debt has gone up by $1,729,000,000 during the Isner v. Mahut match #USA."

Should British Petroleum be required to bear the full cost of the environmental and economic damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill?

During his first term, the Congressman earned a reputation as a thoughtful and independent lawmaker and won accolades from area newspapers for being a tireless advocate on behalf of his constituents

A strong fiscal conservative, blah blah blah to reform the process through which federal funds are "earmarked" for pet projects. ect.

But............

He is also working as a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure to get Florida's fair share of federal transportation dollars. As a member of the Subcommittees on Surface Transportation, the Congressman will play a key role in the reauthorization of the five-year federal highway bill.

..........
pork, pork pork, porrrrrrk............