by Guest » Thu Jul 08, 2010 1:04 am
The Gulf cleanup is taking so long simply because it's the wrong generation for the task. There were minimal preparations for any disaster, because such would "be an impossible burden" on the oil companies. There was no planning because "we know it won't happen because the oil companies are responsible". There is no leadership, because every problem is seen as a political opportunity, and Democrats see this as damaging the Republicans in the South, while Republicans see it as damaging Democrats nationally as being unable to cope.
Nobody sees any real advantage to cleaning it up or stopping the leak. The idea of millions of people without jobs or homes is just not registering.
Go back a couple of generations, the technology would have been much cruder, but they'd have used it all. And they'd have nuked this thing 10,000 feet below the ocean bed WEEKS ago. All federal rules on pollution or shipping would have been suspended for the duration of the emergency.
You get super massive environmental disasters, dust bowls or oil or Katrina hurricanes or whatever, when nobody cares about the damage, only about the politics. Which is no way to run a country, because when the government doesn't give a damn about the people, the people stop giving a damn about the government.
The Gulf cleanup is taking so long simply because it's the wrong generation for the task. There were minimal preparations for any disaster, because such would "be an impossible burden" on the oil companies. There was no planning because "we know it won't happen because the oil companies are responsible". There is no leadership, because every problem is seen as a political opportunity, and Democrats see this as damaging the Republicans in the South, while Republicans see it as damaging Democrats nationally as being unable to cope.
Nobody sees any real advantage to cleaning it up or stopping the leak. The idea of millions of people without jobs or homes is just not registering.
Go back a couple of generations, the technology would have been much cruder, but they'd have used it all. And they'd have nuked this thing 10,000 feet below the ocean bed WEEKS ago. All federal rules on pollution or shipping would have been suspended for the duration of the emergency.
You get super massive environmental disasters, dust bowls or oil or Katrina hurricanes or whatever, when nobody cares about the damage, only about the politics. Which is no way to run a country, because when the government doesn't give a damn about the people, the people stop giving a damn about the government.