Could we use assets forfeiture to nationalize the oil industry?

What I'm wondering is, could we take BP to court for gross negligence, demand punitive damages equal to the corporation's assets, and then take it into receivership(to be reopened under democratic worker management and with an entirely different mission statement and values system)?

Just wondering.

A spine.

Obama doesn't have one.

they would still have to compete economically with all the other oil companies. It is hard to imagine they would survive such a radical transformation - especially since it would basically be unproven social experiment with absolutely no guarantee of success. Beside, what makes you think that Congress would rebuild BP on progressive values?

And I'm talking about putting oil production under democratic worker management, not bureaucratic control.

as a president. I think he is trying, and the thing I absolutely positively hate about him is the way he tries to appease the republicans. BUT I think he is getting over that. I think he realizes no matter what he does, they are going to block him. And I think now, right now, is the time for him to get some brass in those you know whats, and some steel in that spine.

I really truly do wish he would start to kick ass.

Do we deserve to be awarded compensation? Do we have the right to collect money from this disaster, whenever he admitted that he sends $1 billion to foreign countries for their oil? Didn't he take a risk by entering into a contract with the oil company?

judgments will be rendered, and BP's domestic assets (leases, wells, equipment, proven reserves, and retail outlets) will all be available for sale to satisfy the amounts awarded.

It need not happen overnight to be effective. The wheels of justice grind slowly.

if we were going to nationalize the oil industry, as we SHOULD have done, it needed to be done in the 1970s when everybody else dunnit

we cannot nationalize an oil company with major shareholders, including the queen of england, held by one of our biggest allies, not at this time of century, not when we're spewing our capitalist bullshit ayn rand crap all over the globe, not when we have soldiers in multiple countries dying to preserve/spread the capitalist way of life

you can't have your cake and eat it, friend

if you didn't support nationalizing the oil industry in 1980 don't come back and give me a big story now about how you've changed your mind, i'm not interested -- only cheaters change the rules as they please because they're losing the game

We can fine BP. We can make them pay for the damages they have caused. That may cause them to liquidate, but we'll never take over BP's assets to run a company like BP. The assets go elsewhere. The work does, too.

We have had EXACTLY two episodes of asset nationalization in US History. The first was the civil war. The ending of slavery was the state essentially saying your goods, your property, is no longer yours. The second was the nationalization of the Trains during WW I, which went back to private ownership after the war.

You are asking an American President to go against that history? Don't think so.

Oh and for the fans of the American Revolution, this was a conflict between owners... why nobody who did NOT own property could not vote until the Age of Jackson.

I expect BP will face criminal charges along with a zillion civil suits. The civil suits will languish for years as lawyers determine whose claims have merit then on the scope of the claims...even in a class action situation, litigation will drag on and in the meantime assets may be frozen, but BP can and will find other ways to move the money around.

If BP goes into bankruptcy, I see it more for protection than going out of business. It would defer many claims while the company is "restructured"...which, again, could take years.

BP's ultimate game plan is to wear everyone down...drag any and all suits out as long as possible, force those going after BP to spend millions in legal costs and pay as little as possible. They call it "fiduciary responsibility".

It's what Exxon used to delay paying damages to fishermen in Prince William Sound until large numbers of them had died of poverty, drink, and despair.

Is a place to start and see what Truman did wrong.
He could have achieved it but approached the problem incorrectly in order to achieve
his goal. I'm sure there is a correct approach that would make it possible to nationalize
the oil industry.


http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/events/04_08
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youngstown_Sheet_&_Tube_Co._v._Sawyer