The Problem with BP

I'm sure nobody needs to be told about the terrible environmental catastrophe that happened in the Gulf of Mexico; unlike most media stories, this one steadfastly remains in the news and on our collective radar, and with good reason. The sheer magnitude of this disaster is unlike any other environmental catastrophe in recent memory.

But why did it happen? I think the root causes of this catastrophe are very much like the root causes of so many other disasters that happen when a big corporation cuts corners to save a few bucks. The root of the problem isn't greedy executives or a global conspiracy, or even the Religious Right, who prefer to "drill, baby, drill" rather than properly manage the resources of the Earth. The root of the problem is that no matter what kind of executives run the corporations, whether they're greedy, or sociopaths, or good honest people trying to do the best job they can (and there's more of this kind than you think), they are all bound by their legal obligations to their shareholders.

We hear about this all the time; when pushed to the last shove, some harried executive who's been called on to explain his bad behaviour will finally say with some frustration "I had to do it to maximize profits, for the shareholders." And all of us look at him on our flat-screen hi-def t.v.'s and roll our eyes, thinking "what a bullshit excuse THAT is." But as bad an excuse as it sounds, that legal obligation does exist, and it's almost the strongest obligation under the law. It overrides pretty much everything else, with only a few exceptions.

So whether the executives at BP truly are greedy bastards doesn't matter, because even if they're not, they still have to act like greedy bastards, or risk being sued by the shareholders. And who, pray tell, are these shareholders? Well, they're you. And maybe me. Probably me, since I have investments in RRSPs, and some of that money could easily be invested in a (formerly) secure blue-chip stock like BP. We know from the news that there are many pensioners in Britain who are taking a bath right now, because their retirement savings plans bought into BP in a big way.

Now there are probably a few very rich people who own very large chunks of BP, hidden from the prying eyes of the public by numerous shell corporations, and they probably own a big share of the blame, but we have to acknowledge our own complicity. We all want what's best for the environment, but most of us, when push comes to shove, will put our money into investments that pay the best amount of money for the least amount of risk, and up until a few months ago, BP was a very attractive purchase. As a society, we're bent on maximizing our gains, and paying as little as possible for our consumer goods, and this shows to disastrous results when companies cut costs to give us the best price or the most return on our investments. Sooner or later, this attitude is going to have to change.