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This was the logical thing to do to avoid more bad press in the USA. It's not going to go down too great here in the UK (either for Obama or BP) EDIT: I shoul
by ErrantX 16y ago
This was the logical thing to do to avoid more bad press in the USA.
It's not going to go down too great here in the UK (either for Obama or BP)
EDIT: I should point out, for those that don't know, BP dividends are pretty important to a big portion of UK pension funds. I'm not 100% certain how exactly this affects them, but it is not good (they have been teetering for a while due to the financial crisia as well). BTW, yes, I agree it is silly we rely on them so much.
The Times reported the other day that this could wipe out up to 1/3 of UK pension funds, and Robert Peston is was waffling about the fact it could be enough to collapse parts of the economy - I don't actually subscribe to that (I ran some of their numbers and it's nowhere near that bad IMO) but if you get Brits glowering at you for a few weeks it might be because they believed it :)
- skushch 16y agoThere are quite a few public pension funds in US with the same issue: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obama-aims-at-bp-hits-state-pensions-2010-06-09 http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obama-aims-at-bp-hits-state...
- jonknee 16y agoIt's not a good situation either way, but it's not real fair of the retirees to take dividends from a company that just destroyed the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people. BP is obligated to take care of its mess and that should come before paying shareholders. It sucks, but that's business. Stocks aren't risk free, even big dividend paying ones.
- ErrantX 16y agoYeh I know. Tbh I think they could easily pay the diidend and the clean up bill. They aren't going to need $20bn tomorrow. Also; collapsing pension funds affects the unretired too. Potentially it could leave millions in the cold - so that complicates it more. And I would point out it has not been established who was at fault (though clearly BP must pay)