Stomping The Boot On BP's Throat

By J.C. Arenas

In another case of the president playing follower instead of leader, Barack Obama's dictatorial demand for British Petroleum to deposit money into an escrow account for those who have been financially impacted by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico came nearly a week after Senate Democrats had already stomped their boots on the company's throat for the creation of a $20 billion fund.

Despite the lack of due process and legal precedent involved in such a request, BP has reportedly agreed to create the fund, and Kenneth Feinberg, Obama's Compensation Czar, has been tapped to administer the fund .

Three questions - minimum - to ponder as we wrap our heads around this unprecedented situation:

How did the Senate come up with the $20 billion figure?
What happened to the fund being administered by an independent third-party?
Why isn't BP fighting this?

While we can reasonably agree that BP should be doing everything it can to take care of this situation, it should at least call for this process to go through the courts where it belongs. Legally, the liability cap on oil spills is set at $75 million, and Congress has not passed legislation yet to change that law - even so, such legislation would mirror the unconstitutional AIG bonus tax. Moreover, its ridiculous for the government to assert that BP has the responsibility to make every business and individual affected by this disaster financially whole.

But this is Obama's America, where GM Bondholders and GOP-leaning Chrysler dealership owners get screwed, CEOs can be fired, company assets can effectively be seized on national television, and unconfirmed and unaccountable henchmen are tasked with picking the winners and losers in any given crisis, all at the president's request.

J.C. Arenas is a frequent contributor to American Thinker and welcomes your comments at jcarenas.com