Reply #11: "Because it's wreckable!"

[gratuitous]

Remember the Gordon Gecko character from the movie "Wall Street"? He's got everything he could possibly want; he's a captain of industry, women dripping off the end of his dick, more money than God. He looks to buy up a regional airline, strip it, and sell off the parts for more money that he doesn't need and can't spend anyway. One of his underlings, contemplating the loss of livelihood for the employees of the airline and the curtailment of plane service for the area, asks why Gecko needs to wreck this company. Gecko's full-throated roar is quoted in the subject line.

What did BP stand to gain by cutting corners? How much more money did it need to make? It's extraordinarily profitable, but that wasn't enough. Shortcuts and other little "economies" taken are like running every stop sign. You'll make it through some of them, no doubt. But sooner or later, you're going to get t-boned by a tractor-trailer rig or worse. How much more money did BP make, money it didn't need and couldn't spend?

Poor Tony Hayward just wants his life back. If it were up to me, he and his executive suite cronies would be out there today, hand skimming the inevitable product of their business practices off the beaches of the Gulf Coast.