Capital Government

As a guest on MSNBC pointed out, a Libertarian or a Tea Party candidate running for public office while campaigning for no government (or a small government) is hypocritical.

What is the role of government? Opinions are dime a dozen. Even those who consider themselves hard-core capitalists envision a world where the only job of government is to ensure a "level playing field" across competing capitalistic entities. One way to achieve this is through regulations- however deregulation is the mantra. How does a bureaucracy composed of people who came from carious competing entities create a "level playing field?" By going for the lowest common denominator- which is what happened with the MMS and BP.

Congress and the President hauling BP over a boiling cauldron of oil is a farce. BP's management did what it was expected to do- cut costs to a minimum while securing the approvals from regulatory agencies. The folks in the Gulf who were affected did not complain when BP started offshore drilling. The case against BP regarding the refinery explosion in Texas is running into slick oil because judges are recusing themselves due to ties to BP.

If the public is taught (and believes) that regulation is bad and deregulation is good, and that public ownership is bad and privatisation is good, and regulatory agencies are filled with political cronies, the public should expect violations and the consequences.

The biggest failure of Obama in this Anglo-British Petrolaffair is that he did not consider regulatory aspects seriously and did not order a review of all personnel in these departments. By this time every regulatory agency should have been staffed with competent personnel. It is not too late to start now. FDA, SEC, and everything else should be put under a microscope.