Friday, May 14, 2010

More Populist Rhetoric

In what turns out to be another example of where regulators were unable to regulate, President Obama uses the angry populist rhetoric of moral outrage to change the subject away from what the real problem is.

Obama pledges permit review, end to cozy oil links

Obama decried what he called "a cozy relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them to drill." But the president, who's announced a limited expansion of offshore drilling that's now on hold, didn't back down from his support for domestic oil drilling, saying it "continues to be one part of an overall energy strategy."
"But it's absolutely essential that, going forward, we put in place every necessary safeguard and protection," he said.

What good is putting safeguards in place if the overpaid lazy government bureaucrats won't use them? That's what we have seen over and over again. The feds didn't use their regulatory powers to nab Bernie Maddoff? They did not use their regulatory abilities to identify AAA rated collateralized debt obligations that were really junk bonds and spurred the mortgage crisis a.k.a recession?  And are we supposed to believe that he can banish cozy relationships like he banished special interests? Probably. Motly because he never did banish special interests. The unions, environmental lobbies, and the tort lobby are not just in play, they rule the day.
"I did not appreciate what I considered to be a ridiculous spectacle during the congressional hearings into this matter. You had executives of BP and Transocean and Halliburton falling over each other to point the finger of blame at somebody else," the president said.
The finger should be pointed at the ever expanding government. The increase in regulations that increases the cost of doing business. And then they increase government staffing levels in order to oversee the ever expanding set of regulations, yet they still never are able to prevent the disasters they intended to prevent.

This is such an embarrassment that the president even threw in a "Haliburton' for good measure. That will get a 'hallelujah' from the faithful.

Nothing to see hear except for the scapegoat evil doers who are trying to fulfill the president promise of energy independence.
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