First, I must say that President Obama needs to walk and chew gum. What do I mean? So much of what we hear about is how they are going to "plug the hole." This is critical
because we cannot continue having thousands of gallons of oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, particularly as we are in hurricane season. However, we also must aggressively try to stop having the oil come on shore and start immediately cleaning up any spaces where oil has come ashore. There are marshes where there is no sign of life - Anderson Cooper reported that there were not even BUGS in the air.
This is frightening and much more resource must be devoted to keeping the oil from coming to shore and cleaning up the areas where oil has come ashore. BP must hire all the hands necessary and aggressively clean up. No penny pinching. No watching the profit. They don't deserve profit. They deserve to make right with the residents of Southern Louisiana, Mississippi, and other Gulf states.I actually agree with many critics that the government needs to set up a command center. This would coordinate the activities between government agencies and between private industry and the government. All orders about how to proceed would be issued from here. If for no other reason, the optics would finally look like the government was in charge.
Second, I can only say we reap what we sow. What do I mean? Here is my longer view - ever since Ronald Reagan's administration, Americans have complained about too many taxes and too large a government. The Tea Party is the most recent incarnation of this mantra, but there are implications for this. Cut taxes, that means there is not enough income for the services that government provides. In the last five years, how many problems has this country faced? Spinach and peppers that were contaminated with salmonella (yeah, we dramatically cut funding for the FDA), drugs that killed Americans (see the same agency), the levees in New Orleans were not properly built and the marsh land that historically surrounded New Orleans now held housing and there was no natural or human-created barrier for Katrina. Never mind the two mine accidents that have happened where miners lost their lives. All of this has serious implications for our environment.
What's my point . . . when we shrink the size of government and refuse to collect taxes to fund it, it handicaps the government's ability to respond to problems. The government does not have enough labs to test water samples. The government does not have experts to think through solving this problem. The government does not have enough people hired to clean up the disaster. As a result, it is entirely too dependent on industry to handle this. Hell, things were so bad for government workers that they were sleeping with and receiving gifts from oil industry executives. This is what happens when we have lower taxes and smaller government.
The only disaster I haven't mentioned was the financial meltdown. However, all of these events might have been prevented with robust government that was properly staffed and kept independent. The Tea Partiers' noise must stop. Given all of the challenges in this country, this is not the time for cutting back government. It is a time for shared sacrifice. I would be down for tax increases that allowed government to do this important work of regulating industry and keeping us safe and secure (as well as educating our kids!). Capitalism needs oversight - unfortunately greed has really undermined any ability for me to trust any industry. I said it before and I'll say it again, we are reaping what we are sowing. Just sayin'.
