David Cameron to discuss BP crisis with Barack Obama as shares plunge

[maddezmom]

Source: The Guardian

David Cameron is to discuss the oil spill crisis with President Barack Obama, after shares in BP plunged to their lowest level in more than 13 years this morning.

A spokesman for the prime minister said he was "sure" that the pair would speak about BP during a telephone call this weekend, in a further sign that the Deepwater Horizon disaster has now escalated into a political issue.

"The prime minister understands that there are many people who are angry and emotional about what has happened," said Cameron's official spokesman.

"This is an environmental tragedy and the impact will be much broader than the environmental impact, and that is why we are encouraging BP to find a solution as soon as possible," he added.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/10/bp-shares-plunge-gulf-mexico

[tinymontgomery]

1. More worried about share price

then the destruction they have bought upon our shores.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. It's a Tory, what did you expect? -nt

[dipsydoodle]

6. UK and US shareholding are almost equal

@ c. 40% with the balance held by financial institutions in other countries. The share price would have an influence on their balance sheet if it sunk below 25 cents - an unlikely event.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. "Leave BP alone" She's been pick on

Yeah, I read the article and it pissed me off.

London mayor Boris Johnson accused President Obama's government of "anti-British rhetoric", warning that the slump in BP's share price was bad news for UK pensioners.
"I would like to see a bit of cool heads rather than endlessly buck-passing and name-calling," Johnson told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.

"When you consider the huge exposure of British pension funds to BP it starts to become a matter of national concern if a great British company is being continually beaten up on the airwaves. It was an accident that took place and BP is paying a very, very heavy price indeed."
And Lord Tebbit, the former government minister, also criticised Obama's attacks on BP and its management.

"The whole might of American wealth and technology is displayed as utterly unable to deal with the disastrous spill – so what more natural than a crude, bigoted, xenophobic display of partisan political presidential petulance against a multinational company?"


What a bunch of crap........BP lied and the Gulf Dies.

[Barack_America]

7. Don't invest pensions in an oil company with an abysmal safety record.

Don't give offshore drilling contracts to an oil company with an abysmal safety record.

There's enough suffering, destruction and "learning from one's mistakes" to go around here.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. Exactly like investing in the Titanic

[wordpix]

18. exactly---when you invest, you're at risk & when you invest in a co. with such a record

you're idiotic. Take that to the bank, investors. Know what you're investing in.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

11. Right wing rubbish as usual

[mikeytherat]

14. Boris Johnson on BBC's Top Gear:

"We must replace the pump and go electric."

"One p(ence) per mile. That's all we'll pay."

"I predict that green will win, and you will have to change the name of this show to 'Top Plug.'"

"Shifting up at lower revs reduces your carbon emissions and saves you fuel."

Well B.J., here's a golden opportunity to break that addiction. Or would you prefer a nice, steaming hot cup of Shut the F**k Up?

mikey_the_rat

[Mimosa]

4. What do they want, for President Obama to shut up?

Keep a stiff upper lip?


SORRY!

[TommyO]

5. More like "Close your eyes, and think of England"

while ignoring the ecological disaster in our own backyard.

Mayor Johnson, the crap is here, in our waters, affecting our shorelines. I politely suggest you shut the fuck up.

[wordpix]

19. "our pensioners who invested in risky business are more important than your Gulf Coast"

Better time would be spent suing BP for false advertising as they portrayed themselves as green and "beyond petroleum" when they were really one of the dirtiest petrol companies on the planet.

[Barack_America]

8. BP is done and they have no one to blame but themselves.

Many, many people will suffer their "mistake" around the world, but no where more strongly than the Gulf of Mexico.

Deal with it, Britain.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

10. Cameron is already in trouble and he's only been PM for a few weeks!

[joanmj]

13. Absolutely!

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

16. you are ridiculously naive if you think BP is "done"

Just like Union Carbide/Dow were finished after Bhpoal, right? Or how Bayer folded after they exported all those vaccinations tainted with the HIV virus to France and Japan, right? Or how Shell has folded since it decimated the Niger delta?

[Barack_America]

21. Key distinction. This is happening on US soil.

Or *to* US soil, I should say.

Also, did Bhopal or Shell have written agreements with the respective nations to be fully financially responsible for all costs?

[chriscruzan]

12. Justice will be served

Did anyone else notice the vile comments being made concerning this article? I have yet to hear any anti-Brit talk remotely as nasty as the comments being made about our President by the "Brits". I suggest that the United States armed forces stop protecting BP's wells in Iraq and Kuwait and we will see how quickly these rude bastards STFU.

[wordpix]

20. it better be---and welcome to DU!

:hi:

[chriscruzan]

24. Thank you and feeling bad

It is a real shame my first post had to be negative. The American population is no more responsible for Bhopal than the British are for the Gulf crisis. The problem is simply Capitalism working like it is supposed to. If the British economy is so reliant on BP, shame on them. No good investor would ever put all their eggs in one basket. I can assure everyone that the only people that will suffer from this are the world's middle and lower economic classes. The wealthy do not care about US or British "pensioners" and certainly do not have retirement monies wrapped up in BP stock or any other stocks for that matter. The idea that pensions are tied to stock markets is a joke on the less informed masses that repeatedly elect politicians without any idea of the consequences of their votes.

[jennijohnson]

26. No government wants to see 10 thousand people lose their job..

It is not just penisons, though when the UK is struggling with an ageing population and no money. Many bought those shares in the 80s because they know that a government pension is very low,though currently topped up with free tv licences, free bus travel and prescriptions. All are under threat with the coming cuts and David Cameron knows that. Those shares many be needed for a retirement home.

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

15. he will tell Obama that supporting BP is a matter of national security

It's "too big to fail", Brit style.

[jennijohnson]

27. Not when he has announced that no more British troops in Afghanistan.

He did that today, in Kabul.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

17. They depend on tax revenue brought in by BP no doubt.

I can only imagine how much it must amount to per year.

[glinda]

22. Exactly what is to be discussed when this is a criminal matter?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

23. More related news: Why is BP important to the UK economy?

"The government must put down a marker with the US administration that the survival and long-term prosperity of BP is a vital British interest," the former British ambassador to the US, Sir Christopher Meyer, has told the BBC.

He urged Prime Minister David Cameron to raise the issue in his scheduled conversation with US President Barack Obama over the weekend.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has expressed concern about the "anti-British rhetoric that seems to be permeating from America".

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said that he "would like to see a bit of cool heads rather than endlessly buck-passing and name-calling".

<snip>

Major employer

BP paid £930m in UK tax on its profits in 2009, which was well down on the £1.7bn it had paid in each of the previous three years.
Continue reading the main story Oil tanker at BP petrol station Peston: BP's pain is America's pain

The company employs 10,105 people in the UK. The employees paid £490m in income tax and National Insurance on their earnings, while BP paid £110m in employer's National Insurance contributions.

If you add together the corporation tax and production tax paid by BP, together with the National Insurance and income tax paid by its employees and the VAT and fuel excise duty paid by its customers, you get £5.8bn, which is about enough to fund the entire budget of the Department for International Development.

It is not just the UK economy that is vulnerable to BP's problems. The company employs 22,800 people in the US.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/10282777.stm

[jennijohnson]

25. Cameron is also pulling our troops out of Afghanistan...

He is funding bomb disposal units but no more troops. So I think there are going to be major tensions between David Cameron and Barack Obama. I didn't vote for David Cameron, I have never, ever voted Conservative but in many ways this man is to the left of Obama.
The pension fund is a problem because it was the Tory government in the 80s that sold BP shares and many pensioners do rely on that for income. The message this week is the this country is seriously broke and if millions lose their penisons it will be a disaster.

[chriscruzan]

28. Karmageddon

Some of us knew this was a worldwide disaster the very second the rig sank. This will only get worse as the days pass. The collapse of society, as we know it, is on the horizon and we should all be considering what will come next. I am 46 years old, so for me, the 80's were the beginning of all this corporate BS and it sounds as tho the 80's blew for all commoners, regardless of what shore you reside on. One high note for the 80's- we gave you Madonna and you gave us the Bunnymen!

[jennijohnson]

29. I was too young to vote in the 80s.

I just remember the TV ads for shares for BP. The Thatcherite policy of the 80s was to sell of publically owned companies. British Gas and British Petroleum being two of them. People did buy them, even staunch labour voters because they were an investment so they didn't have to rely on the state pension which is woeful. They didn't have any of the benefits of free bus travel, prescriptions etc for the over 60s then either. We had children's tv programme Blue Peter getting kids to raise money for the elderly who were living on state pensions and dying of cold and hunger. So people of my parents generation invested in shares and pension schemes, encouraged by the Tory government. BP it was a British company but despite the name it employs more Americans than British. Should it go down it will be bad for both our countries.
Another reason for the British response is this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/6/newsid_3017000/3017294.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/july/6/newsid_3036000/3036510.stm