BP, Goldman Sachs, Enron and Madoff

For those of you that have been reading my articles on the BP oil spill from Louisiana you can tell my anger has been steadily building. The country has been exposed to constant coverage of the spill. For those of us that live in Louisiana we watch everything we have slip away daily. After being through hurricanes over the years they now seem to be easy things to deal with. When a hurricane comes at least the storm and the effects will pass. Man made problems are much more difficult to recover from.

The oil industry is a major employer in South Louisiana and it is hard to knock an industry that so many depend on. This is the problem we face as big business controls so many aspects of our lives. It is hard to draw a line in the sand on safety or ethics without putting one's own security at risk. As the corporations grow larger it is much harder for conscience to overcome power. Company policy is carefully drawn up by attorneys so that it is more favorable to abide by than the law.

It is becoming more and more apparent by the day that BP has killed people and killed our marsh in a rush to profits. We have seen coal miners killed in a rush to profits. The banks have gambled with our money at our expense. The developers have threatened our safety in our own homes in order to make a little more. Anyone who dissents in these operations is threatened with losing a career and then everything they have worked hard for.

I may sound like a radical or a liberal but I am not. I am a independent who was a Reagan Republican, and no I didn't vote for Obama. I believe in business and believe that the government in it doesn't do much good. Yet I cannot excuse those who continually abuse our good nature and lives in pursuit of profit. We teach our children about Standard Oil, yet the current state is not really that much different. AT&T was a split up because it was a monopoly, yet it buys all of the baby bells up to build it's strength back. Goldman Sachs makes it's processes so complicated that they are the only ones who can figure it out. Citigroup's Chuck Prince drove Citi into the ground along with the dreams of many. Prince walked away with his money and only had to endure a scolding from Congress. Tony Hayward CEO of BP has also served on the Citi advisory board. Lord John Browne, the previous CEO of BP also served as non-executive director of Goldman Sachs while CEO of BP.

It is time to criminally prosecute officers of companies that are abusing the public trust and putting society at risk for personal gain. If a person broke into the office of one of these individuals they would be facing hard time in a prison. It is not acceptable for this corporate royalty to lawyer up into situations that protect them from consequence. Criminal prosecution is the only deterrent that will help these people find a conscience. When criminal prosecution is a fear maybe some will lose the fervor to win at all costs. Many of those that walk away from these enormous disasters never even face one day incarcerated for each person they destroy. In America we pay allegiance to no crown, yet we pay allegiance to someone we don't even have a choice to follow.

Is there really any difference in Madoff, Blankfein, Skilling, Prince and Tony Hayward?