[Taxacom] BP's wildlife fund

[Kenneth Kinman]

Dear All,
      I am somewhat pleased that BP is donating funds from the
"recovered" and processed oil from their spill to a wildlife fund for
the Gulf.  But this is likely to be less than 100 million dollars
(especially as they increasingly burn more of it than recover it for
processing).  In any case, this is probably a tiny fraction of the
billions of dollars that will be paid out to humans (not only legitimate
business owners, but no doubt to fraudsters as well, not to mention
lawyers in general) over the next several years from the separate $20
billion dollar fund.   
       As always, I suspect a lot of human greed and fraud will get too
much, and wildlife will almost certainly get FAR too little.  Human
intelligence (especially that of the lazy and greedy) seems to always
find ways to milk the system in their favor, whether they deserve it or
not.  Not that I will shed any tears over BP, but the money paid out
will almost certainly overpay fraudsters and short-change many who are
truly deserving of the compensation.  Sort of like the compensation paid
out after the 9-11 attack, the amount of compensation probably depended
on how aggressive their lawyers were, while some without such aggressive
lawyers probably got far less than they actually deserved.  That's how
the system works, and the aggressive lawyers themselves almost always
get FAR more than their fair share (they certainly did in lawsuits
against the tobacco companies, and many actual victims generally got
very little if they actually lived long enough to collect anything).  
       In the meantime, marine biodiversity in the Gulf of Mexico is
likely to suffer the most for years and even decades, but most of the
media coverage will be about effects on the coast.  Most business owners
are likely to be fully (if not overly) compensated, while the wildlife
will suffer the brunt of the disaster.  Overpaid lawyers seem to
multiply like rats, and yet we suffer from a severe shortage of nurses.
But perhaps not surprising when you have legislatures full of lawyers.    
           -----Ken Kinman          
P.S.  I originally estimated the gushing oil at upwards of 25,000
barrels per day.  After they cut off the bent pipe, it may have
increased to perhaps 40,000 barrels per day, but present plans to
eventually increase recovery efforts to up to 80,000 barrels per day
seem to be too much and too late.  Their initial estimates of 1,000 or
even 5,000 barrels per day were clearly FAR too low, but I have a hard
time imagining it is as high as 80,000 barrels per day.  As always, I
abhor such pendulum swings instead of a more consistent and dependable
middle-ground approach.  That's what happens when humans have financial
(or other) incentives to exaggerate on either the low or high ends.  The
media will often cover the extremes, but those who take a middle ground
approach tend to get ignored.