[Taxacom] Frontline program on BP

[Kenneth Kinman]

 Dear All,
      I was just watching tonight's Frontline program on BP which
documents that company's apparent lack of concern about safety in an
apparent pennywise but severely "pound foolish" (to put it mildly)
effort to maximize profits over many years (particuarly with respect to
their takeovers of American companies and assets).      
      Their apparent poor choice of CEOs from one disastrous problem to
another seems to further indicate a continuing concern of short-term
profits over safety of either its lower-level employees or the
environment overall.  As more than person in tonight's Frontline's
special indicates, the most recent disaster in the Gulf of Mexico this
year was just a continuation of the same disconnect between BP upper
management and the welfare of its employees (as well as the
environment).   
        It seems that what poorly regulated capitalism is best at
producing is greed at the top and suffering among thousands that they
employee (and millions who ultimately pay the even bigger price from
pollution, job loss, or even those who die in their biggest disasters),
Profits trickle up to a few at the top, while misery increasingly
trickles down to many more at the bottom.              
     The various levels of the middle classes get a mixed bag of some
who benefit during economic booms, but a lot of them also get the shaft
(along with the poorer classes) when economic excesses collapse into
diasters like 1929 and 2008.  The post-1929 misery was clearly more
widespread (without the social safety-net that helps many in today's
situation).  The pay disparity between CEOs and their employees has
reached a ludicrous disparity that cries out for a backlash,  Otherwise,
trickle-down economics has no chance whatsoever of even beginning to to
address economic inequality that still exists.  
          --------Ken