Fair Or Unfair? You Decide.

[Dave]

Today, whilst I was on the BBC website. I noticed something that wouldn't normally catch my eye. It was in regards to BP, the petroleum company, who had apparently reached a "turning point" in their fortunes.

BP, as you probably know, have not had the greatest time of it recently. After dropping a ridiculous amount of crude oil into the Gulf Of Mexico, they have seen their share price fall. Along with the condemnation of the planet come down upon them for the way they handled the situation. (Read: Poorly). Barack Obama was one of the biggest critics of the situation and how it was handled. Needless to say, BP took a massive hit in their finances after such a disaster.

However, as I looked at their article today, I was shocked and appalled to see that they have had achieved a profit of over $5 billion over the last 3 months. Over a quarter of the year, they have made $5 billion as a company. Now, far be it from me to criticise their marketing and business strategies but does this not just reek of greed to anyone else. I realise that BP are a company that needs to make money but does it not anger anyone else that, as times get tougher for the poorer people of this world, that the super rich are lining their pockets with enough money to make everyone's lives a little easier?

That is just one company of hundreds of energy and fuel companies that are squeezing the life of every day families that are struggling to make ends meet a lot of the time. Yet companies like BP are profiting with huge margins as families go cold or can't put gas in their tank.

I understand capitalism, our whole society is founded on those principles. But surely more must be done by our governments to ensure that gas companies are not getting away with taking more money out of the working man's pocket than they actually deserve for the goods they are providing. I honestly think that we are being robbed blind by the super rich and held at ransom for every penny we have, just so that we can live.

I am not advocating a Robin Hood society but surely taking so much money from the working man of society for essential products is not ethical in our society?

So, fair or unfair? That's the decision. Should companies like BP be allowed to have such a profit margin at the expense of the poorer members of society?

 

[Peoples_Champ]

Fair.

The executives' primary objective is to bring the greatest return on investment to the owners of the company (read: shareholders). Ideally this should be done ethically, but they were punished already and have since paid for their sins. Should they be at fault for mining / producing / refining / transporting / selling a valuable commodity? At what point did solving the world's problems become the responsibility of BP? The price of oil is not dictated by the oil companies as much as it is influenced by OPEC and oil-producing nations - if Americans want to complain about the price of their home heating bills they should take their case up with the Sheiks of Saudi Arabia or the President of Venezuela.

BP pays corporate taxes, pays punitive damages without appeal when charged and continues to employ thousands upon thousands of Americans.

If there's one company the US government should go after, as much as I disagree with the idea, its Apple. The have $60-$80 BILLION in cash reserves just sitting there, while they pay slave labor wages in a Chinese facility where employees are killing themselves with regularity (see Gawker.com for more information on that one). Apple gets all sorts of tax breaks and is considered a darling of industry, yet outsources manufacturing jobs and invests next to nothing in the local community (BP, on the contrary, invested millions in cleaning up the Gulf and helping local fishermen and businesses get out of poverty).