Brad Pitt: Death Penalty for BP Execs?

Brad Pitt is taking corporate accountability to a whole new level. While filming a portion of Spike Lee's new documentary, Brad Pitt is quoted as saying that he'd be willing to revisit his opposition to the death penalty if it could be applied to those responsible for the BP oil spill. Ouch.

I'm guessing the actor won't be having Tony Hayward out to the house for a barbecue any time soon. I have to laugh at this because I actually like Brad Pitt, and I imagine he said it pretty tongue-in-cheek. It does make you wonder how different business would be if corporate malfeasance resulted in permanent consequences, though.

I'm inclined to give Pitt a pass on this one because he's basically married to a crazy broad (who kept yours truly and the U.S. Ambassador to France waiting for over an hour at the Paris premier of Salt last week - don't even get me started on her). There's no way a guy can go from a footloose Hollywood lifestyle to a Jon & Kate Plus 8 nightmare and not wind up a little cranky.

So what do you think, monkeys? Should scumbag corporate execs be shot at dawn? Or should Floyd go back to his honey bear bong and just chill the fuck out?

 
cfaboston28:
I don't understand why they are after Tony. I mean if I make a trade error and cost company a million of dollars, will they fire me or give death penalty to my CEO.

C'mon people. The guy is doing what he can to fix the problem.

Agreed - seems like a bit of a witch hunt for Tony. Although ultimately he sets the tone for the company, he so so far removed from the daily operations I don't understand how people think it was directly his doing. We don't try to impeach the president every time a public sector worker messes up....

I find it amusing how actors think they are entitled to make policy decisions simply because they are famous, very arrogant in my opinion.

 

Truth be told, I didn't follow the whole oil leak thing very closely because I knew what a media frenzy it would be, but if I do recall, wasn't the leak a result of a storm or something of that nature? So it wasn't like the CEO cut the budget and the workers were forced to used duct tape instead of nuts and bolts. Maybe someone a little better educated could shed some light on the situation. Also, wasn't this rig the same one that passed a government inspection, with flying colors, just months before the incident?

I wish that idiot would worry about something more important, oh like...say the near bankrupt state he currently lives in.

Here is a least one person who does NOT want that BP executive executed, lol. And from the articles I have read, there are many, many more. Some of these people are BANKING!

http://www.panhandleparade.com/index.php/mbb/article/fishermen_say_bps_…

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 
cphbravo96:
Also, wasn't this rig the same one that passed a government inspection, with flying colors, just months before the incident?

Regards

It did indeed. I wonder if Brad Pitt wants to execute the workers at the Interior department's Minerals Mining Service as well?

 
cphbravo96:
? So it wasn't like the CEO cut the budget and the workers were forced to used duct tape instead of nuts and bolts. Maybe someone a little better educated could shed some light on the situation.

Watch this 60 minutes episode: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6795538n

According to the chief electronics technician on the deepwater horizon, a key piece of equipment on the rig was known to be faulty. This piece of equipment, the blowout preventer, was known to broken and the BP representatives on the rig refused to replace it. The explosion was caused by natural gas going into the engine. The blowout preventer would have controlled the pressure and stopped the natural gas from going up to rig and exploding. This rig also was devoid of a shut off valve. According to the wsj, there was no shut off valve. The valve only costs 500k. If they did not cut corners they would have been able to stop the oil spill even though the rig exploded.

http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB1000142405274870442350457521…

This disaster was completely preventable.

I am not cocky, I am confident, and when you tell me I am the best it is a compliment. -Styles P
 
eokpar02:
cphbravo96:
? So it wasn't like the CEO cut the budget and the workers were forced to used duct tape instead of nuts and bolts. Maybe someone a little better educated could shed some light on the situation.

Watch this 60 minutes episode: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6795538n

According to the chief electronics technician on the deepwater horizon, a key piece of equipment on the rig was known to be faulty. This piece of equipment, the blowout preventer, was known to broken and the BP representatives on the rig refused to replace it. The explosion was caused by natural gas going into the engine. The blowout preventer would have controlled the pressure and stopped the natural gas from going up to rig and exploding. This rig also was devoid of a shut off valve. According to the wsj, there was no shut off valve. The valve only costs 500k. If they did not cut corners they would have been able to stop the oil spill even though the rig exploded.

http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB1000142405274870442350457521…

This disaster was completely preventable.

I saw that episode last Sunday. It also highlighted an argument between BP officials and the operators of the Deepwater Horizon on how to dig down to the oil in the final stages. The standard was to dig and excavate part of the earth to release pressure caused by drilling, but BP's representatives offered an alternative plan which intended to save time and thus money. According to an engineering professor at UC Berkley, this plan contributed to the explosion and subsequent spill.

I don't think there's any question that BP's cost cutting policies were in part responsible for the explosion. Also it looks pretty desperate when Hayward is attempting to shift the blame toTransocean.

 
Best Response
eokpar02:
cphbravo96:
? So it wasn't like the CEO cut the budget and the workers were forced to used duct tape instead of nuts and bolts. Maybe someone a little better educated could shed some light on the situation.

Watch this 60 minutes episode: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6795538n

According to the chief electronics technician on the deepwater horizon, a key piece of equipment on the rig was known to be faulty. This piece of equipment, the blowout preventer, was known to broken and the BP representatives on the rig refused to replace it. The explosion was caused by natural gas going into the engine. The blowout preventer would have controlled the pressure and stopped the natural gas from going up to rig and exploding. This rig also was devoid of a shut off valve. According to the wsj, there was no shut off valve. The valve only costs 500k. If they did not cut corners they would have been able to stop the oil spill even though the rig exploded.

http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB1000142405274870442350457521…

This disaster was completely preventable.

How did our government miss this on the inspection that netted the rig a pass?

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 

That homewrecker should think twice before opening his piehole. Everytime he and his litter step foot in a hummer, limo, private jet to fly all over the world, they are contributing to the monster that is BP. How about focusing on the fact that you dress your 4 year old daughter up like a 40 year old lesbian. Highly disturbing.

 

Oh, and as far as being totally preventable, I agree. If we were drilling in ANWR like we should be there likely wouldn't have been a Deep Water Horizon to explode. Just sayin'.

Also, I have neither the time nor the patience to watch your tainted, liberal media propaganda.

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 

cph, I almost forgot you were a comedian. Instead of looking for the far cause it would be better to look at the near causes, which invariably were the corners cut by BP.

Have you ever heard of 60 minutes? Definitely a bastion of quality reporting.

I am not cocky, I am confident, and when you tell me I am the best it is a compliment. -Styles P
 

60 minutes is irrefutably known for its left leaning reporting. Calling 60 minutes moderate or fair and balanced or just reporting the facts is like calling the sky green, elton john straight, or the Detroit Lions a winning franchise is just plain wrong or will never happen.

 

ok, it is easy to say... ofcourse it is preventable... shit happens.

i mean most things are preventable (with the exception of death...so far) in hind sight.

that is like trying to say the financial meltdown and the great depression is precentable...

welcome to earth, people take risks!

BP CEO did not get canned for the oil spill, he got the boot for being a arragant selfish out of touch CEO.

 
eokpar02:
Trackstar2k2, prove it.

What's to prove? I've seen 60 minutes, as I am sure numerous people on WSO have and would probably easily agree that it isn't the raw, hard hitting journalism you think it is. Anyone who has seen any of your previous posts know you are nothing more than an agitator who likes to "refute" things with no evidence than another (out of touch) person's personal opinion on a matter...then you claim it's fact. Truth be told, there probably isn't a way to "prove" that it is as liberal as the rest of the general media other than to watch it and then compare what they report to what actually happen. Then you conduct a rational analysis, which we know most liberals aren't capable of doing...so you are excused.

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 

Cph, are you dense? For your education I attached a link, showing the CHIEF engineer or technician laying ALL the blame for the disaster on BP. How does someone read the transcript of HIM saying this and come up with this conclusion, "Either it was fine when it was inspected and a freak accident caused the resulting leak or they government fools weren't doing the job they are being paid to do and should be fired for being incompetent."

The blowout preventer is on the ocean floor, how could the government have checked it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowout_preventer

Cph, you are the idiot who can not grasp economics. Oil is a COMMODITY sold on a GLOBAL market. The cost is not being passed onto the consumer since if BP increases its price for oil to offset the costs NO ONE will buy THEIR OIL. Virtually every oil future, and thus every oil barrel, is traded on the ICE or NYMEX. If BP increases the prices of its light crude and/or regular crude above the MARKET BID, BP will not sell a single barrel. You will most likely try to counter, saying that the supply will go down, thus the price will go up. To that I say, ba-humbug. Oil production cartels like OPEC routinely set the supply of oil to meet target revenues. If BP cuts its supply, than OPEC will produce more oil since they are not operating at peak capacity. Thus BP can NOT pass the cost on to the consumer. DUH!!!

This is what I learned during my Honors Economics course in High School. Now I know why you enlisted after high school.

YOU ARE A JOKE. I think it can be settled that you are NOT a first year analysis at any PE firm of repute.

Please prove, using details from 60 minutes pieces, that 60 minutes is even MODERATELY left leaning. It reports the news; not through commentary but through interviews. They have done stories on Medicare fraud, capital cases, terrorism,, etc. It simply is just 60 minutes of interviews with some light narrative.
"

I am not cocky, I am confident, and when you tell me I am the best it is a compliment. -Styles P
 

I'm not sure how you can't comprehend that an interview could lean either left or right. That would be like saying that Bill O'Reilly is a reputable news source that reports from the middle and does not, in any way, lean to the right because he interviews people. Come on, get real.

As far as the CHIEF engineer/technician...I wouldn't take a single ounce of his advice. Why? Because anyone with a set of stones would have never allowed anyone to work in an environment in which they "knew" this could happen.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/gallery/2010/05/fire-in-the-gulf-new-p…

But I guess I take for granted that someone as highly educated as the Chief Engineer/Technician would understand a concept that is like day 2 of basic Army training...you know, given that we are of such a low intellectual caliber.

The stock price for BP has gone from $60 to $34 since the "spill"...I wonder who owns the billions of outstanding shares? Well, judging from eokpar02's comments, it must just be the BP executives...since they are learning a lesson. Do you have any clue what kind of value was lost in consumer's personal portfolios, as well as, pension plans and the like? Tell some of the BP workers whose retirement plans were based on the stock price that the billions of dollars that BP will have to pay doesn't impact them. DUH!!!

Whether my shop is reputable, that is likely debatable. The folks who know where I would could probably vouch for the place, but that surely isn't necessary because I truly don't feel the need to justify my existence to someone of your stature.

I am rather proud of my military service, regardless of how you feel about it. I have experienced and done things you aren't even capable of and have achieved more in my 27 years on this Earth than you will likely achieve in your whole life. I am not only thankful for the millions of service members who have sacrificed so much, at whatever depth that may have been, throughout the history of our country but I am eternally grateful that we have an all voluntary force. It's rather likely that our country would just be a sliver of what it is today if people like yourself were encouraged and/or forced to serve. With people like you serving in the military, we would have never won a battle, not simply because of you are the intellectual caveat to the phrase "All men are created equal" but because we would have never devised a way to safely stretch your mother's teet across the oceans so that you could be properly nourished while in battle. I am sure, for that reason alone, you decided not to join the military. Which begged the question, "How are you surviving in college without the warmth of your mother's bosom or the sustenance of her breast milk?" Then I recalled the advent of the breast pump and my query was laid to rest.

I, in fact, may just be in joke in your mind but it seems to me you're the only one being laughed at.

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 
cphbravo96:
I am rather proud of my military service, regardless of how you feel about it. I have experienced and done things you aren't even capable of and have achieved more in my 27 years on this Earth than you will likely achieve in your whole life. I am not only thankful for the millions of service members who have sacrificed so much, at whatever depth that may have been, throughout the history of our country but I am eternally grateful that we have an all voluntary force. It's rather likely that our country would just be a sliver of what it is today if people like yourself were encouraged and/or forced to serve. With people like you serving in the military, we would have never won a battle, not simply because of you are the intellectual caveat to the phrase "All men are created equal" but because we would have never devised a way to safely stretch your mother's teet across the oceans so that you could be properly nourished while in battle. I am sure, for that reason alone, you decided not to join the military. Which begged the question, "How are you surviving in college without the warmth of your mother's bosom or the sustenance of her breast milk?" Then I recalled the advent of the breast pump and my query was laid to rest.

I, in fact, may just be in joke in your mind but it seems to me you're the only one being laughed at.

Regards

Alas, the internet. Where with a few keystrokes anyone can be a surgeon, investment banker, soldier or Harvard student. I really do not understand the point of purporting to be something on the internet. I guess you need an audience to scrap with your insecurity.

I did not join the military, like every other 18 year old at the top of his/her high school class.

I am not cocky, I am confident, and when you tell me I am the best it is a compliment. -Styles P
 
eokpar02:
cphbravo96:
I am rather proud of my military service, regardless of how you feel about it. I have experienced and done things you aren't even capable of and have achieved more in my 27 years on this Earth than you will likely achieve in your whole life. I am not only thankful for the millions of service members who have sacrificed so much, at whatever depth that may have been, throughout the history of our country but I am eternally grateful that we have an all voluntary force. It's rather likely that our country would just be a sliver of what it is today if people like yourself were encouraged and/or forced to serve. With people like you serving in the military, we would have never won a battle, not simply because of you are the intellectual caveat to the phrase "All men are created equal" but because we would have never devised a way to safely stretch your mother's teet across the oceans so that you could be properly nourished while in battle. I am sure, for that reason alone, you decided not to join the military. Which begged the question, "How are you surviving in college without the warmth of your mother's bosom or the sustenance of her breast milk?" Then I recalled the advent of the breast pump and my query was laid to rest.

I, in fact, may just be in joke in your mind but it seems to me you're the only one being laughed at.

Regards

...I did not join the military, like every other 18 year old at the top of his/her high school class.

Or so you claim...on the internet.

It is likely you graduated at the top of you class but I think you should at least point out to the other WSO members that you were home schooled, it's only fair to the other readers. Ohh, congrats on being prom king too!!

Debating (if one could call it that) with someone like you is like trying to nail jello to the wall...it's just not possible. You don't have a solid argument or stance on anything and like most liberals you just ignore the points someone makes in an argument and you just keep reading from your cue cards.

Your retort for an argument is that 'on the internet someone can claim to be anything'? Much like you can claim to be well educated, smart, athletic and no longer breast feeding. No one is buying it.

I simply love how you imply that all soldiers are unintelligent and incapable. Odd how, if that were actually the case, prestigious schools and employers nation wide consider applicants with prior military service a good thing...it's crazy...it must be like opposite day or something.

Have you developed a complex of some sort from being an intellectual midget for so long? Just admit it, you haven't done anything unique or noteworthy in your short life and are jealous of the people who have the balls to accomplish things worth of praise.

I will admit that arguing with you has been a low point in my life. There is no honor in debating someone of your substandard mental capacity. It's like being in a gun fight with an unarmed man. Shame on me, my parents would not be proud...oh, that is of course if I actually have parents...I could be making that up since I am using the internet.

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 
cphbravo96:
The stock price for BP has gone from $60 to $34 since the "spill"...I wonder who owns the billions of outstanding shares? Well, judging from eokpar02's comments, it must just be the BP executives...since they are learning a lesson. Do you have any clue what kind of value was lost in consumer's personal portfolios, as well as, pension plans and the like? Tell some of the BP workers whose retirement plans were based on the stock price that the billions of dollars that BP will have to pay doesn't impact them. DUH!!!

I see that you scurried away from logical fallacy that you laid out in your penultimate post about costs being thrust on the consumers. BP share price decline has very little to do with the upcoming lawsuits; if spills like the Exxon/Valdez are to be used as model for this type of litigation, it will take decades before BP is compelled by any court to pay. Invariably, BP employees were hurt by the precipitous decline in their employer's equity prices; that is BP's fault, not those litigating.

PE firm, yea right.

I am not cocky, I am confident, and when you tell me I am the best it is a compliment. -Styles P
 

Cph, read your posts. You don't post facts. Look at your entire Hitler was not as dangerous as Saddam statement. Or the Iraq war was justified statement. Or you not understanding simple econometrics or coefficients. Or saying the Iraq war was a reaction to.... Look at the argument you just posted about BP passing the costs onto consumers. I at least post points, facts, links and logical arguments.

In regards to recruiting people with military backgrounds... they are comparable to urms. Schools and employers, sometimes, fight vociferously for moderately qualifed blacks and hispanics; this is not because blacks and Hispanics are more capable but because there just aren't that many . The simple fact is that there are so few former moderately capable ENLISTED people who apply for finance jobs, admission to TOP business schools and TOP law schools. Scarcity is not very hard to understand.

Read your posts.

I am not cocky, I am confident, and when you tell me I am the best it is a compliment. -Styles P
 
eokpar02:
..Read your posts.

I don't have to...because I write my posts, not copy and paste other people's opinions. I realize you do that because (a) you aren't capable of forming a logical conclusion and (b) you haven't done anything noteworthy in your life so you have nothing to draw conclusions from...so you "borrow" them from other people.

Again we get back to your liberal tactics of providing snippets of information and then trying to make something of them by taking them out of context.

Hilter wasn't a threat to the United States. The only people that believe he was is you and the guy who wrote the book you stole "your" opinion from.

I never said that is common knowledge or factual that the Iraq conflict (War? I don't think we were involved in an "Iraq war". Is there a book you read that says this?) was justified. I said, based on my personal experience while I was in Kuwait and Iraq (in 'internet theory', right?) that what we did there was good...AND...being someone who actually put themselves in harms way (not just sit behind a computer and hurl insults at someone greater than yourself) that I would do it again without hesitation.

As far as BP is concerned...who is less likely to be able to retire on time...the execs who have taught a "lesson" or the shareholders and employees? That is to say, who is ultimately bearing the cost of the fine? Is that hard to see? I can give you the answer if you need it.

If you could, please provide one of your infamous links that supports the "fact" you stated about enlisted people. I have to be honest here, I don't think one exists.

I do want to apologize for responding to all of your posts so quickly...I realize, as the Grand Wizard, you are busy organizing your clan rally. Good luck tonight. I hope the weather holds up. Igniting a wet cross can't be easy.

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 

Relax... Cph, clan meeting are not held until next week; hopefully the weather will permit us to light our cross without the rather expensive water resistant fuels.

I am not cocky, I am confident, and when you tell me I am the best it is a compliment. -Styles P
 

eokpark02, you're a douche for saying "This is what I learned during my Honors Economics course in High School. Now I know why you enlisted after high school."

Only the douchiest of douches say what level of classes they took in hs and insult people for enlisting in the military.

Cph pretty much answered it for me. There is no quantitative measure for how liberal a tv show is (not that I know of). It's pretty much public opinion. Conservatives and most moderates/independents say ABC/CBS/NBC is left leaning. Liberals feel they are moderate.

 

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I am not cocky, I am confident, and when you tell me I am the best it is a compliment. -Styles P
 

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