So, BP is on the hook for any assistance the federal government provides during this epic catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. I think this is great news and a wonderful opportunity for our government made up of We the People. After all, in the business world, a crisis is just another type of opportunity. And.....
.....the recent repayment with interest of our bailout loans shows the government of the US is allowed to make a profit.
BP thinks they might get off easy from this? Uh, nope. It's time we go Halliburton on these guys.
So BP has to pay any costs incurred by the Federal Government of this spill. Well, let's start adding up the bill. Of course, we'll be very fair about this. After all, the government is made up of We the People, and we were OK before with $100 ashtrays and cost plus contracts to KBR. So, we'll be just as fair back.
Well, the Department of the Interior has been working on this since day one. I think it's not unreasonable to assume this is a "drop everything else" sort of situation for both FEMA and Interior. Interior is budgeted $11.141 Billion this year, and FEMA gets 2/5ths (roughly) of the Department of Homeland Security's budget, so that's another 22.04 Billion. I'm throwing in the Coast Guard assistance because we don't really fund those guys enough anyway. That's fair, right?
Now, as I also understand it, there are Department of Defense assets being used in this crisis as well. It's very difficult to quantify just what is being used and for how much, so a little number, say 5% of the DoD's budget should be added to the bill. Well, no, let's be fair and call it 3% of the DoD budget. We wouldn't want to overcharge BP, now would we? That's only 20.553 Billion. Total so far is 53.734 Billion dollars per year, or 147.2 Million dollars per day.
Now, we're not done, because the Environmental Protection Agency has to be all over this mess. This is totally going to strain their abilities to the breaking point. They're in the same category as Interior and FEMA, all in. $10.5 Billion, or another $28.7 Million per day. We're up to $175.96 Million per day.
Then there's the costs associated with our most important employee. This guy.
We really don't like to get him involved with something unless it's Very Important. Nuclear weapons, national health policy, those sort of things. Well, this little mess of BP's has required significant personal attention for the duration and a personal appearance at the accident site. I know that we don't pay him all that much (only $400,000 per year) but I think we should charge a per day fee for our CEO the same as what BP pays theirs: $6 Million per year, or $16438 per day. Don't forget to add in approx $750000 for the cost of operation of Air Force One, his helicopter and security.
So, where are we at? $175,976,438 per day. Plus the personal appearance fee. This little screwup started 13 days ago, so that's 2,288,443,694. So far. Payable to the Federal Government, or We The People. We'd like a first payment, BP, before we have to start, ahem, collection procedures.