To make matters worse, when Exxon was dragged into court and received harsh judgments, it appealed, over and over again. It incurred hundreds of millions of dollars of legal fees to avoid paying out on billions of dollars of claims and fines. It even took its punitive damages verdict all the way to the Supreme Court, and won. And, by negotiating that these settlements would be done in civil rather than criminal court, Exxon was able to write off their litigation and liability costs on their taxes. Between windfall refinery profits, legal tactics, and tax-avoidance strategies, Exxon cried itself all the way to the bank.
BP will most likely suffer a worse fate. And, BP seems to be acting far more responsibly in this matter than Exxon did with the Valdez tragedy. But BP's plight is much more public, the government is much more involved and much less oil friendly than President Bush the elder's administration, and the supply of oil in the Gulf is not cut off, even if new drilling is coming under closer scrutiny.
BP, too, is us. While we might be angry with BP management, and demand our pound of flesh, about 40 percent of BP stock is owned by Americans. While some are trying to make political hay by taking on a foreign company, our adversarial approach is hurting both those who live by the Gulf of Mexico and those Americans who will see their BP dividends cut because of pressure on BP by the U.S. government and media to suspend dividends for now. Ultimately, such a suspension will not affect the value of a company that can easily afford to do the right thing. However, it is the pound of flesh an angry mob is demanding.
