Thursday, June 17, 2010

Slick of Oil

Well... Last night was pretty terrible when chances of South Africa making it through to the second round of the World Cup suffered a terrible blow. After conceding a goal against Uruguay, goalkeeper Khune was promptly sent off for attacking Suarez. This followed inevitably by a penalty, and a further goal.

The chances of South Africa making it through is slim, but not completely impossible. On the condition that we score a tremendous amount of goals against France, our final opponent in Group A.

Still, worse off is BP. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is still rampant, and the various solutions has not completely closed off the well. This spill has already passed the Exxon Valdez accident in terms of volume of oil spilt.

What is really strange is that we keep being told, most probably by Big Oil, that the supply of oil in the world will run out soon. Yet, we are chucking out tons and tons of oil because of this accident. Of course I don't mean to poke jokes at the horrific situation for the people on the Gulf Coast, the wildlife and environment in general. But it is a bit strange, right?

Another really odd thing is the fact that, instead of letting the CEO of BP to get on with his tough job and try to fix this problem, the US Congress summoned him in their latest hearing. From early reports, the lawmakers seem to have launched a rather pointless attack at Mr Hayward. They accused him of "stonewalling" when he could not answer questions. They said he is deliberately not willing to cooperate when he explains that for some things he was not in the decision making process so he would prefer to delay answering the question after investigation.

Do the US lawmakers not know how corporations work? Do they just spend their time trying to cash in from these "supporters" and "sponsors," then promptly trying to rip them apart when the slightest thing goes wrong?

How can a CEO answer questions about something that was decided by someone, or a group of people, several levels below him? That is not the job of the CEO of a company. Of every hearing I've heard in this category recently, it has always been the same thing. "Stonewalling..."

Get a grip, old men in the public sector. You are asking the wrong questions to the wrong people. Holding someone responsible doesn't mean forcing them into a corner and exclaiming: "we can't answer you." It would be more interesting and insightful if you allow them to prepare an answer for you, and then grill them on that. If you are decent at your job, you will be able to figure out if they lied or told the truth!

Keep in mind you force them to swear-in before a hearing to "tell the truth, and nothing but the truth." If they weren't involved and they claim so, then they probably are telling the truth...

Image Source: Krypton Zone (c) 2010 Entertainment

No comments: