I love Tony Hayward!

[readherring.livejournal.com]

I have mad, cuddly love for Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP.

I love Tony Hayward because he is so transparently out of touch, and is too self-absorbed to care. That comes across in his "Three's no one that wants this over more than I do" statement and his publicly lavish expendatures during this crisis. A more spin-savvy CEO would have kept his thoughts and behaviors under wraps, but not Tony. He lets it all hang out.

I love Tony Hayward because he is more of the CEO norm than he is the exception. The CEOs that I have encountered in my life have all been egotistical, driven by personal gain, and fairly out of touch because they couldn't be arsed to stay in touch. Tony's behavior doesn't surprise me at all. One of my former CEOs showed up the day after a redundancy (in American English, that's a layoff) in a brand new $100,000 BMW. Another regularly published his gripes about employees in our informal internal newsletter. Yet another has the top floor of his building covered with framed pictures of himself, and has made yachting an essential part of his job duties. But that's OK - their jobs aren't to life the life of an ascetic. Their jobs are to give a general direction to their companies, and to make sure that cash keeps flowing. They are not responsible for the public good.

I love Tony Hayward because he reminds us at a time when some conservatives are treating government like it is the cancer on society, that big business is the cancer that infects both government and society. Sure - not all businesses are bad, and not all government is good, but at least a democratic government is ultimately beholden to the people. Even if 90-95% of the time that government stuffs itself with pork-filled shenanigans, there is a point where things go critical and the people find actions intolerable. Then that government must change its ways. The only way a big business can be kept in check like that is throught the intervention of government. Our government, which has a beautiful system of checks and balances for most powers, was created before overreaching corporations became a major political concern. Tony reminds us why we need to push our government to keep business under reasonable checks.

I love Tony Hayward because of the way he's run BP. No, no I don't. When he became CEO, he made it very clear that he didn't give a rat's ass about the environment or developing new energies for the future. His goal was to suck as much money out of the Earth as quickly as possible, then worry about consequences later. Well, now it's later. If I ever met Tony Haward, I'd throw him under a bus.

Comments

[readherring.livejournal.com]

:-)

[green-man-2010.livejournal.com]

Yeah - Tony makes my job as an environmentalist Soooo much easier!

Think we only need 'self regulation' ? The answer is Tony.
"Drill baby, drill!" ? Tony Hayward!
Jeremy Clarkson? Tony Hayward!!!

The only think that stops a full-on feeling of Schadenfreude taking over is the knowledge that all the people that are really hurt by his activities are not the likes of Ann Coulter and and Sarah Palin, but ordinary American citizens who are just hard working, ordinary folk like me who are completely financially devastated by something they had no part in causing.

The wealthiest Americans, who bought into his scheme and would have been rolling in it had they come out without the spill, will not really cop the damage in the same way as a gulf coast guy whose fishing boat is his only means to support his family, or the couple that put their savings and years of hard work into building up a tourist based business in the affected area.

[green-man-2010.livejournal.com]

Works with , but not neccesarrily works *for* BP.
I understand that several - 8, IIRC - people actually died on that oil rig when it blew.

Again, ordinary guys trying to make a living while some CEO didn't give a rat's tail about what corners got cut so long as the profits were coming his way.

[green-man-2010.livejournal.com]

Yeah - i know the type you mean.
And I agree that they are not worth our sympathy if corporate losses force some of those offices to close.

I wonder if there is any chance of their PR company facing closure, too? A man can dream, can't he? :)

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

My only comment is that the Right Wing has made transparent who they represent when sitting US Congressmen apologize to this idiot.

[green-man-2010.livejournal.com]

Another thing that reminds me that good can sometimes come out of a bad situation.

I only hope American voters remember this episode when they come to cast their votes next time.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Americans continued to elect Strom Thurmond until he died of old age. So I highly doubt it.

[kenderkin.livejournal.com]

"When he became CEO, he made it very clear that he didn't give a rat's ass about the environment or developing new energies for the future. His goal was to suck as much money out of the Earth as quickly as possible, then worry about consequences later."

At least he was honest about it. :)

There are plenty of people who aren't. ~shrug~

[omnot.livejournal.com]

Yes, but which is worse? A person who hides their harmful intentions until they enact them, or the fact that we demonstrably live in a culture in which the person can announce their intention to do harmful things and the authourities do nothing to curb or prevent them?

Corporations are legal persons whose duty it is to make profits. That's it. No conscience unless it makes money. No duty of care to the community unless there is a risk of the cost of fines and litigation outweighing the financial advantages of breaking the rules.

We're at the mercy of sociopaths. Sociopaths who are "too big to fail", which means that they privatise success and socialise failure.

What's going on in the Gulf right now is the socialisation of failure, outsourcing the cost of the spill on to effected individuals and communities as well as on to taxpayers and users of the environment long into the future.

And that's just the economic harm. The moral wrong of poisoning an unprofitable ecosystem does not even register for them.

Clearly the system is broken when Tony Hayward can "be honest about it" and not have the harmful intent of his corporation controlled by governments. We're so screwed.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

At least he was honest about it. :)

Two weeks cleaning birds and beach for that comment!

[oportet.livejournal.com]

If you think that only politicians from one party kiss big business ass and turn their heads when certain benefits outweigh possible losses, then you're half smart, but still half dipshit.

[readherring.livejournal.com]

I missed the part where I said anything about one party kissing the arse of big buisness. Could you please point that out to me?

[omnot.livejournal.com]

"If I ever met Tony Haward, I'd throw him under a bus."

I think you could sell tickets on that bus at quite a premium.

[rasilio.livejournal.com]

The only flaw with what you are saying is that you miss the fact that Big Business and Big Government are 1 in the Same.

Big Business cannot survive (or even come into being for that matter) without protection from government and Big Government always creates Big Business.

They are a perpetual feedback loop but the easier one to get rid of is the big government because as you say, ultimately it is beholden to the people. Get rid of the Big government and you kill the lifeblood of big business.

[readherring.livejournal.com]

I disagree. Big Buisiness is global these days. They aren't anchored by any one government.

besides, I fail to see how getting rid of big government would limit business.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Tony does not deserve a quick death. I'd rather see him relocate to the shores of the gulf and spend the remainder of his life and money fixing what he broke.

He would have happily pocketed the profits if all went well. Sadly, probably still.

[anadinboy.livejournal.com]

ive known a number of ppl named Hayward, all of them complete cretins