My Husband's Solution to the Gulf Oil Spill

Three weeks into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and crude oil is supposedly still leaking at a rate of 210,000 gallons a day.  Efforts to contain it have so far been unsuccessful.  Meanwhile, instead of pointing all attention toward the effort to cap the hole in the pipeline, Congress and energy companies are busy playing the blame game on Capitol Hill.  Business as usual.

In response to some frustration I colorfully expressed this morning, my husband suggested a creative solution: plug the hole with BP, Transocean and Halliburton executives, along with a few Senators.

He's kidding, of course.  But, enough already.  I get it that someone is to blame and no one company wants to bear the full burden of the cleanup cost.  But folks: just step away from your calculators and Senate Hearings and direct your brainpower toward stopping the leak.  Oil is washing ashore, wildlife is dying and coastal economies are being destroyed.  Every second counts.  Everyone can resume pointing fingers after that is done.

At which point we'll all want to know why it is that no one planned for something like this going wrong.  These companies definitely do risk modeling and risk management.