I recently received an e-mail from a childhood friend of mine who lives on the Gulf coast of Florida. It is a pretty good rant and can give readers outside of the area a little perspective. So with his permission, I am posting his rant:
"People here are frustrated, angry as hell, and losing money every hour this continues. Commercial fishermen are stuck at the docks, BP stations are empty, hotels are empty, tourists are non-existent, and all this in the middle of a crap economy. My county has 15% unemployment, and at the moment that includes me.
BP have collectively been named "Oil Quaeda" by the locals, if that shows you how much raw hatred there is, especially after the BP leadership unloaded 30% of their stock and Goldman Sacks ("Government Sucks") unloaded 44% of their BP positions in the weeks before the "spill". Few here believe this is an accident, and the rumors are that this is a way to drive down the BP market cap for a Royal Dutch Shell merger or buyout at bargain prices.
Meanwhile Charlie Crist, once a popular governor, has changed from R to Independent, and is proposing a BP bailout on the Florida taxpayer's dime... can you imagine a Florida Governor proposing such a thing?
People are pi**ed, people are in trouble, people are sick wherever the benzine goes, and people want answers instead of BS. Perfect Storm for trouble.
Thank you for that contribution my friend, and keep us posted.
