Well said

Brian Topp on the all-too-obvious consequences of an economy based on corporate greed, as well as the best way to avoid them:

What British Petroleum has done in the Gulf of Mexico is what Goldman Sachs and Citigroup and the rest of the rogue's gallery have done to the global economy. This latest tragedy is therefore a perfect symbol of our times – and also a reminder that the consequences of limitless greed and mindless deregulation have been socialized with amazing speed. There being no more committed Marxists than corporate boards seeking to pawn the costs of their decisions onto the public sphere, which they otherwise do everything they can to tear down.

Who will pay to clean up the Gulf of Mexico? Don't bet it will be the shareholders of British Petroleum.

Who will pay for the same cleanup required in the broader economy? The bill for that cleanup has already been slipped to our children and grandchildren, in the form of bailouts and stimulus funded by suddenly limitless public debt.

In the United States, Republicans are smacking their lips, saying the Gulf tragedy is Barrack Obama's fault. In reality, it is just another reminder of the central message of these times. People like that can't be trusted to run anything, anywhere.

Meanwhile, the Harper Cons continue to cling to the argument that the banks at the centre of any possible financial meltdown shouldn't bear any responsibility for fixing any resulting mess. And it remains to be seen whether Canada's Republican-style government will singlehandedly manage to torpedo a global effort to at least limit the damage from the next inevitable collapse.