Obama negotiates $20 billion compensation fund with BP

Just a night after pundits ripped his first Oval Office address on the BP oil spill, President Obama has gained a major victory in the fight to ensure the British-based oil company pays for all damages incurred by the spill, when the two parties announced Wednesday that BP would set up a $20 billion major claims fund for those whose livelihoods are being ruined by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

President Obama promised to make the bastards at BP pay for the mess in the Gulf, and after four-hours of intense negotiations he was able to prove to the American people that he could deliver on his promise. Not only was he able to get BP to agree to creating a $20 billion fund without dragging it through the courts for years and even decades, he also got the executive swine from BP to agree to no cap on the amount they would pay. In addition to this the company also agreed to set up a $100 million fund for oil-rig workers, who have been laid-off due to the six-month moritorium the president has placed on drilling in the Gulf.

"What this is about is accountability," Obama said after his session with BP executives. "For the small-business owners, for the fishermen, for the shrimpers, this is not just a matter of dollars and cents. . . . A lot of these folks don't have a cushion."

So far, 66,000 claims have been filed, $81 million awarded, and 26,000 checks cut, according to accounts from the Coast Guard. And to ensure that all legitimate claims are honored, President Obama has appointed Kenneth Feinberg, the man who oversaw the $7 billion government fund for families of victims of the 9/11 attacks, as the administration's "pay czar" to oversee the payouts.

The fund is also not capped, so BP could still be on the hook for more money in terms of claims and that does not include the fines that the United States will certainly be levying against them once the spill has been capped.

While the announcement came at a great time for those who are losing their livelihood along the Gulf coast, BP executives continue to put their foots in their mouth. During the announcement of the agreement, BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg apologized for the "tragic accident" and added "we care about the small people."

The comment was not well-received by the people along the Gulf coast who resented the foreign speaking dignitary's remarks that were perceived as talking down to the working-class people in the Gulf.

By night Svanberg was apologizing for the slip: "I spoke clumsily this afternoon, and for that, I am very sorry. What I was trying to say - that BP understands how deeply this affects the lives of people who live along the Gulf and depend on it for their livelihood - will best be conveyed not by any words but by the work we do to put things right for the families and businesses who've been hurt."