Socialist Party USA Co-Chair Calls for Public Ownership of BP

June 15, 2010 - PRLog -- Socialist Party USA Co-Chair Calls for Public Ownership of BP

June 15, 2010 - Socialist Party USA co-chair Billy Wharton calls for the immediate seizure of the assets of BP in order to place the company under public control.  Public ownership will allow the cleanup of the Gulf to proceed without corporate foot-dragging and can form the basis a rational energy policy that relies on renewable energy sources.  

In a nationally televised speech tonight, President Barack Obama called the oil spill something "more like an epidemic."  "No matter how effective our response is," Obama stated, "there will be more oil and more damage before this siege is done."

Wharton described President Obama's response as "timid" and reflective of the degree to which "corporations dominate nearly every aspect of American society."
"Americans can no longer be held hostage by a multinational energy company," said Wharton, "the government needs to immediately place BP under public control by socializing its assets."

During a Congressional hearing held earlier today, BP officials admitted that they ignored several offshore drilling regulations.  The lack of government enforcement is part of a larger regime of loose regulation begun by George W. Bush and continued by Obama.  Wharton is also calling for the immediate removal of Department of the Interior head Ken Salazar.

The entire Gulf Coast and sections of the Eastern seaboard now face the threat of being overrun by oil.  The pictures of oil-soaked pelicans are a fitting example of the mess that capitalist corporations have made of our environment.

Public ownership is a time-honored way to bring rouge corporations under democratic control.  Continuing to allow BP to operate outside of the direct supervision of the government threatens to exacerbate the quickly deteriorating conditions in the Gulf region.  

BP's extensive American holdings could provide the basis for a serious attempt to shift to renewable energy sources.  Wharton believes that an eco-socialist plan that combines state-owned resources with local participation offers a way out of the cycle of global warming created by private energy companies like BP.

To gain more information about the organization's broader vision of a democratic socialist society. http://socialistparty-usa.org/

For more information or interviews contact:
Billy Wharton
wawharton@yahoo.com
718-869-2279