Personal sidebar here – read or skip as necessary.

I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with the brits. My ancestors came from England, but being from the USA, other forebears were involved in the Revolution. So from an early age I learned how the new American way was ‘superior’.

Then life happened. I traveled to great britain a couple of times which opened my eyes a little about GB. But what really made the difference was when I traveled all over mainland China for 3 months – and then went to Hong Kong. The thought I was left with was this, “OMG, you can love or hate the brits, but you have to respect them for being able to tame the chinese in their own land and build this capitalist dreamworld (Hong Kong) at the same time.”

So my recommendation would be to buy BP stock if it will make you rich. Leave the political idealism for MSNBC.