Some great posts in this thread. Nice to see people debating shades of gray rather than going hard black/white.

It seems to me that in the gulf situation, the “free market” IS working. Look at BP’s stock price, boycotts, what their balance sheet will look like after all of this is over, etc. The market is reacting to what has happened and what is happening. The problem is that the “free market” is working AFTER the fact — it is reactionary.

No one expects BPs stock price to go down because some day they might have a spill. Their stock price goes down because they had a spill. This reactionary path is where the “free market” fails. And this is where (properly enforced) regulations should step in to balance the scales.

Unfortunately for us, it looks like both sides have failed.