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	Name:	MartiniMan -
	Subject:	Different story at Orange Beach
	Date:	7/28/2010 10:30:29 AM

People lose their jobs all the time and in industries that never come back. I spent six years in school preparing to work in the oil industry. The Arabs flooded the market with oil, prices dropped and oil companies dumped people (including me) and didn't hire for years afterward. I was able to land on my feet but I spent two years being underemployed and then eventually took a job in the environmental field making half what I made in the oil industry. I am the only one in my family that went to college and I have seen my brothers struggle, lose jobs, have to move, etc. I understand the suffering that is caused by something like this but I also understand that the only thing unique about it is the cause.

Because of the high taxes, high labor costs and regulatory burden in this country whole industries have left for more hospitable countries (textiles being one prime example). I'm not defending their decision to do so, just stating a historical fact. What is different from all those massive changes is there was no BP to compensate them for their lost jobs. There was no $20B fund to compensate those impacted by the loss. They got their severance and were sent packing, if they got any at all. We need to hope and pray that BP survives and returns to profitability, otherwise those impacted will be royally screwed because I can assure you they won't get squat from the government except unemployment benefits. But I wonder if people are equally outraged at the 145,000 high paying jobs lost when Obama issued his illegal off-shore drilling moratorium?

I really am struggling with the inability to understand that I am acknowledging that this is painful and a tragedy but I have this sense of optimism about the future. I know we all have our own temperament but I was told once by someone that optimists live longer and are happier people. I choose to be optimistic about the long term impact the of spill and no one can change my mind. But I am not oblivious to the plight of those impacted in the short run.