BP's Shock Waves How the oil giant's catastrophic spill in the Gulf could trigger another financial meltdown

By Matt Taibbi,
The following is an article from the September 30, 2010 issue of Rolling Stone. This issue is available now on newsstands, and via Rolling Stone's premium subscription plan . To read the rest of the new issue, you must be a subscriber to All Access. Already a subscriber? Continue on to The Archives . Not a member and want to learn more? Go to our All Access benefits page .

It was sickening enough when British oil giant BP set new standards for corporate scumbaggery in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, turning the Gulf of Mexico into its own personal toilet and imperiling entire species of wildlife in an attempt to save a few nickels. But with the Gulf geyser finally capped, there's still a way for BP to cause an even more unthinkable disaster: an AIG-style, derivative-fueled financial shitstorm. If the company decides to declare bankruptcy — a very real possibility with these bastards — it could trigger chaos in our casino system of finance, underscoring the insane levels of leverage and systemic risk we have left in place, even after the global economic crash of 2008.

The first serious whiff of trouble came on June 15th, when Barack Obama manned up and went on national TV to tell the nation that he wasn't going to let BP worm its way out of this one. "We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused," he declared, vowing to push BP to set aside $20 billion to clean up its mess and compensate victims. (more)

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