re: Obama and oil company CEO's

BP is currently a company that has assets worth $160 billion. They also have roughly $30 billion in debt. Therefore they have roughly $130 billion in equity. Their equity value prior to this catastrophic event was roughy $175 billion indicating the capital markets have valued the financial impact to BP for this event to be $45 billion. That doesn't mean the loss is entirely what will all be spent on cleanup since litigation will have it's toll as so will an errosion of brand loyalty worldwide. therefore, I wouldn't jump to the immediate conclusion that this couldn't bankrupt BP ... in my opinion, it's definitely a possibility.