Compensation for Disaster Victims?

…the federal government bears some responsibility for the Gulf spill because of its failure to regulate properly. So a taxpayer contribution, if BP becomes bankrupt, is defensible.

Can we be clear that those who are harmed only because they chose to do business with BP are not entitled to taxpayers’ money? I.e., when this episode inevitably sinks the BP pension fund, too bad. When oil rig workers have to find other work, too bad. When BP doesn’t pay its vendors (some of which had a hand in this colossal screw-up), too bad. When stock- and bond-holders lose their investments, too bad. When market conditions affect downstream refiners, distributors, retailers, and consumers, too bad.

Yeah, this was once inherent in the whole concept of “bankruptcy”. Now that is less clearly the case. The taxpayer should not be responsible for eliminating counterparty risk.