Should BP's CEO Tony Hayward resign?

I don’t think so. First of all, he was in charge of the organization that bypassed safety and common sense to save a few dollars, second, I believe that he was truly trying to fix a culture run by marketing and accounting people.

His real fault is that he is too much of an engineer put in an untenable position than a MBA practiced at shifting the blame and lying.

Sure his statements were not politically correct but look at his boss that thinks that we are all the “small people”. I can’t imagine that they would appoint someone that was a better leader. He replacement would just have a “silver tounge: but no real understanding of the situation.

I don’t trust his company but I think that Mr. Hayward will do as best he or anyone can.

Ron, he was in charge of the orgaization that bypassed safety and common sense to save a few dollars? is this not the exact reason that the oil spill occured? does this really show CEO leadership, just to save money and the safety of the workers? it appears he failed miserably in both categories.

Before he does anything he should get his ass off his yacht and down to the gulf and do something productive.

From a shareholder perspective, I would like to see Mr. Hayward fired.

From the prospective of a human being, I’d like to see him and the entire leadership of the company imprisoned.

Seriously people, there are terrorist organizations that would give anything to do what BP just did… on accident by their own carelessness.

There are friggin BOND VILLAINS who couldn’t do something this diabolical!

If I accidentally lose control of my car and smash into another car and kill someone, I’m still probably going to prison for a few years on manslaughter charges. BP just single handedly obliterated 40% of our fishing economy, not to mention our tourist economy, or the ecological impacts that the gulf will feel for the next 100+ years.

Him being fired is the least possible punishment he should receive.

Don’t blame Tony Hayward. Blame the American People. This would not have been an issue if we did not have off shore drilling.

One of the risks of drilling for oil in the open sea. We did not want to look at oil rigs in our back yard.

@ChazMaz As liberal as I am, and as much as I know its not going to change the course of oil being expensive, I am all for offshore drilling. To me though, if you don’t have the technology to stop a leak after a blowout BEFORE you start drilling at that depth, you’re being criminally negligent.

@Disc2021 He is no longer in charge of the situation in the Gulf. The president of BP removed him for the day to day responsibilities in the Gulf and put someone else in charge because of his actions at the hearing back at the beginning of the month.

I honestly don’t care if they fire him or not, some other greedy person will just take his place. At least if he stays in his position, people will know they need to keep an eye on him.

@Seaofclouds, good point when you say that they will just replace him with another moron. What they need after the incident is to find a few competent people and have them run the company.

You guys are forgetting that people died because of this negligence, and that there is a culture of ignoring safety at BP that has arisen from the top-down. Tony Hayward and his team should be in prison for voluntary manslaughter: they made the decision to choose profits over safety, and it resulted in people dying, they should suffer the consequences.

@gorillapaws Has the investigation showed that they actually did those things? Just curious. I know there has been a lot of speculation about it, just curious if we now have facts that show it. BP isn’t the only one to blame about the safety stuff. I remember reading in another question about this that the safety checks that we were supposed to be doing had been being skipped over and not actually done when they were supposed to be. I’m not saying this gets BP off the hook, just saying that there are other people that could be in jail as well. If and when we have solid proof of BPs negligence, I hope someone will go after them for the deaths of the crew members that didn’t make it off the rig, along with the company that owned the rig and the people in the US that were supposed to be doing the safety inspections.

@john65pennington I guess I have an engineer’s prejudice to his own kind. I have been in a similar position (on a much, much smaller scale). It is not easy to turn around a corporate culture that has existed for decades. I cannot help to think that an engineer from the ranks is more likely to steer a corporation away from their penny pinching ways.

That is what happens when you have MBA’s running a company. In my experience, having an engineer in charge lowers profits but increases stability and standards. If the government wasn’t full of corporate shills, his progress would have been better and this may not have happened.

All of this goes back to Reagen’s policy of “getting the government off the back of business”. No rules, no standards, no responsibility…trickle down economics in action.

@Seaofclouds I don’t think the investigation has concluded yet, but the statements I made were based on an article I had read, where sources within BP described a culture that discouraged people from reporting safety issues or faulty equipment. I could try to track down a link, if you feel it’s important, although I’m not sure exactly which paper it was I read. I do believe that this has been widely reported, however.

@gorillapaws You don’t have to look for it. I was just wondering if the investigation was finished. I don’t watch the news.