In late March, I wrote a blog entry arguing that Obama's offshore oil drilling decision was a terrible one. Obviously I cannot claim to have foreseen April's massive oil spill in the Gulf , but it has brought to light some of the things I was talking about.
Specifically, in March I wrote: "In theory, the Department of the Interior will regulate the oil exploration to protect the environment. But there is really no reason not to expect regulators to be captured by the oil industry in exactly the same way that regulators were captured by the financial industry in the years leading up to the 2008-09 financial crisis."
Now the New York Times is reporting evidence of exactly this kind of regulatory-capture:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/us/08agency.html?hp
To its credit, the Whitehouse has temporarily suspended its March decision to authorize more offshore drilling. But it should go further: reverse it completely. It was a bad idea then, it's a bad idea now. Only now, its obvious that it's a bad idea.
