“We’ve socialized risk and we’ve privatized reward.”

The New Zealand government has signed an agreement with Petrobras to allow the Brazilian energy giant to drill off shore. Who carries the can (honestly, no pun intended) if it all goes wrong?

"The Government will do "all it can" to ensure there is adequate environmental protection before future deep-sea drilling in New Zealand, Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee says."

"Prime Minister John Key said on Monday the Government would outline its position on environmental standards for deep-sea drilling soon."

NZ Herald 4:00 AM Wednesday Jun 2, 2010

The opinion article in this weekend's New York Times clearly outlines the problem: The taxpayer takes the risk and the corporate takes the reward.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/bps-mess-and-wall-streets/