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How much would you pay to get politicians off your back?
How about...a billion bucks?
Here's the deal:
A billion smackers to stop smacking us down.
Four oil firms committed that dough for something called a "Gulf rapid response plan."
The idea is to have something ready, and at the ready, for the next Gulf oil disaster, God forbid.
Some are calling it "operation quick cap."
But for ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, no signs yet it's buying them any quick love on Capitol Hill.
Critics have long wondered why something like this wasn't in place a long time ago.
Hindsight's always 20-20 that way, isn't it?
But when I sat down with the leader of one of these four horsemen, ConocoPhillips CEO James Mulva, I got a sense this was about a lot more than a rapid response to messes in the Gulf...
This was about responding to the industry's own PR messes in Washington...
...a Washington that doesn't much like these oil guys ... And for whom this BP disaster only reinforces politicians' contempt.
But in talking to Mr. Mulva, I got a sense of something else going on here.
This is bigger than an oil industry emergency plan, bigger than the oil industry itself.
This is about industry, period. All industry.
And industry CEOs of all stripes very concerned about an environment that worries them and an anti-business message out of Washington that alarms them.
I've heard it before. The H.J. Heinz CEO who tells me he's hoarding cash because he's nervous.
The Chamber of Commerce head who reminds me his members see endless new regulations and "they're" nervous.
Bottom line, these guys are worried as much today as they were two years ago today ... About getting hit ... And about a Washington not offering any help.
I mean, don't you find it a tad odd that among the reasons the Dow soared more than 200 points today was talk some democrats want to delay that tax hike on the rich...Telling, don't you think. Government stands down. Stocks shoot up.
But one day does not a trend make or a panic subside.
Because far from making things better ... The increasing sense I'm getting from these business guys is that our fine elected leaders are making things worse. And not just a little worse.
Much worse.
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