Come On, Kenneth, We're All Suffering From This Oil Spill!

Kenneth Feinberg is the best-prepared person in history to administer this compensation fund, and he is trying to lower expectations regarding awards. That may be a good idea, considering how the scope of the disaster is as yet unclear. He also wants to use his 9/11 fund experience as a guide, but it's not clear if he has the same latitude now as he got from Congress then. Does BP still have some say, or is it completely out of their hands? Will Congress and the Administration yield as much authority now as they did then? The attacks of 9/11 are small potatoes compared to this fiasco:

The prominent US lawyer managing BP's 20-billion-dollar oil disaster fund said Wednesday not all claimants will be paid, especially some of those seeking compensation for falling houses prices.

"There's not enough money in the world to pay every single small business that claims injury no matter where or when," Kenneth Feinberg told the House of Representatives Committee on Small Business.

"You've got to decide in a principled way... and work out some definition in that regard," he said, while stating his determination to "pay every eligible claim."

...He assured lawmakers it would be "totally independent" and said BP "has agreed to supplement this escrow fund as needed to assure full and fair compensation to all individuals and businesses that are found to be eligible for payment."

"I'm inclined to begin with the same analysis I did in 9/11," added the leading attorney, who plans to set up procedures for paying claims in the coming weeks.