You might want to look into the details of the Oil Spill Liability Act of 1990. What you are hearing on the news is probably, to put it generously, less than accurate. BP is liable for all cleanup costs. The cap was for "economic damages." What the lawyers will be looking for.

I have no problem with BP picking up all the bills. I don't like "socializing" losses any more than I like socializing profits. I don't feel the need to make them into capitalist monsters to have that opinion.

The gray area in this is that modern liability litigation usually goes far beyond any rational analysis of real losses and costs.

In all the howling and pitchfork waving, one subject is being carefully avoided: The government was supposed to have plans for this too, and didn't come through.