Today however, we have someone like Donald Trump claiming to be worth $7B, with $3B of that being his “brand.” Yeah, that’s right. The guy whose combover has been likened to a dead raccoon claims a worth nearly double the generous estimates provided by Forbes. I guess The Donald must subscribe to the “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” theory since a recent Fox Poll (via Media Matters) showed a Trump endorsement would be received positively by 6% of those polled versus negatively by 31% of those polled.

Over two years into the “recovery” and less than a quarter of the lost jobs from the Great Recession have been returned.

So while Christine Lagarde cautions political leaders against too much belt tightening, we see House Majority Leader Eric Cantor proclaiming that any hurricane or earthquake relief funds must be offset by other spending cuts.

A few months ago, I offered my services — only half facetiously — to British Petroleum as CEO after I had read about and watched bits of Tony Hayward’s testimony before Congress. He’d acted like the Sergeant Schultz character (I know nothing, nothing!) on the old sitcom Hogan’s Heroes; I figured I could do at least as good a job as Hayward for a lot less money. Win-win all the way around for everyone!

So, in addition to giving Tony “I want my life back” Hayward his life back, the BP Board of Directors this week reported a $17,000,000,000 loss for the quarter and announced that they would set aside $32,000,000,000 to pay claims in their Gulf of Mexico fiasco.

BP CEO Tony Hayward, who has been much maligned for a series of verbal missteps during the Gulf oil disaster (though his company’s conduct and failures leading to the disaster would presumably be disqualifying as well) will leave the company, according to multiple reports and government officials. Hayward would continue on the corporate board through the end of the year, but would end his tenure as CEO by October 1.

Tony Hayward will exit BP, possibly as soon as this week. Reports of his likely exit package show him leaving the company while retaining wealth beyond the dreams of the average person. If so, Hayward will become the embodiment of the concept of moral hazard.

Don Blankenship: proof positive that some sort of rigorous psychological profiling and the presence of a conscience should be mandatory before hiring a candidate to run the joint.

Live Video (3:30 PM EDT): Questions for BP’s Bob Dudley

[Marine biologist Rick Steiner, whose earlier posts at FDL are here and here, writes this letter to BP asking for the second twenty billion dollars, for a Gulf Restoration Fund]

As the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico approaches its 2-month mark, there are a few points that deserve to be made, as update. The world is now starting to appreciate the enormity of this disaster, which is likely already the largest “accidental” oil spill in history.