From the Daily Mail:
It was the home town of Forrest Gump’s shrimp-loving friend Bubba Blue in the famous movie.
But since the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Bayou La Batre in Alabama has become home to a new breed of men known as the ‘Spillionaires’.
They are the shrimp boat owners who have prospered hugely from the millions of pounds handed out by BP.
While many British pensioners have seen the value of their pension funds fall because of the extraordinary decline of one of Britain’s biggest companies, boat owners in the coastal hamlet have struck it rich.
By allowing their vessels to be used in the massive containment and clean-up operation, some have been paid hundreds of thousands of pounds for just three months’ work.
And deckhands - who would normally earn up to £60 a day working on shrimping or oyster boats - have been taking home triple that.
So much money has poured into Bayou La Batre that police and town officials now fear for its future....
After the oil spill, BP gave officials £5.5 million to pay for fishing crews to lay plastic booms across the water to stop the oil from reaching shore.
The grant was the biggest single payout to any town in the region.
It was administered by mayor Stan Wright and he faced accusations of corruption when he awarded the bulk of the money to a company his brother worked for....
...Even drug dealers have attempted to capitalise on the new wealth.
Captain Darryl Wilson, from Bayou La Batre police, said: ‘Before the spill a rock of crack cocaine was being sold on the street for $20. Now that same rock is going for $40. So much money has come into the town that they want to charge more....MORE
"Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon."
and
"Too much money chasing too few goods"
