Two years from now, how likely is it that Seattle will have an NBA team and our old friend Aubrey McClendon will not? A year ago, a question such as that would have drawn a hearty laugh, but now? Not so much.
You may recall that Chesapeake Energy admitted to approximately 50 layoffs earlier in the year, but some are saying that's only the tip of the iceberg. According to the Journal Record of Oklahoma City, it is suspected that as much as 10 to 20 percent of the company's workforce will be laid off, if they haven't been laid off already, a figure of nearly 600 employees (first reported by KOKH).
Considering that the Sonix are in a money-losing situation, and considering that CHK is run by a man who is peddling wine, posters, and whatever he can dig out of the basement so that he might make the next interest payments on his debts, you can't help but wonder how badly Aubrey McClendon wishes he could get out of his obligations to Clay Bennett and the NBA these days. When you add in the other looming spectre of BP's supposed buyout of the company (and the subsequent rendering of Mr. McClendon as obsolete), that question gets even stronger still.
I understand, Oklahomans, that McClendon performs a myriad of civic duties, that he certainly does not always act in the manner befitting someone on the verge of bankruptcy. So, please, withold your diatribes about how we're a bunch of losers focused on a team which no longer belongs to us. Instead, ask yourself this question: With the economy in peril, with gas prices showing little signs of improvement, and with McClendon financed to the gills (and if you think his $112 million payday in December had anything to do with anything other than enabling him to make his debt payments, quit fooling yourself), how much longer can he continue to operate?
