The Gulf oil spill has a way of putting in perspective our other troubles. Suppose the first few shards of evidence hold up – that BP engineers were under some pressure to cut costs by electing cheaper safety methods against the possibility of a blowout? What would be the cost, going forward, of increasing tenfold the precautionary apparatus installed at every undersea well-head around the world? Fifty cents a barrel? A dollar? That’s not much in a world of $75/bbl oil – surely not much more than a penny a gallon at the pump. That the costs of enhanced safety…