We have two models for a flow out of the wellhead that were done by our Flow Rate Technical Group under Marcia McNutt of the U.S. Geological Survey.

WHITEHOUSE: Daily Press Briefing

And that the rise in the top marginal tax rate on capital gains will stop the flow of capital out of one investment and into another.

FORBES: The Fiscal Cliff Is Almost Everything the Democrats Want

But this is -- simply observing where the oil is coming out is insufficient to really calculate any flow rate with any degree of accuracy.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing on Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico

The rate going in was 900 gallons per minute, but the flow data of mud coming out was steadily increasing from 900 gallons a minute at 8:20 p.m. to a rate of 1, 200 gallons per minute at 8:34 p.m.

WSJ: The Oil Disaster Is About Human, Not System, Failure