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I don't like Obama, but the cruise ship industry are hypocrites in this situation. They don't build their ships here, they flag their ships to other nations, and most of the ship's employees are not Americans. They earn a fortune off American consumers, but they don't have any loyalties to the United States of America. At best they pay lip service to USA. Only cruise I've ever been on was on a US Navy ship. I'd love to take a cruise on a non-warship and not have to work 18 to 20 hour work days but until they change their business practice, that's not going to happen. I think they're expressing their displeasure with Obama because with the horrible economy, Cruise ships aren't getting as many customers as before.
The cruise ship company WANTS to build cruise ships here..
But we went further and found an internationally competitive way to build the ship here in America, to fly the Stars & Stripes, to pay taxes, to hire Americans, and to play by the rules.”
You provide a link to an unreputable source for information, repeat claims of one company seeking special government assistance which, if I understand correctly, was rejected by the prior President ... a Republican .. and claim it's indicative of a federal policy that's somehow wrong. It must be a slow news day where you live if this is all you have to use to launch yet another complaint about the President.
yeah, he's 2 busy giving hundreds of millions to bankrupt companies..
I do have to add, however, is it just me, or is there something really wrong with this? (From the OP's link)
"Gallagher’s main point of contention is that the cruise industry is overwhelmingly funded by American dollars, but the companies typically build the vessels out of the country, hire international employees, and pay far fewer taxes than a wholly American company would."
Just how, exactly, would giving them additional loans create AMERICAN jobs?
Because they wanted to build these ships entirely in the US but US government policy is making that impossible at least according to the President of the company.
“Our organization,” says Gallagher, “found a way to compete by designing a superior product that Royal Caribbean has, in many respects, emulated with their 5,400-passenger Oasis-class ships. But we went further and found an internationally competitive way to build the ship here in America, to fly the Stars & Stripes, to pay taxes, to hire Americans, and to play by the rules.”
“Having demonstrated that our plan would be economically sound, would not cost the taxpayers anything, would not increase the debt but would improve the deficit, the only way to push us off the cliff was to enact policy that preempted the nation’s ship financing program from being used to build cruise ships. That’s what the Obama Administration did,” claims Gallagher.
Seems this loan program has had many issues in the past , specifically default on loan to build two cruise ships in the early part of the last decade. Here's McCain addressing the issue before the Senate in 2001.
Let me provide some background for the record: Title XI of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to make loan guarantees to finance the construction, reconstruction, or reconditioning of eligible export vessels and the modernization and improvement of shipyards. Under regulations governing the Title XI loan guarantee process, applicants must meet certain economic soundness criteria before receiving a commitment from MARAD. Even with controls in place, loan defaults during the 1980's reached into the billions of dollars and the program was halted. In 1986, the worst year on record, defaults in pay-outs of $1.2 billion.
The title XI program was revived in 1993 following the enactment of the Federal Credit Reform Act and the National Shipbuilding and Shipyard Conversion Act. According to figures recently provided by MARAD, the title XI program has cost taxpayers $400 million in default payments since 1993. Of that cost, MARAD has been able to recover roughly 10 percent or $40 million through the disposition of assets.
Currently, the title XI program has an outstanding loan guarantee portfolio of approximately $4.7 billion consisting of 86 projects covering more than 100 vessels, several hundred barges, and 7 shipyard modernization projects. What that means is the American taxpayer could, as happened in the 1980's, be burdened with billions of dollars in debt if an industry downturn occurs. With that much at risk, I think we owe it to the American taxpayers to do all we can to ensure that adequate protections are in place.
Our Nation has had a strong and proud maritime history. I fear our maritime future, in the U.S. however, is jeopardized due to a dependence on government programs that do not foster a progressive and competitive attitude in what has clearly become a global market. This is especially true of our larger shipyards.
According to MARAD, the purpose of the title XI program is to promote the growth and modernization of the U.S. merchant marine and U.S. shipyards. Yet, there is little if any evidence that either has occurred. Since 1993, when the title XI program was resurrected following the heavy loan losses in the 1980s, the program has cost taxpayers $400 million in default pay-outs and an additional $296.4 million in appropriated funds as required by the Federal Credit Reform Act.
So the question becomes is does this company have a sound financial plan.
Hold on now. You want to gut Medicare, but your upset cause the federal government won't help build cruise ships? We are going to remove financing from PBS, which is .00001% of the budget, and you're upset about this?
Good, let private industry stand on its own without federal dollars.
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