Could piracy put us back to work?

[angrycarpenter]

There has been much said in the last few weeks about the Somalian pirates. How a bunch of out of work fishermen have turned to international crime for a living. Right now there are millions of fishermen around the world watching that and getting ideas.

What if this only the tip of the iceberg? With fish stocks declining worldwide there are thousands of fishing boats with millions of desperate people to man them. Will the coastal peoples of the world get in their idle boats and go raiding? I can see a future where a cargo raiding organization develops worldwide that would make shipping much more risky and expensive.

America depends on goods manufactured overseas. We no longer have the ability to make anything in large enough numbers to supply ourselves. As piracy Becomes a problem everywhere we may be forced to make our own stuff here. Our factories may slowly grind back to life because the cost of protecting and insuring cargo ships would make our products competitive again.

We are one of the few countries with a navy large enough to protect ships. If it becomes dangerous enough American flagged ships will be relatively safe on the high seas where one registered to a small country would be at risk.

This was just an stray thought and I am sure that there is something I have not thought of but wide spread organized piracy could be a boost to our manufacturing sector.

[Taverner]

1. Well at least that means global warming will go down...

R'amen

[htuttle]

2. That's brilliant!

Um...in an COMPLETELY unrelated question, does anyone know where can I order a few thousand eye patches?

[TK421]

3. And rum...don't forget the rum n/t

[notesdev]

4. Geography will limit piracy

Piracy will be limited to places where ships must pass close to a coastline on a major shipping route, and where there is a relatively lawless area in which pirates can establish bases of operations. So we're talking places like the approaches to the Suez, Gulf of Aden, and Malacca Straits. Cross-Atlantic and cross-Pacific shipping will be relatively safe since there are few safe harbors for pirates.

[lib2DaBone]

5. Where is Blackwater ?

.. I can't believe they would miss an opportunity to make a quick buck from a political cess pool.