February 14, 2013

Triumph of the Will

Triumph of the Will: As yet another nightmare pleasure cruise comes to a bleak end, now is probably as good a time as ever to revisit my 2011 post, much-beloved by libertarians, on the stupidity of the current federal laws and regulations regarding the cruising industry.  Although much has been noted about how foreign-flagged ships do not have to obey American labor and safety practices, the significant barrier to any cruiseship flying the Stars and Stripes is the requirement under American maritime law that it be built domestically, a sop to a non-existent American cruiseship building industry.  Since cruiselines have no capability of complying with that requirement, they have no incentive to obey any other American laws as well....