Quote:
Originally Posted by mykalberta
I feel for your mother, but I hope the US Navy charges heavily for their assistance if the ship happens to be flying a Flag other than the Stars and Stripes - after seeing that 60 minutes documentary about cruise ships and the flags they fly just to get out of paying taxes its been a real pet peeve of mine.
|
As long as the oppressive Jones Act exists, that won't change. Flying an american flag limits where ships can go and who the lines can hire. There is one American flagged line, NCL America which is a subsidiary of Norwegian Cruise Line and has only one ship remaing and consistently loses money. The ship was also massively over budget when built as US ship builders can't compete with European yards in Finland, France and Italy.
They do it for way more reasons than getting out of paying taxes (which every industry has it's own version of).