by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
The once glamorous and highly profitable cruise ship industry has, of late, been listing - and some even dare to speculate that it may be on the verge of sinking.
A few highly publicized incidents of people trapped on ships that were in distress, recent reports of coronavirus spreading aboard cruise ships and passengers being barred from getting off, as well as a general perceived decline in the quality of cruises over the past decade or so have all combined to dramatically lessen the appeal of vacations on board cruise ships.
Congress and the White House spent the better part of this week trying to craft a stimulus package that would give assistance to Americans who have been impacted by the coronavirus, as well as offer financial supports to American businesses that have suffered economic hardships as a result of this severe health crisis. And when talks began focusing on businesses that were hit the hardest, airlines and cruise ships were always mentioned. Both have seen obvious big declines in revenue over the past several weeks - and little hope of a turn-around any time soon.
The last time airlines received a government "bailout," the CEO's largely used the money to feather their own nests and "buy back" company stock - a move which raised the value of the airline stocks overall and further enriched the major stockholders. This time Congress was expressing some concerns about seeing that the cash got down to a level of providing a better quality of life to airline employees, and a better flying experience to the general public.
We'll see how that plays out.
The cruise ship industry was another matter.
Over ninety-percent of all cruise ships that use U.S. port facilities fly the flags of other nations. That means, among other things, that they pay taxes to other countries and not to the United States. A goodly portion of these ships are de facto American vessels, but they register in foreign ports to avoid the higher U.S. tax rates and to keep from being subject to U.S. labor laws.
Most of the employees of cruise ships are foreign nationals with no rights to pursue litigation in the U.S. courts. Passengers aboard these vessels are subject to maritime law and also find it highly difficult or impossible to seek legal redress against a cruise ship company in a U.S. court of law.
The world's largest cruise ship line, Carnival, flies a Panamanian flag but advertises itself as being "headquartered" in Miami, Florida. The company's founder and current board chairman, Micky Arison, lives in Miami and is also the owner of the Miami Heat NBA basketball team, but he pays his cruise ship taxes to Panama
(Carnival owns several other cruise lines including Costa, Cunard, Princess, Holland America, as well as a few others. Disney Cruises are registered in the Bahamas, and Celebrity Cruises claim Liberia and Malta as their home ports.)
As all of this talk of stuffing government money into the pockets of big business began heating up, the Trump administration reportedly was kicking around ways to quickly transfer registration of all of these international cruise ships back to the United States. Trump is a close friend of Carnival's Arison, and Arison has been spotted at Mar-a-Lago multiple times this month. There have even been reports of Arison making offers to use some of Carnival's suddenly empty cruise ships for hospital space - a move that would generate revenue for the beleaguered company as well as possibly improve its image with U.S. taxpayers.
But while some might equate paying a membership at Mar-a-Lago with paying United States taxes, Congress was apparently having none of it. (That quid pro quo dog just won't hunt!) This week's stimulus, as written, will not be stimulating the cruise ship industry - at least not several big cruise ship companies who have chosen over the years to pay their taxes to other countries.
And that's as it should be.
Thank you, Congress!
Citizen Journalist
The once glamorous and highly profitable cruise ship industry has, of late, been listing - and some even dare to speculate that it may be on the verge of sinking.
A few highly publicized incidents of people trapped on ships that were in distress, recent reports of coronavirus spreading aboard cruise ships and passengers being barred from getting off, as well as a general perceived decline in the quality of cruises over the past decade or so have all combined to dramatically lessen the appeal of vacations on board cruise ships.
Congress and the White House spent the better part of this week trying to craft a stimulus package that would give assistance to Americans who have been impacted by the coronavirus, as well as offer financial supports to American businesses that have suffered economic hardships as a result of this severe health crisis. And when talks began focusing on businesses that were hit the hardest, airlines and cruise ships were always mentioned. Both have seen obvious big declines in revenue over the past several weeks - and little hope of a turn-around any time soon.
The last time airlines received a government "bailout," the CEO's largely used the money to feather their own nests and "buy back" company stock - a move which raised the value of the airline stocks overall and further enriched the major stockholders. This time Congress was expressing some concerns about seeing that the cash got down to a level of providing a better quality of life to airline employees, and a better flying experience to the general public.
We'll see how that plays out.
The cruise ship industry was another matter.
Over ninety-percent of all cruise ships that use U.S. port facilities fly the flags of other nations. That means, among other things, that they pay taxes to other countries and not to the United States. A goodly portion of these ships are de facto American vessels, but they register in foreign ports to avoid the higher U.S. tax rates and to keep from being subject to U.S. labor laws.
Most of the employees of cruise ships are foreign nationals with no rights to pursue litigation in the U.S. courts. Passengers aboard these vessels are subject to maritime law and also find it highly difficult or impossible to seek legal redress against a cruise ship company in a U.S. court of law.
The world's largest cruise ship line, Carnival, flies a Panamanian flag but advertises itself as being "headquartered" in Miami, Florida. The company's founder and current board chairman, Micky Arison, lives in Miami and is also the owner of the Miami Heat NBA basketball team, but he pays his cruise ship taxes to Panama
(Carnival owns several other cruise lines including Costa, Cunard, Princess, Holland America, as well as a few others. Disney Cruises are registered in the Bahamas, and Celebrity Cruises claim Liberia and Malta as their home ports.)
As all of this talk of stuffing government money into the pockets of big business began heating up, the Trump administration reportedly was kicking around ways to quickly transfer registration of all of these international cruise ships back to the United States. Trump is a close friend of Carnival's Arison, and Arison has been spotted at Mar-a-Lago multiple times this month. There have even been reports of Arison making offers to use some of Carnival's suddenly empty cruise ships for hospital space - a move that would generate revenue for the beleaguered company as well as possibly improve its image with U.S. taxpayers.
But while some might equate paying a membership at Mar-a-Lago with paying United States taxes, Congress was apparently having none of it. (That quid pro quo dog just won't hunt!) This week's stimulus, as written, will not be stimulating the cruise ship industry - at least not several big cruise ship companies who have chosen over the years to pay their taxes to other countries.
And that's as it should be.
Thank you, Congress!
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