Who should we blame the seizure of the Maersk Alabama on? BUSH!

[Pab Sungenis]

A couple of days before the Maersk Alabama was seized by Somali pirates, there was an interesting "story of the day" from NPR and their "Planet Money" podcast team. They were talking about some of the different unexpected effects that the Bush Depression was having, a sort of "watch the dominoes fall" story.

As the economic conditions that started here in the U.S. hit Europe, it drove down consumer demand which led to a decline in shipping of goods.

As a result of this drop in demand, there has been a precipitous drop in traffic in the Suez canal, since Egypt has not lowered the tolls for canal traffic and it's no longer economical to send half-filled ships of Chinese products through the canal. Shipping companies are now finding it more economical to send their ships around the horn of Africa instead of through Suez.

The gist of the story is how the Egyptian economy has been suffering as a result, with the drop in revenue threatening Egyptian social programs. But what was even more interesting was what wasn't said in the story since it wasn't quite newsworthy yet.

The company that has been leading the "around the horn" movement? Maersk.

The down economy forced Maersk and many other European shipping firms to abandon the Red Sea route up to the Suez canal, taking them down along the coast of Africa. The place where the Maersk Alabama was seized makes it clear that it was one of the ships which would normally have gone up through Suez, but now is braving the pirate-infested waters off the coast of Somalia.

So when you're ready to point fingers for why an American crew was attacked by pirates, point one at the man who drove the U.S. economy off a cliff, destroyed the banking system upon which the European economies had come to depend, and made it cheaper for the first time in over half a century to go around the horn instead of through Suez.

Blame it on Bush. He's more to blame than anyone in the Obama Administration could ever be for the seizure of that boat.

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Smirk." - xCommander AWOL & xVP Dickie 'Five Military Deferments' Cheney

"You can depend on us Republicon Homelanders to continue doing all we can to make sure America FAILS. Sneer. Smirk."

- xCommander AWOL & xVP Dickie 'Five Military Deferments' Cheney

[stillcool]

2. I think there is much, much more..

to the story, but it is obviously of no interest. Just kill the Somalians, and let us take over...show them how it's done:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/North_Africa/North_Africa_page.html

[Turbineguy]

3. The Egyptians raised the tolls

Many ships including containerships are above tonnage limits for the Suez Canal.

Going through the canal has its own set of problems as well such as wait times etc.

Maersk is the largest shipping company in the world and operates a fleet of tankers too big for the Canal, that would make them leaders of the "around the the Cape" movement or any movement by default.

There is however little doubt the Republican policies have had the unintended consequence of piracy.

[The Straight Story]

4. I think I will just blame the pirates

unless people have no choices in life, which I believe they do.