WOW.
What a dedicated FIGHTER . My hat off .
Cheers
Not a single thing will come of it…there is simply no political will in Congressional leadership (R or D) to bring about any meaningful change nor to appropriate one dollar for the purpose. Just ask John Garamendi or Mark Kelly.
Just more posturing and self puffery going on here.
At least somebody is trying. Personally, I think the point will only be driven home when there is a line of damaged USN ships limping back from the western Pacific and whatever MSC ships they can man are smoking hulks.
Dark, I know, but DC and the American public will care when it is too late.
Reminds me of when the US was launching the rescue attempt of the Iranian hostages. The captain of the carrier Kitty Hawk assured the crew they could defend the ship against any Iranian counter attack except for one very effective missile the Iranians possessed. He added, we know how good it is because we sold it to them.
The US already has the most expensive navy in the world but I’m sure they could spend a few more hundred billion dollars to build more submarine and missile targets.
I have no idea about US maritime politics and environment and may be You are right but I see in Dr.Sal a great enthusiast and while following his utube channel and other sources where He is quite vocal, one can see a growing interest in maritime affairs among the public. From abt 200 views and few subscribers 6-7 years ago to sometimes up to 3.3 mln views and 560 K subscribers and finally participation in Senate hearing it is evident his voice i heard .
I will say it again…talk is cheap so propose anything you wish but until the leadership in both the Senate and the House are willing to not just back change but to actually fund it then NOTHING will happen. There is no way in hell will there be some great resurgence in US flag deepsea trade and shipbuilding without Federal government support in the way of subsidies or some other financial incentive to shipowners. Obviously some low hanging fruit would be reserving 50% of US energy exports for US flagged ships but now for more than a decade that has gone NOWHERE!
I am also going to make my position clear that Sal Mercagliano is no heavyweight to speak. He may have a doctorate but his position is at a very middling college nobody has ever heard of. If he were at the Naval War College or Postgraduate School then I’d say he deserves his accolades.
Agree. This is the only thing that matters in the entire subject: will you get 60 senators to vote to tax the American people more to subsidize the American merchant marine? Any other conversation, proclamation, or exhortation on the issue is useless.