[QUOTE=c.captain;156903]Steamer…you cut me to the quick here. I am a man who has closely followed the plight of the US Merchant fleet ever since the late 70’s and vividly recall the ending of all the subsidies provided for in the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 by none other than the Reagan Administration yet know nothing of this supposed desire to correct the harm caused by those actions by building a new fleet also by Reagan? Please elaborate for us who thirst for knowledge?[/QUOTE]
am going through my history looking for the webpage I took that from, so far can’t find it again but it was an editorial saying that Leback did the right thing in cutting the Reagan plan to add $13 billion for merchant ships to his 600 ship Navy fantasy. Leback evidently did this just after he was appointed by Bush. The one reference I have found so far is here: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/19/us/us-panel-warns-of-transport-ship-shortage.html
It read as if the Reagan administration supported (OK’d?) funding for building merchant ships but Bush cut it and focus on using the fantasy of “effectively US controlled ships” instead of American ships. I will keep looking for the article.