[QUOTE=tugsailor;168518]1917 is too far back for me. I’m not that old.
Some of my family did not wait for the U.S. to get into the war. They went to Europe with Canadian Forces in 1939. Then again, some of the family didn’t come to America from Europe until after the war.
An uncle in the U.S. Merchant Marine had one ship torpedoed out from under him and he made port in France on another ship with a big hole through the side.
Without the U.S. Merchant Marine, the Norwegians (except those that came to America) would all be speaking German or Russian today.[/QUOTE]
Fair enough but is March 2015 too far back for you? Because that’s the date of the lastest British debt payment from WW1! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30306579
(And these are private bond payments, I believe some WW1 debt to the US is still outstanding.)
I’m in London without my external hard drove but I saved a financial document that showed US debt. When was the last time the US was debt free? 1917! I don’t remember the details but the document showed that much of our currnet debt can be traced to our myriad of efforts to stabilize Europe since 1917.
And what Chip said was MARAD’s biggest problem today was difficulty accessing capital for long term projects. Why can’t the government access capital? Because congress wants to reduce our debt.
Wait, does’t MARAD have it’s own money? Nope and I’ll let Mastoid explain why: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/federal-loans-bank-of-america-113920?o=0
P.S. if you still don’t think 1917 matter let’s stick to today… what are European nations fighting amongst each other about this month? Who is paying the cost of refugees! And how many European refugees via Ellis Island has the US supported, trained and assimilated since 1917? And who spent Trillions trying to stabilize the iraq in an attempt to prevent a militant organization like ISIS from destabilizing the region? And did European help or hinder those efforts?
And when did the middle east first start to destabilize? according to the British the problem can be traced back to… ding ding… 1917: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25299553
I don’t really care about ISIS and global threats in the context of this thread but I do very much care about the date 1917 because the 1920 Jones Act was first discussed in congress when? In 1917!!! That date is important.
Why is 1917 important? Because it was the year America first realized it needed to support Europe… And to support Europe you need ships!!
Therefor the whole point of the Jones Act, the reason it was written, was not to protect your job… it was written specifically to help Europe. And it has gone unchanged not because it helps you find a job but because it has served (effectively!) to protect Europe since 1917.
This is long winded but I wanted to provide context to my question… Why do Brits get pissy about the Jones Act? More specifically, why do they get pissy about an act specifically written to help them!?