What You Probably Won't Hear Tonight

The Tribune has an article up about possible crises the next president might face but aren't being addressed at the moment. I agree that all of them are valid concerns although I think some of them have been addressed on the periphery. The one they list that concerns me the most is mounting debt.

Bad balance sheets: U.S. debt in Asia grows by billions of dollars every day. The future unfunded costs of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security could total more than $60 trillion, according to Cato.

On other problem, although maybe not at the level of what the issues the Tribune addresses, is high seas piracy. International shipping is something of a fascination for me. I can't at any point claim extensive knowledge or even any real life experience but I tend to read articles about shipping and piracy as I come across them and have read a couple books on the issues. There are a few bottlenecks in the world of shipping and many of them are plagued by piracy. People don't hear about it for the most part. The on going standoff off the coast of Somalia is a rare exception.

The most recent book I read pointed out that modern day pirates are pretty much able to board and take control of ships at will. A lot of this ability comes from the fact that there are so many ships out there and most are not vigilant in their defense. Even those that are can be taken over with relative ease by armed, violent men.



One bottleneck, the Malacca Straights is crowded with ships and a large percentage of world trade, including oil, goes through these waters and experiences a high rate of piracy. When pirates take control of a ship, that ship is often left steaming with no one at the helm. If a VLCC gets into this situation it could lead to a vast, vast environmental disaster and shut down or reroute (at greater expense) of a lot of the world's shipping. The economic effects could be huge.