Apparently, piracy is not a recession-proof industry.
You have seven seconds to give your own version of the universal response to such a statement, a “Doy-hey!” for stating what on its face should be obvious…
But, you see, nothing actually happens in an economic setting unless an observer files an article or paper about it. And between Business Insider and the Christian Science Monitor declaring the last month to be dismal, we can now state with confidence that piracy off Somalia is not as lucrative as it has been. Between this and the US Attorney General getting a court to agree that an unwanted boarding can be ruled an act of piracy in the USS Ashland case, these are definitely lean times for pirates there.
Which, like all business cycles, is an inevitability. Yes, there is a down side to all motions, a bust for a boom. All we can do is try and stay on the ride long enough for the good part, then bail before it gets bad. Pirates have lean and fat times, home owners see devaluations along with increases, stocks take hits with their rises, such is the cycle. Hell, fourteen years ago, gold was going for $288 an ounce, and despite what some baboons have stated despite the foolishness they engendered, gold will well go down again barring an economy that shifts from following the Libor rate to one that determines wealth on how many shots you need to kill a rioter…
Do we want to see more pirates on the sea? Frankly, this is a business I would not mind seeing go into transition. If instead of pirates the men and women of Somalia could make a living by other, safer, legal means, that would be preferable. Not that they should lose the lessons gained from such experiences, the subject of a post slated for September 19th, but to be honest, there are better ways to earn a living than getting shot at by a joint naval task force…
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PS: Speaking of lean times, mention must be made of Byron Wilkins’ 1977 being a victim of the cycles mentioned above. He’s stated that if he can, he’d like to continue, though that as of this moment is up in the air. Which means that if you want to see his strip about a band of up-and-coming rockers from the 1970s have a chance to continue, now would be a good time to purchase some product from him; just sayin’ here…
James Ryan 