National Maritime Day is observed on May 22. Unfortunately, this “Island Nation” – with its deep maritime heritage – has little to celebrate in recent decades, with fewer and fewer US flag ships and American crews.

Little known fact: There are no major American Flag ocean-going passenger ships competing in the US-driven $40 billion-a-year cruise ship market operating out of the continental United States.

On June 14, we celebrate Flag Day – another sad story when it comes to the US economy, US jobs, and national pride. World City America has been sending its annual Flag Day flyer (left) to every Member of Congress, and other key government officials, for years.

Isn’t it about time that our government put the American Flag and thousands of American jobs into that $40 billion-a-year action?

In terms of the American Flagship Project, it can be done at no cost to the taxpayers and without enlarging the national deficit. So why isn’t it being done? Politics. Rich foreign-flag lobbies and the sad fact that most Members of Congress think the cruise industry already is an American industry (as it should be).

But, in fact, only the passengers and the revenue stream are American. The ships are built abroad, with mostly foreign government financing and often hidden subsidies; the flags are ‘flags of convenience’; the crews, except officers, are underpaid third world labor; and the cruise companies (most of them operating right here in the United States) don’t have to pay Uncle Sam taxes on their payrolls or profits, nor abide by American safety, labor, or environmental ‘rules of the road’. Appearances can be deceiving. Get the facts. Take a stand.

Support the American Flagship Project.