American Winter: Obama Turns His Back on Mariners and Farmers

As the 2012 Presidential election wound down, President Obama became increasingly vulnerable due to his lackluster performance in the debates and the fact that unemployment was hovering at 8.2%, an unacceptably high level for an election year. And despite declining membership, labor unions remained a powerful political force with an estimated 14.3 million members, and President Obama needed their support.

So, in conjunction with the AFL-CIO, the Maritime Labor Alliance--consisting of the American Radio Association, the Inlandboatmen’s Union, the International Longshoremen’s Association, the International Longshore & Warehouse Union, the International Organization of Master, Mates & Pilots, and the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association--endorsed President Obama, and nearly 65% of union members voted for him.

But, since winning the election, the Administration has turned its back on unions and the maritime sector. A few months ago, in a backroom deal, it cut cargo preference for food aid back from 75 to 50 percent, and a lot of jobs were lost in the maritime sector. Now the Administration wants to eliminate American participation in the food aid program entirely and simply send the money overseas to NGOs and foreign governments.

Washed His Hands and Sealed Their Fate

According to the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), there are seven billion people on the planet, and about 13% or 925 million of them are starving. FAO also says the recent increase in starvation is due to three factors: (1) neglect of agriculture relevant to very poor people by governments and international agencies; (2) the current worldwide economic crisis, and (3) the significant increase in food prices over the last several years, which has been devastating to those with only a few dollars a day – or week – to spend.

The U.S. also spends $14.1 billion on USAID projects each year, which is 1% of the federal budget. The federal government provides $1.5 billion in food aid per year to feed over 47 million people in poor countries, and the NGOs and charities would have us believe that the U.S. Merchant Marine and American farmers are the reason people are starving?

The NGOs simply want to control food aid funding at the expense of American jobs in the farming and maritime sectors. Losing more jobs in the U.S. will be devastating to a weak economy still trying to recover from the Great Recession. Since its inception in 1954, more than three billion people in 150 countries have benefitted from U.S. food aid. In renaming it the Food for Peace program in 1961, President John F. Kennedy famously said “Food is strength, and food is peace, and food is freedom, and food is a helping hand to people around the world whose good will and friendship we want.”

President Obama must understand that ending the current food aid program will change the game forever. NGO budgets will rise; foreign governments will pocket more money, and thousands of American farmers and mariners will lose their jobs. The impact will be felt both here at home and in the stomachs of millions of poor people around the world, who will be much hungrier. – MarEx

Tony Munoz is the Editor-in-Chief of the Maritime Executive Magazine & MarEx eNewsletter. He has 30 years of experience in the maritime industry, which includes working for West Coast steamship lines and PR consulting for some of the industry's largest companies. He can be reached at [email protected].