

Indentured Piratude - DuncanKinney
http://www.unlimitedmagazine.com/blog/?p=3247

======
ChuckMcM
tl;dr version - pirate gangs sell stimulants to pirates on 'credit' which they
can work off with their piracy.

I love the title, it captures basically the whole article.

I am also entertained by folks who feel like its newsworthy that economic
relationships in crime are the same as they are in non-criminal enterprises. I
explained it once that economic relationships are like algebra, they make no
judgement on the numbers they represent, they simply exist in form.

People were appalled and astonished by giving bonuses to people in the
financial industry in firms that were participated in the disasterous policies
there. And the argument was that you want qualified people running these
things and if we don't pay these sorts of bonuses they won't come work for us.
And Bank of America was trying to find a new CEO [1] in Oct 2009 under the
imposed rules (because they had bailout money) and made zero headway on
filling the position [2][3] even though the salary it was offering was quite
high.

So pirates are developing their business models through experience, trial, and
errors. And the economics prices out the cost of capital, the cost of labor,
and the required distribution to keep it all running smoothly.

[1] <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125545433529782763.html>

[2]
[http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/17/news/companies/bofa_ceo/inde...](http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/17/news/companies/bofa_ceo/index.htm?section=money_latest)

[3]
[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870395490457459...](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703954904574596413322674146.html)

------
Shenglong
_Though it varies by country, generally peacetime law in the 20th and 21st
centuries has not allowed merchant vessels to carry weapons. As a response to
the rise in modern piracy, however, the U.S. Government changed its rules so
that it is now possible for US flagged vessels to embark a team of armed
private security guards. Other countries and organisations have similarly
followed suit._

Curious to see how the pirates adapt...

[1][http://af.reuters.com/article/somaliaNews/idAFLDE71E1F520110...](http://af.reuters.com/article/somaliaNews/idAFLDE71E1F520110215)
[2]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_Somalia>

