According to CNN’s top story a modern day pirate can make up to $40,000 per year. I’m assuming this is a low-level pirate not a First Mate. The article has some real gems such as these:
Why Piracy?
Since the days of Blackbeard, who sailed the seas in the early 18th century in a period known as the Golden Age of Piracy, countries with coastlines beefed up their navies and generally routed the robbers.
Yet analysts say two recent trends have led to a rise in piracy: access and opportunity.
As global commerce picks up, more and more of the world’s fuels, minerals and other crucial commodities travel by ship. Ninety-five percent of America’s foreign trade, for instance, moves by water, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.
And this:
And although the motive is still money, today’s pirates are a far cry from the eye-patched, peg-legged swashbucklers of Hollywood.
Awesome. But there’s hope right? Loannis Michaletos, security analyst for Greece-based Research Institute for European and American Studies doesn’t think so:
There’s a humanitarian crisis. There’s a food crisis, you have people who are desperate, and this is an easy way to supplement their income.
I am not optimistic for the future.
Either am I, Mr. Michaletos… either am I.
