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Comment by Cthulhu_ | Hacker News Reader

They're likely not going to go bust though; they have a fuckton of money, at worst the ships are going to be docked for a while until this blows over.

They won't make money, but they're not going to go bust.

I think this is a major problem with a lot of businesses; they consider time not spent earning money as loss, instead of just a period with less income. And I think it's the responsibility of ALL businesses to keep a savings account so they can weather economic downturns for a few months (at least 6), while paying their staff in full.

I mean it's only been a few months and they're already asking for handouts? Besides, whatever happened to pulling yourself up by the bootstraps and how communism and the state is evil?

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I’ve looked at their finances. A few very well may go bust. It’s incredible how many publicly traded companies are living paycheck to paycheck.

I don’t like the idea of bailing out debt-laden, mismanaged companies. Let them go into bankruptcy and let a more competent group of people buy them and run them. This is doubly true for Boeing. Get those monkeys out of the executive positions.

The ships aren't going to disappear, someone else will buy them and operate them.

Exactly. These companies will go bankrupt, but some savvy investors will snap up their assets on the cheap or bring them through bankruptcy and be back up and running on the other side.

Edit: My point being, we should let this happen. I see no reason to bail them out.

Well I don't know why we're surprised when the federal government does what they can to make sure companies don't retain earrings. The Accumulated Earnings Tax

>They're likely not going to go bust though; they have a fuckton of money, at worst the ships are going to be docked for a while until this blows over.

Why do people get this impression a pandemic, combined with an unprecedented economic drawdown, combined with one of the most vitriolic political climates we've ever seen is just going to "blow over", and in 6 months we'll be going along like nothing ever happened?

Covid19 might go away (or it might not, there's always that). But many things are going to change. Who's to say we don't now decide that cruise ships are a stupid idea, because they spread disease, pollute like crazy, don't pay taxes and need bailouts? Many industries disappear.

Cruise lines can borrow money at rock bottom interest rates. We do not need to bail them out. They don't even pay US taxes.

Royal Caribbean is borrowing at 6-7% according to a quick Google. And that is in good times.

No reason to believe they could attract better terms at a time like this

> I think this is a major problem with a lot of businesses; they consider time not spent earning money as loss, instead of just a period with less income.

It depends if you still have expenses, like e.g. rent.

Or employees.

The top has absolute power over the workers. This is the result of greed and extreme capitalism.

The reason to justify employers/share holders getting paid so much more than workers should be that they take so much more and higher risks.

Now we have it backwards. When business is profitable the top takes all the bonus and dividends. During downtime however, workers get to swallow all the loss.

AKA "Capitalism on the way up, Socialism on the way down".

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