The Ship That Couldn't Sink (George F. Smith)

George F. Smith compares the reckless policies of the Fed to those how ran the Titanic into an iceberg at full speed:

The Titanic tragedy is about the unexpected sinking of an unsinkable ship. In that respect, it is much like the American economy that many believed would stay fat and happy forever.

Built by the White Star Line in Belfast, United Kingdom, with funding provided by J.P. Morgan and his International Mercantile Marine Company, the RMS Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world when its hull launched on May 31, 1911 . Its aborted commercial career began on Wednesday, April 10, 1912 , as it departed Southampton , England for New York City. It sank in the early hours of April 15th after striking an iceberg shortly before midnight the day before. Employing the most advanced technology of its day, the ship was generally regarded as unsinkable, but ironically this reputation didn’t emerge until after it sank. With widespread publicity of the ship’s features and its experienced crew, the tragedy left many people in a state of shocked disbelief.

The ship had a capacity of 3,547 passengers and crew but only enough lifeboats (20) for 1,178 people. Still, the number of lifeboats exceeded the requirements of the British Board of Trade Regulations, which were based on a ship’s tonnage rather than the number of people a vessel could accommodate. Of the 2,223 people aboard its maiden voyage, 1,517 died. With passengers and crew strewn about the frigid water in the vicinity of the sinking ship, most people didn’t have time to drown. They died from hypothermia instead.

According to Wikipedia, “the Titanic had sufficient lifeboat space for all first-class passengers, but not for the lower classes. In fact, most third-class, or steerage, passengers had no idea where the lifeboats were, much less any way of getting up to the higher decks where the lifeboats were stowed.” Sixty-one percent of the first-class passengers survived, compared to 25 percent of the third-class and 24 percent of the crew. Third-class and crew accounted for 1,221 fatalities, or roughly 80 percent of the total.

What is Titanic telling us today?

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