The tragedy that took place in the Mediterranean this past week, where six people died in a cruise line accident, is something we hope few can predict or prevent. More importantly it is something no one should endure, especially on a vacation. The official word from Carnival Cruise Lines, the “Miami based” company that owns Costa Cruises (which in turn owns the shipwrecked Costa Concordia), is that the blame rests squarely on the Concordia’s ship captain. But according to the Miami Herald, at least one local lawyer disputes that claim…
“There’s a big reason they immediately want to dump on the captain,” said attorney Mike Eidson, a Coral Gables personal injury attorney who has litigated against Carnival and others for decades…”they want to protect the industry and show that this is an isolated case. They need people to believe cruising is safe and this is a freak incident caused by the carelessness of one person.”
As the story develops, so will the details of who is really to blame. But the fact remains that Carnival Cruise Lines and its owners, the Arison family, haven’t always been the best in their business practices. A few thoughts to consider:
- “Miami-based” Carnival Cruise Lines is actually based in Panama, avoiding most US labor and tax laws.
- Being “Miami-based” also means it only employs 3,500 out of its 85,000 employees (or 4%) from South Florida; enough to fit in 1 of their 45 ships.
- It uses its multiple “bases” to avoid paying just about everyone’s taxes. Its global tax rate (meaning how much it pays anywhere is the world) is about 1%.
- According to Forbes magazine, its multiple bases and complicated contracts may make it harder for the victims of the Costa Concordia disaster to sue Carnival in court.
- Carnival gets unlimited water use from Miami, even during water shortages.
- Micky Arison, the CEO of Carnival and the owner of the Miami Heat, was given a $300 million ($6 million a year) welfare check from taxpayers to pay for the Miami Heat arena. Even though he promised to share the profits with taxpayers, us Miamians have yet to see a dime.
- Micky Arison’s late father and founder of Carnival Cruise lines, Ted Arison, renounced his US citizenship just to avoid paying estate taxes (that George Bush ended up repealing anyway).
- The Miami Dade inspector general is currently investigating Arison and the Heat to see if they are hiding how much they are making from the Miamians they owe.
There are many who defend the Arison family by saying they “do a lot” for Miami. After all, they helped found the New World Symphony. It is not clear to us at 1Miami if they do enough to justify the massive handout they get from our taxes as we have schools that sit in disrepair. There are also others that will point out that Micky Arison has suffered during the recession too, losing $1.3billion of his $5.8 billion fortune last year. But as the Miami New Times’ writer Tim Elfrink points out today , Miami is struggling harder than virtually every other city in the world to recover from the recession. The only difference is, most of us won’t get a $6 million dollar a year welfare check from our politicians to run our family business the way the Arisons do.
Sources:
- http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/16/2592796_p2/captain-to-blame-costa-chairman.html#storylink=cpy
- http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2000-02-03/news/the-deep-blue-greed/
- http://www.carnival.com/cruise-ships/carnival-magic.aspx
- http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/16/2592796_p2/captain-to-blame-costa-chairman.html
- http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2012/01/17/carnival-cruise-contract-poses-barriers-to-legal-claims/
- http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-11-28/news/fl-cruise-water-20111127_1_cruise-ships-largest-cruise-vance-gulliksen
- http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2000-02-03/news/the-deep-blue-greed/
- http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/01/micky_arison_and_miami_heat_st.php
- http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2000-02-03/news/the-deep-blue-greed/
- http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/01/micky_arison_and_miami_heat_ge.php
- http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/01/miami_hit_harder_by_recession.php
