The Great Shipbuilding Debate with Lance Lemcool and Colin Grabow

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The wide range of opinions on the right path forward to revitalize American shipbuilding gave us an idea: how about having a couple previous guests with differing opinions on to debate them?

Many thanks to Colin Grabow of the Cato Institute and Lance Lemcool, a career shipbuilding executive, for taking on the challenge!

For background on each, tune in to their previous individual episodes with us:
Lance - https://youtu.be/DGiAzabXwro
Colin - https://youtu.be/hW1Hdlor0II

Lance is cautiously optimistic about President Trump's Maritime Action Plan and the SHIPS Act, emphasizing the need for government subsidies to revitalize the industry. Colin is skeptical, noting the U.S. has averaged 0.15% of global shipbuilding output over the past decade, ranking 19th in 2024. Both agree on the historical ineffectiveness of government policies and the need for a robust commercial shipbuilding industry for national security. They debate whether government subsidies or leveraging allied shipyards is the better approach.

These guys both really know their stuff, and they represented their differing views with great expertise and exemplary respectfulness. It's nice to see that reasoned debate still exists!