Commercial ships of a nation, whether privately or publicly owned, and the personnel who operate such ships, as distinct from the personnel of naval vessels. Merchant ships are used to transport people, raw materials, and manufactured goods. Merchant fleets can be important economic assets for nations with limited natural resources or a small industrial base. By carrying the commerce of other nations on the seas, a merchant fleet contributes to its home nation’s foreign-exchange earnings, promotes trade, and provides employment. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (founded 1943) is in Kings Point, N.Y.

Merchant Marin

By Michael Alan Hamlin.

In the romantic comedy Maid in Manhattan starring Jennifer Lopez, a lowly maid in a five-star New York hotel lives a Cinderella-like fairy tale. Dressing up in clothes left behind in a room she is cleaning – as a lark – presents the opportunity to meet – and be appreciated by – a wealthy hotel guest played by Ralph Fiennes. The wealthy guest is swept off his feet, and a romance ensues.

In the no-so-romantic comedy, Maid in the Philippines, 170,000 domestic helpers from the Philippines who work in Hong Kong – and represent a whopping 71 percent of all domestic helpers in the former colony – get robbed by both Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-hwa
and Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Tung, desperate to rein in a growing budget deficit, slashed minimum monthly wages for domestic helpers last week and turned their lost earnings into a tax his government will collect from the maids’ employers.

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