Problem solved. Robert Higgs looks at how the U.S. got into the ocean-shipping business and all the money that was wasted. The basic idea took shape in the midst of a “crisis”. The outbreak of World War I hampered trans-oceanic shipping and this had a large impact on trade. The solution? A government program to address the issue. To make ships, operate government run shipping lines and regulate and control shipping rates. President Wilson on the crisis,

The idea in the proposal is not that the government should permanently embark in these things, but that it should do the immediate and necessary thing…

Gee sounds like he could be talking about our current financial crisis. And consider that the U.S. government is still, to this day, heavily involved in the ocean-shipping business.