[MissAmericanPie]

This is what happens when the United States props up European nations by destroying jobs here. We gave Germany the monopoly on building conventional submarines now Germany has refused to sell to Taiwan and now Israel.

Bring back the jobs and the freedom of the United States to protect itself and it's allies by reopening the shipyards and building our own conventional submarines again.

[Colorado Cowgirl]

The first submarine built in Germany was the Brandtaucher, designed in 1850. So they have had a monopoly, for a long time. We just got out of that business, and politics are always going to be involved; according to that governments policies.

[Ready4Freddy]

Which German shipbuilder was recently purchased by a company in an Arabian Gulf country?

Is this financing problem part of that? I’m concerned that Israel’s ability to get subs, let alone the financing, will be impacted.

[wolf78]

This is what happens when the United States props up European nations by destroying jobs here. We gave Germany the monopoly on building conventional submarines now Germany has refused to sell to Taiwan and now Israel.

Huh... that is complete hogwash! Germany has been selling subs and other military equipment to Israel for years and would happily continue to do so. However the first two subs were free. The third had a 50% discount and the next two 33%.

After the financial meltdown Germany has been one of the very few states not to let the deficit completely spin out of control. Social benefits were cut and cities have to make due without the large tax revenues from companies. So you can imagine the German taxpayer being happy about paying more at the local public swimming pool. In that policital climate it's just very, very hard to gift away a (few) hundred million dollars.

Of course, there's always the US / Obama solution: just print more money...