Antiquated and unjustifiable

        In the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Puerto Rico is devastated. Instead of easing the way to supply much needed bare necessities to the beleaguered island, US law actually restricts the supply of such goods. In an environment where morons like John Stossell scream "free trade" and the current president manufacturers his own logo gear 4000 miles from the closest non Guamanian resident of the USA, The Jones Act imposes ludicrous restrictions on the simple concept of moving supplies to and from "America's islands" be they states, like Hawaii or Alaska (not an island, but non contiguous) , territories like Guam, or just in limbo like Puerto Rico which can't seem to ever act in its own best interest re: statehood. (another story for another day)

      Passed in 1916, the Jones Act is blatant trade protectionism of the sort we would protest if imposed by another nation. It requires that any aid to Puerto Rico must be sent there in American flagged ships, built in American yards with American crews. This, while seeming to be reasonable in 1916, is onerous and illogical in the light of the massive changes in US merchant marine structures.


      The Jones Act as incepted prevents foreign-flagged ships from carrying cargo between the US mainland and noncontiguous parts of the US, such as Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Alaska, and Guam. Foreign ships inbound with goods cannot stop at any of these four locations, offload goods, load mainland-bound goods, and continue to US mainland ports. Although ships can offload cargo and proceed to the US mainland without picking up any additional cargo intended for delivery to the another US place. Usually, they proceed directly to US mainland ports, where distributors break bulk and then send goods to US places off the mainland by US-flagged ships, rather than steam from Hilo to San Francisco (for example) half empty.


       Arizona Sen. John McCain has (correctly) called it "an antiquated law that has for too long hindered free trade, made US industry less competitive and raised prices for American consumers." Nevertheless, Congress has consistently supported the Jones Act as vital to national security. (note: this in spite of the fact that any "bad guy" can leave a foreign flagged ship in an American port anyway, he just can't ship goods from one port to another. There have been zero instances of actual national security issues related to this situation, but to soothe the brows of American merchant seamen, the Act stands.) Some critics of the Jones Act have pointed to the fact that the Jones Act makes shipping between US ports so expensive that some Hawaiian ranchers actually fly cattle to the mainland rather than having them loaded and shipped on boats.

       Let's examine how this might affect Puerto Rico. In the current case, it means that a British flagged cargo ship bound for Puerto Rico from, say, the port of Miami, cannot take US supplies to the island. At the time of this arcane law's passage, the US had a large merchant fleet of US flagged ships and a thriving shipbuilding industry. Not so these days, as most major carriers build in Asia and flag in third world nations. This, of course, makes all of them ineligible to carry goods from the US to our non contiguous friends in HI, AK, Guam and Puerto Rico. in the same fashion, a cargo vessel headed to New York from Brazil, would be unlikely to divert to San Juan and offload construction materials because the law prevents them from then loading other cargo (say, Bacardi rum?) to refill their holds for the remainder of the trip.

       Stupid law? You bet your ass it is, and right now it is hurting our fellow citizens and Congress has no intention of fixing it. But never mind we'll obsess over taking a knee to take Puerto Rico's mind off its woes.