Not really. All the Jones act has done is make it impossibly expensive to ship things between US ports. It has reduced naval traffic in the US considerably which hurts American shipbuilders.
Conversely that naval traffic MUST be done on US-built ships with crews that no how to man them which is a national security thing. I don’t see how allowing foreign built ships ie foreign crews helps with that aspect. Consider that we’re trying to onshore industrial things precisely for that purpose now in preparation for a potential war with China over Taiwan.
I also challenge that it’s also impossibly expensive because it that were the case things in Puerto Rico would cost much more whereas they’re a little bit cheaper than Miami.
That’s not to say that the Jones act should have reforms applied, particularly with respect to helping Puerto Rico compete more fairly, but I don’t think it’s clearly one of those totally evil regulations that’s hampering US creativity and ingenuity from flourishing.
Is Puerto Rico getting its supplies from the USA or from foreign countries? If the latter, the Jones act doesn’t apply. This much more of a problem for Hawaii, since it is much farther away from foreign ports and shipping costs are much more substantial.
> Under the Jones Act, any ship carrying cargo and traveling between ports in the United States, or to the United States from a foreign country, has to be built in America and owned by an American
> Hawaii and Puerto Rico share many similarities. Among those is the devastating effect on island economies of the Jones Act, which prohibits international vessels from carrying cargo between U.S. ports.
The problem is that shipping is the only way to deliver lots of goods to Hawaii and Puerto Rico (origin of shipment doesn’t really matter here). Other states have terrestrial borders and thus don’t care as much.
I also challenge that it’s also impossibly expensive because it that were the case things in Puerto Rico would cost much more whereas they’re a little bit cheaper than Miami.
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...
That’s not to say that the Jones act should have reforms applied, particularly with respect to helping Puerto Rico compete more fairly, but I don’t think it’s clearly one of those totally evil regulations that’s hampering US creativity and ingenuity from flourishing.