Jones act hurting Puerto Rico?

[Radiopeg]

What if this was Hawaii? https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/...=emaildkre Rebuilding will take a lot of materials. It could happen here.

Peace and long life

[Obie]

Fake news.

"The agency has in the past waived the rule to allow cheaper and more readily-available foreign vessels to supply goods to devastated areas. But DHS said Tuesday that waiving the act for Puerto Rico would not help the U.S. island territory due to damaged ports preventing ships from docking."

All the ships in the world would do no good if there is nowhere to park them.

However , watching the destruction and the peoples struggles are all good lessons we can all learn from in Hawaii

[kalakoa]

All the ships in the world would do no good if there is nowhere to park them.

Who cares how much new ports will cost when there's Federal bailout money to be had?

[MarkD]

Here's a commentary that seems a bit more detailed on the problems with the Jones Act. Several quotes:

"This is a shakedown, a mob protection racket..... studies have estimated the Jones Act’s damage to Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Alaska to be $2.8 billion to $9.8 billion per year.....Food costs twice as much in Puerto Rico as in Florida..... "

"After World War I, America was worried about German U-boats, which had sunk nearly 5,000 ships during the war. Congress enacted the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, a.k.a. the Jones Act, to ensure that the country maintained a shipbuilding industry and seafaring labor force...Almost a century later, there are no U-boats lurking off the coast of Puerto Rico."

There are no U-boats lurking off of Hawaii either....

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/opinion/hurricane-puerto-rico-jones-act.html?mcubz=0&_r=0

[kalakoa]

$2.8 billion to $9.8 billion per year

But the legislation is protecting 110,000 "US" jobs. No price is too high.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

All the ships in the world would do no good if there is nowhere to park them.

They figured it out on D-Day, in Normandy. It's not so much the how, as the will to make it happen.
Example: Military ships with supplies and helicopters (sorry Punawebbers) could dock off Puerto Rican metro areas, then fly food and water to small multiple landing and staging areas.

Think about Big Island. After a disaster an area in Prince Kuhio parking lot in Hilo or Malama Market parking area in Pahoa could quickly be cleared well enough for a helicopter to fly over your house, and land there.

The Donner Party really wasn't that great of a party, was it?

[glinda]

Nope, it ain't the Jones Act. It's the fact that there is an infantile madman in the WH. Pure and simple, dethrone the racist bigot or else this sort of BS will continue long into the future.

As long as Trump is in power, if Hawaii were to have a natural disaster and need federal help we'd be screwed. We vote Democrat.

[kalakoa]

if Hawaii were to have a natural disaster and need federal help we'd be screwed

Didn't that already happen under a previous administration?

We vote Democrat.

Not to derail the thread, but there is effectively no difference between the two parties; this is by design.

[punaticbychoice]

kalakoa @ 09:22:18-
Yup. Agreed.

[punaticbychoice]

glinda @ 09:17:34-
All that needs to happen is a temporary waiver of the Jones Act- such as was done for Texas and Florida earlier
in the month- and they have land access- whats wrong here?
What indeed might happen to us in Hawaii under similar circumstances?