It just never stops.
American mariners take it on the chin once again, this time because Puerto Rico needs a bailout? Bullshit.
I can’t read the article (no wsj account) but it’s no doubt full of the usual self-serving bullshit. Americans cost too much bla bla bla. What a slap in the face to the crew of the El Faro. Did the half- wits who wrote this tripe do a little happy dance when the ship sank?
Fuck em.
[QUOTE=catherder;185523]I can’t read the article (no wsj account) but it’s no doubt full of the usual self-serving bullshit. Americans cost too much bla bla bla.[/QUOTE]
I think Puerto Rico costs us too much. If they want to hand their welfare checks over to some foreign flag company then maybe it’s time to just set them free of the tyranny of a mainland American standard of living and the costs that go along with it.
Cut the cord … freedom for PR … end American colonialism … and by the way Abniel, get a visa if you want to go to Noo Jork to spend your welfare check.
[QUOTE=catherder;185523]I can’t read the article (no wsj account) but it’s no doubt full of the usual self-serving bullshit. Americans cost too much bla bla bla. What a slap in the face to the crew of the El Faro. Did the half- wits who wrote this tripe do a little happy dance when the ship sank?
Fuck em.[/QUOTE]
Hmm. I was able to read the article when someone I know posted it from Facebook.
By KELI’I AKINA and ANDY BLOM
June 5, 2016 5:49 p.m. ET
52 COMMENTS
Congress is wrestling with legislation to put Puerto Rico back on its feet while avoiding a taxpayer bailout or chapter 9 bankruptcy. Legislation empowering a strict fiscal-control board is an important first step. But lawmakers also need to implement policies that enable the Puerto Rican economy to grow. Exempting the territory from the Jones Act would be a good start.
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, better known as the Jones Act, specifies that ships carrying cargo between two American ports must be built in the U.S. and be 75% owned by American citizens. Further, at least 75% of a barge’s crew must be U.S. citizens, and it has to fly the American flag.
In practice, the law has been incredibly damaging—to Puerto Rico as well as Hawaii, which has its own economic worries. One study estimated that the Jones Act has cost Puerto Rican residents $29 billion in the past 40 years. The cost of shipping a 20-foot container from any U.S. port to Puerto Rico is twice as expensive as shipping to the virtually equidistant Dominican Republic, a 2012 Federal Reserve Bank of New York study showed.
This makes most aspects of everyday life more pricey. A vehicle costs $6,000 more in Puerto Rico than on the mainland, and food is twice as expensive as in Florida. Energy can cost two or three times more per kilowatt-hour than on the mainland, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Because of the Jones Act, liquefied natural gas cannot economically be imported to the island.
The fleet of U.S. vessels that comply with the Jones Act has dwindled to fewer than 100 today, from 2,300 in 1946. Many of those ships are antiquated and expensive to maintain. Allowing “international relay”—that is, a non-Jones Act ship on a single voyage transferring goods between two U.S. ports—would bring significant relief to Puerto Rico.
The Jones Act also damages Hawaii, which is the next-highest state or territory in debt service. Puerto Rico needs Jones Act relief to survive, and Hawaii needs it to avoid becoming Puerto Rico.
The congressional Republican Study Committee in February released a statement explaining that it didn’t support a bailout for Puerto Rico but instead wanted “pro-growth reforms that would alleviate the burden that current federal policies place on the territory.” Why not Jones Act reform for Puerto Rico? An exemption was made for the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1922. Congress could alleviate Hawaii’s burden at the same time by reforming this anachronistic, anti-growth law.
Mr. Akina is the president and CEO of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. Mr. Blom is the executive director of Grassroot Hawaii Action.
And yet Puerto Rico is jonesing (forgive the pun) to join the Union as a full fledged state. WTF? Over.
[QUOTE=Lee Shore;185540]And yet Puerto Rico is jonesing (forgive the pun) to join the Union as a full fledged state. WTF? Over.[/QUOTE]
Let them join the USA and pay taxes or get out of USA territory status. Currently they pay no federal income tax on money earned there as we all know.Their corrupt oligarchy in coordination with the corrupt USA oligarchy have used the island of Puerto Rico as a personal piggy bank for many years with the US taxpayer footing the bill for their failures as well as providing some form of welfare to well over 30% of the population so they don’t get too hungry, rise up and revolt.
Enough. Let Spain have them back, Spain has been laughing since they let us “win” this jewel. We could pay every mariner that would lose their Jones Act job 10 million dollars each and come out WAY ahead.
[QUOTE=tengineer1;185544]Let them join the USA and pay taxes or get out of USA territory status. Currently they pay no federal income tax on money earned there as we all know.Their corrupt oligarchy in coordination with the corrupt USA oligarchy have used the island of Puerto Rico as a personal piggy bank for many years with the US taxpayer footing the bill for their failures as well as providing some form of welfare to well over 30% of the population so they don’t get too hungry, rise up and revolt.
Enough. Let Spain have them back, Spain has been laughing since they let us “win” this jewel. We could pay every mariner that would lose their Jones Act job 10 million dollars each and come out WAY ahead.[/QUOTE]
Puerto Rico is a loose end from the turn of the 19th century and it’s been tagging along living off the ♫yankee dollah♫. Why did we not deal with this shit 30 or 40 years ago when it was just rearing up its head.
Puerto Rico was the first gate the Soviets would have to pass en route from the Atlantic to Panama and Central America. It guarded eastern Cuba and extended air and sea protection to the eastern approaches to the Caribbean Sea. It was valuable in the Cold War.
[QUOTE=DeckApe;185557]Puerto Rico was the first gate the Soviets would have to pass en route from the Atlantic to Panama and Central America. It guarded eastern Cuba and extended air and sea protection to the eastern approaches to the Caribbean Sea. It was valuable in the Cold War.[/QUOTE]
That was the story everyone was told. Puerto Rico was going to fire cannon balls from their forts to stop the invading Soviets or launch their sailing armada to stop the communist navy? Even during the cold war their were more modern things like missiles, submarines, aircraft carriers etc., available to stop the Soviets. Nah, it was colonialism pure and simple which benefited a very few. Most countries discovered many years ago that colonialism was a sure way to bankrupt a nation. The US people were and still are rather ignorant in that respect.
[QUOTE=tengineer1;185558] Most countries discovered many years ago that colonialism was a sure way to bankrupt a nation. The US people were and still are rather ignorant in that respect.[/QUOTE]
As a nation we are ignorant about a lot more than that … while being fat dumb and lazy was easy, PR lobbyists paid their congressional lapdogs to ensure that American drug companies received $ billions in tax breaks that were in reality subsidies to move their operations out of the US. Puerto Rico became an offshore haven for any business that needed a legal way to dump American taxes and labor laws.
http://www.financialmail.co.za/features/2016/03/10/pharmaceutical-industry-a-dose-of-reality
Meanwhile, the poor colonials who claim to be starving because of the Jones Act seem to have $ billions left over from their welfare checks to blow on dope.
My take on this is that the anti American jobs crowd who are clamoring for an end to the American merchant marine are using a few Hawaiian and Puerto Ricans who would like to get a bit fatter off the few American taxpayers who still have a job to promote their own personal financial ambitions.
Let’s eliminate the few cents additional shipping costs that Puerto Rico residents have to pay so that Americans can provide the $ billions in welfare each year by eliminating those welfare payments. A few million of the billions saved could subsidize shipping costs and keep Americans employed and paying taxes, which seems to be something Puerto Ricans are incapable of doing themselves.
It is long past time to cut that island loose, free them from our oppression. Let Puerto Ricans regain their independence and dignity, let them enjoy the pride that comes from being a self supporting economy that doesn’t depend on expensive American shipping to provide their island paradise with the standard of living they have earned and so rightly deserve. Free Puerto Rico … now!
[QUOTE=DeckApe;185557]Puerto Rico was the first gate the Soviets would have to pass en route from the Atlantic to Panama and Central America. It guarded eastern Cuba and extended air and sea protection to the eastern approaches to the Caribbean Sea. It was valuable in the Cold War.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, let’s not forget all those Puerto Rican patriots who closed that gate on the Soviet ships full of ballistic missiles bound for Cuba at the height of the Cold War.
Oops, almost forgot … they left the gate open and the Soviets sailed right past the island while the guards were cashing their welfare checks.
Cut them free and let then join their socialist Latin American brothers in Cuba and Venezuela. . .
[QUOTE=cmakin;185575]Cut them free and let then join their socialist Latin American brothers in Cuba and Venezuela. . .[/QUOTE]
They’ll just apply for foreign aid.
[QUOTE=Lee Shore;185582]They’ll just apply for foreign aid.[/QUOTE]
What makes you think they would even have to apply? Enough of the billions in welfare our Congress sends them now will find its way back to DC to make sure the cash keeps flowing.
That is not even considering that the merest whiff of casting them adrift will lead to the biggest legal “boatlift” in history as the colonials abandon the island to live the good life on mainland American welfare.
[QUOTE=Flyer69;185536]Hmm. I was able to read the article when someone I know posted it from Facebook.[/QUOTE]
Yep.
Tripe. All of it.
I feel that MARAD could come up with a better response. With the new panamax box ships and the problem with port draft restrictions Why not turn Roosevelt Roads into a container transshipment facility. Put in 4 berths for big box ships and transfer to LNG powered shuttles for smaller US ports like Boston, Providence, Wilimington, De and NC, Jacksonville, Mobile etc. All we’re going to do with mega box ships and a limited number of mega ports is build more road + rail congestion. Might be the only chance for small ports to stay in the game. Might also be possible to consider robot ships going into PR, can’t see how that would work into NYC or Norfolk.
[QUOTE=catherder;185604]Yep.
Tripe. All of it.[/QUOTE]
Roger that !!!
All you have to do is look at the bios of the authors to see where this shit is coming from.
[QUOTE=Flyer69;185607]Roger that !!!
All you have to do is look at the bios of the authors to see where this shit is coming from.[/QUOTE]
Agree, the WSJ is part of the neo-liberal media.
Puerto Rico is a drain on the USA and they out rank other leech states like Mississippi, New Mexico, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, South Dakota, Kentucky and Montana which are among the top 10 that receive much more in federal benefits than they pay in. The more civilized are getting tired of supporting the less civilized I suppose. 
Shit, try living here and seeing it first hand. Stand behind someone at the register in Walmart and watch them slide that EBT card for Doritos, cokes, little Debbie’s and sour patch kids. Then they walk out to a car that has more money in rims and tires than my whole car costs.
1 Like
[QUOTE=tengineer1;185610]Agree, the WSJ is part of the neo-liberal media.
Puerto Rico is a drain on the USA and they out rank other leech states like Mississippi, New Mexico, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, South Dakota, Kentucky and Montana which are among the top 10 that receive much more in federal benefits than they pay in. The more civilized are getting tired of supporting the less civilized I suppose. ;)[/QUOTE]
what about Alaska? There is no bigger bloodsucking slug attached to the Federal piggybank than our friends up in that Appalachia of the North.