[QUOTE=z-drive;171801]They’re very controversial but more complicated than just showing up with $500,000 in exchange for a green card. Jay peak in Vermont is a good example as well.[/QUOTE]
what are these complications to obtaining an EB-5 visa? also, do you support them or are you in opposition?
btw, who is Jay Peak?
you couldn’t follow the link? Jay peak is a place.
I support them because theyre giving out so many visas a year regardless, better for them to be tied to economic activity than not. I think successful people required to create jobs, in theory, are a good part of the “mix” of who gets a visa. And hell, they do it legally.
You have to Crete a certain number of jobs, it’s a million investment unless you’re in certain rural economic zones where it’s 500,000, just read up or I’ll sharpen my pointy stick
They’re not perfect by any means but in theory aren’t a bad idea.
Here is a well written response piece to the NR article. Click on the link so she gets the page views.
We all need to thank the author as well!
And pass that article along to every magazine or newspaper or politician or pundit who jumps on the anti Jones Act trolley.
Max Hardberger has good article on El Faro in Workboat. There is also a pro-Jones Act article by Ken Hocke.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;171848]Max Hardberger has good article on El Faro in Workboat. There is also a pro-Jones Act article by Ken Hocke.[/QUOTE]
Let me guess that the Max Turd blames the Jones Act for the loss of the EL FARO?
[QUOTE=c.captain;171851]Let me guess that the Max Turd blames the Jones Act for the loss of the EL FARO?[/QUOTE]
It is a fairly neutral article.
http://www.workboat.com/international-waters/el-faro-will-speak-for-itself-in-time
Look Jones Act Dudes (and DudeEttes),
There is a lot of money in the US looking for a place to make a big return. The turds at Goldman Sachs and others need to package and sell “deals” to ensure they get their 30 million annual bonuses (a low level turd), and the Big Turds need to turn deals ensuring a personal 60 - 100 million [U]a month[/U] on their 2&20 hedge fund splits (15% tax please … for the “risk” of doing it). And by the way, those figures may be closer to modest estimations, than wild eyed speculations.
Now, in 2015, it is legal to buy your US politician(s) and policy flat out.
It is no longer possible for a bunch of little working class guys to compete by banding together in a union, pooling their small monthly PAC contributions and greasing a few legislators into giving you a few minutes time to hear your pitch and allow you to have a little input at the committee stage. This is the way it worked when I was working the game, and let’s just say I know a guy that used to hand out the checks. And do battle with the minions of the Ag industry, who were nice enough to go to parties with and were great folk, but entirely devoted to their vision. At the time I used to mumble to my wife that I shoulda worked for the orange juice lobby … I would have slept easier because I would not have cared about the results. But I’m a shipmate and a seaman, and I believe in Amur’ca. I was raised that way. To look out for my neighbor.
Now, in 2015, the hedge fund wankers (or the surrogates therefor) can breeze into DC (or your district), drop a MILLION on a primary and boot your political dead ass if you aren’t voting their way. Or alternately, and more often, they can perhaps “lift your spirits” with a couple of million in a “non-co-ordinating 503©3 social action fund”, contributions should you just happen to see it their way.
And they do it all day long, every day to ensure the above results. The results being bonus or the great 2 & 20 split. there are only too many social climbing political pukes that will sell you and me and all of Amur’ca out for their personal, not shared with you, chance at the Congressional Golden Ring. I can think of one political turd that excels at this. For the love of God, how in the hell does a Senator earning 175k a year retire after 20 years in Congress, with a net worth of 13-15 million ? Give me a break. Worms, worms, worms. Another example, Our workin’ man’s hero Ted Cruz? His wife a VP at Goldman Sachs… Ahem…Just sayin.
Then comes the public relations campaigns. Some here on gCaptain mention maybe I can write well. I’m a debutante piker compared to the worms working the [I]News Media Yellow Book[/I] in DC. In support of a cause, any cause, the pros can drum up a set of facts, witnesses, aggrieved parties, winners, losers and sob stories to sell refrigerators to Eskimos, Congess and “the Nation.” They start selling the idea everywhere from Fox News to the NY Times, and the story begins to get some traction. Slowly, day by day, it emerges. Various “Institutes” and such lend great credibility to it all, and it gains traction. These guys and gals ae good at their jobs and very energetic. All the little factoids and article links someone is posting here about this and that…It is just the result of a planned campaign, basically organized by the 2&20 crowd that want to package another deal on Puerto Rico transport plays.
Hell, one time I ran into a whole nest of those promoters down Virginia way claiming to be working in support of America’s industries. As long as their work resulted in elimination of cargo preference that is … Do not doubt for a minute that the 20 & 30 something year old successors to those Worms are reading here to find hints, and see what chinks in the Jones Act armour exist to be exploited and presented in the morning meeting.
Anyway, This type of research and planted one sided story-telling is the root cause and source of the anti-this and pro-that drivel stories you see on your TV at night. Hell, my wife up and cancelled the cable here over a year ago, lest I go into fits looking at it. And I’m old enough to no longer give a hoot.
Shit, I can have 10 foreign flag container ships lying idle today, on that Jax - SJ route in 60 days if I get the green light. I already know the names of the ships and the Owners. And by the way, if I was a 2 &20 turd, I be running a play on German banks, as those idle ships came off their books. Yeah, there’s a REAL play we can put on margin, and tell the investors we used their money on, while we invest it on yet another deal we aren’t even telling them about. And write off the interest incurred taking the chance. And pay only 15% tax on the upside ! Booo, Booh yah !
Export US oil. There’s a great example for the Workin’ Man …
Why the HELL would the US export OIL, an item that we use more of, per capita, than any other nation on earth, and basically, always will? Like DUH.
After all, we are absolutely, rock solid sold on the idea that our economy needs OIL to run and be competitive, hence we won’t (cannot) sign onto any and all carbon emission reduction treaties, lest we instantly and irrevocably hobble the US economy. And besides, once we run out, we just have to turn around and import the crap, creating another set of transactional fees and hedging opportunities for the aforementioned Worms. Tanker day rates anyone? just sayin’
Then we turn around and EXPORT the damned stuff we say we absolutely depend on to survive as a nation. Sorry folks, that is talking out both sides your mouth at the same time. To put it plainly. Oh yeah, and for a well lubricated price, the bill just passed in the House. Freedumb! Freedum ! Freedum! Yeah, from what? Freedom from employment? Well, not in DC that is. THEIR jobs aren’t screwed.
So - when it comes to the Jones Act, the entire US flag situation is subject to the above outlined machinations and workings, which were not even a strategic possibility on the 1990’s.
New reality Dudes & DudeEttes.
They just moved the cheese, so to speak.
Hell, I’m not even fired up. Take a look at this video www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM and really think about it from a non-partisan view. I make a shitload of money, lots. But this 1% pool of money, looking for a better return, can swamp anything and everything you and I can put together in our own defense, except our votes. it’s all we’ve got left. In 2015.
I’m not against the guy or gal that gets a great idea and puts it into action for a profit. I’m all for it. But I’m against a bunch of traders selling the entire damned nation down the river for a buck, especially their working class neighbors who might not have had the same luck. And I am outraged at political wannabes selling out THEIR votes on important policy - because they were able to slide into a wet spot on the Hill courtesy of some double talk and some strategic but entirely “non co-ordinated” social action committee contributions. Yeah, right.
So today, I’m the guy that is throwing the rock through the plate glass, because it really, truly IS that bad - and if you think it ain’t … time to get your kids fitted for a McDonalds outfit.
Now you know why it is important to be informed about what affects YOU and vote, and to Thimk just a little before you do it. And I don’t want to hear any crap from WACT.
[QUOTE=Capt. Phoenix;171852]It is a fairly neutral article.
http://www.workboat.com/international-waters/el-faro-will-speak-for-itself-in-time[/QUOTE]
I am sorry but I don’t want to give credence to anything that fraud Max has to say.
Here is a better article…
[QUOTE=RespectMyAuthority;171864]I am sorry but I don’t want to give credence to anything that fraud Max has to say.
Here is a better article…[/QUOTE]
indeed sir! my man Tony Munoz puts these two punks in their place…and how!
By Tony Munoz 2015-10-14 16:24:05
“The error of youth is to believe that intelligence is a substitute for experience.” - Ernest Hemingway
The recent National Review article by Eftychis John Gregos-Mourginakis and Joshua Jacobs, “Bad Regulations Can Kill: El Faro’s Sinking Is a Tragic Example,” is a regrettable rant by two neophytes with little relevant business experience. While the nation mourns the loss of the El Faro and her crew, the young commentators blame it all on the Jones Act.
Gregos-Mourginakis just graduated from college in 2011, and his LinkedIn profile shows he has 154 connections. His profile also claims he was president and CEO of Ivory Elephant Consulting (2011) and a partner at Delamar Group, an online networking service. Now he boasts of being a director at Day & Partners, which is a financial startup in West Palm Beach.
The article’s co-author, Joshua Jacobs, is still in school and will graduate from Villanova Law in 2017. He spent the summer of 2015 as an associate at Rogers Castor. His LinkedIn group has 158 followers and his braggadocious resume boasts of being a founding partner of this, the president of that, a director of communications of whatever and an analyst of naught.
The neophyte commentators make a weak attempt to console the families of the victims by blaming a U.S. law, TOTE Maritime and the American Bureau of Shipping of being complicit in the deadly accident. They then jokingly equate the Jones Act with African ivory smugglers and say it is riddled with “petty regulations” that strangle domestic ship construction.
Their final stab at the Jones Act offers that it harms the United States and should be killed and the legislative repeal should be called the “El Faro Act.”
The Arrogance of Ignorance
Jones Act shipowners have poured tens of billions of dollars into building new vessels over the past decade. There are about 45,000 U.S.-flagged vessels working domestic waters, and each year about 2,000 of the ships are replaced by next-generation vessels. The U.S. owners build these vessels with their own money because there are no federal subsidies like there are in foreign countries – countries that would love to send their maritime fleets to sail along our coastlines and inland waterways.
Western European and American seafarers no longer dominate the high seas. Today, the majority of the world’s estimated 500,000 mariners are Filipino, Polish, Romanian and Indian. Many are from Third World countries and work under intolerable conditions for callous owners operating under questionable registries and flag states. Each year about 2,000 of them die while working on a vessel because there is not a more dangerous workplace than the open ocean.
To insinuate that TOTE Maritime was restrained by the Jones Act from providing a safe working environment for its seafarers is just plain ignorant. The U.S. Coast Guard and the American Bureau of Shipping constantly inspect the condition of vessels operating in the domestic trade, and no vessel is allowed to operate if it posed a danger to the environment or its personnel. In addition, work platforms and conditions are overseen by the Department of Labor, OSHA, and the labor unions representing the mariners.
Moreover, U.S.-flagged vessels already operate in the North American/Caribbean Emission Control Area (ECA) which, like other ECAs, has the strictest air pollution standards in the world. U.S seamen are the best-trained mariners in the world, and top maritime companies employ an auditing scheme called the Navigational Skills Assessment Program (NSAP) to ensure the highest standards of seamanship onboard domestic ships.
The U.S. has 96,000 miles of coastline and 22,000 miles of inland commercial waterways. Jones Act companies have in recent years modernized offshore support vessels in the oil patch and spent billions constructing double-hull tankers, articulated tug-barges, double-hulled barges, petroleum product tankers and the world’s most modern fleet of ferries, which shuttle more than 80 million passengers each year. LNG container ships and LNG fuel barges are also being constructed in the U.S. and will be entering domestic service later this year.
Meanwhile, special interests constantly bemoan the huge cost differential between U.S. and foreign shipping. But the differential is due to taxation, employee benefits (which are paid by owners), and better working conditions and higher environmental standards enforced by the government. Why should U.S. mariners lower their standards in order to compete with Third World mariners?
The 2008 Great Recession erased about a trillion dollars in wealth, destroyed eight million jobs and threw tens of thousands of people out of their homes. Millions of Americans remain out of work today, and many more millions are underemployed.
The Importance of the Jones Act
The Jones Act directly and indirectly employs over 500,000 workers and is responsible for $35 billion in GDP, $30 billion in labor compensation and $10 billion in taxes to federal, state and local governments. America is dependent on its domestic waterways for its economic health and survival – not to mention its national security.
As for you young wannabe commentators, let me reiterate what the founding editor of your publication, William F. Buckley Jr., once famously said: “I won’t insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.” But you need to apologize to the families whose loved ones were working at their professions when tragedy struck and to the maritime companies that are investing in the future of domestic commerce and, in the process, building a great nation that is the envy of the world. – MarEx
Tony Munoz can be reached at tonymunoz@maritime-executive.com
everyone here should email Tony and give him three thumbs up for his clearheaded and insightful commentary…I certainly will!
I read it and it is typical Max Turd fare…full to the brim of ridiculous statements without credible foundation or merit! No rebuttal to his idiotic screed tonight though…I am too tired to even type this. Tomorrow!
Great article by Mr. Munoz. Glad to see him putting the smack down on those writers. It’s annoying to see them, around the same age as me, completely insult our industry with what they wrote when I know they must have absolutely zero experience with the business of shipping.
[QUOTE=c.captain;171851]Let me guess that the Max Turd blames the Jones Act for the loss of the EL FARO?[/QUOTE]
Not at all. He says the loss of El Faro has nothing to do with the Jones Act. He says wait for the investigation to establish the facts before jumping to conclusions. He is still a phony mariner with a monkey flag license, but this article, while not perfect, is at least ok. It’s a world better than some of the other nonsense we are hearing.
Without the jones act American crew would be replaced by people from poor countries who will work for something in the region of $1000 per month.
It’s a tragedy that they died, but why were there 5 Polish nationals on board? Is all the crew not meant to be American?
[QUOTE=follow40;171923]Without the jones act American crew would be replaced by people from poor countries who will work for something in the region of $1000 per month.
It’s a tragedy that they died, but why were there 5 Polish nationals on board? Is all the crew not meant to be American?[/QUOTE]
The Poles weren’t crew, they were 3rd party technicians doing work underway.
[QUOTE=c.captain;171739]do you know anyone now can BUY themselves a Greencard and Permanent Resident status now if they arrive on US shores with $500k in a suitcase?[/QUOTE]
Does it [I]have[/I] to be in a suitcase?