The Jones Act, in place since 1920 …. “From 1970 through 2010, the Jones Act cost Puerto Rico $29 billion. Projected from 1920 through the present (2016), this cost becomes $77 billion.
This $77 billion cost is higher than Puerto Rico’s current public debt. In other words … had the Jones Act never existed, then neither would Puerto Rico’s public debt.”
See? the current debt was created by “American laws” …. tell me how if you broke it, own it, how can you NOT fix it???
The New York Times has agreed that the Jones Act must be removed in Puerto Rico. The Times editorial board stated that:
“Lawmakers should allow non-American ships to carry goods between the island and the mainland, which is prohibited by the Jones Act of 1920 to protect the domestic shipping industry. That will lower shipping costs to Puerto Rico, including those for oil and natural gas, an important consideration for an island economy.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/02/opinion/puerto-rico-needs-debt-relief.html?_r=0
Even the infamous Krueger Report, a neo-liberal concoction by three IMF economists, concurred that due to the Jones Act:
“All islands, remote from the centers of economic activity, suffer from high transportation costs. But Puerto Rico does so disproportionately, with import costs at least twice as high as in neighboring islands on account of the Jones Act, which forces all shipping to and from US ports to be conducted with US vessels and crews.” (
View original post 744 more words
It Is What It Is 
Pingback: New York Times calls for ending the Jones Act in Puerto Rico | Cabotaje.org