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But why do it at all? There's no evidence that the Jones Act has worked. The US ship building industry lags far behind places like South Korea that churn out bi
by ch4s3 4y ago
But why do it at all? There's no evidence that the Jones Act has worked. The US ship building industry lags far behind places like South Korea that churn out bigger, better, and cheaper ships on a faster basis. South Korean ship builders aren't poorly paid either, they just have to compete on a global market.
- ceejayoz 4y agoI'm all for repealing it, but politics is frequently about compromises. Start with the most obvious need, prove the world doesn't explode when you do.
- ch4s3 4y agoI see your point, but a half measure is likely to stick around just as long as the Jones Act. If congress wants to phase it out and give some no interest loans to ship builders to modernize, then I guess I'm fine with that.
- tablespoon 4y ago> But why do it at all? There's no evidence that the Jones Act has worked. But there are more options than that, like strengthening the Jones Act to make it work better. It's a false choice to present the options as a binary repeal or keep.
- ch4s3 4y agoHow could you make it work better by strengthening it? There are decades of work in economics point to how shitty the Jones Act is. It punishes island territories and makes US ship building less competitive.
- tablespoon 4y ago> How could you make it work better by strengthening it? There are decades of work in economics point to how shitty the Jones Act is. So? Those people who did that "work" have certain priorities, but those priorities aren't the only ones. One annoying thing about economists (or at least many of the ones that spend their time pontificating to the public like this) and economics-minded people, is that they're almost always fixated on a small number of oversimplified metrics that they think should be overoptimism to the exclusion of all else.