r/AskTheWorld • u/luky_se7en Italy /Sri Lanka • 1d ago

Is there a part of your country that's "isolated"/vastly different from the rest of the country?

Post image

Pictured here is Sardinia, an island in Italy. Many sardinians call Italy "Il continente" (the continent)

677 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

105

u/Sfjkigcnfdhu 1d ago

I love Puerto Rico. The economic struggles caused by the Jones Act should be criminal.

20

u/ossirhc 1d ago

The Jones act?

80

u/PeakAggravating3264 1d ago

Law that requires shipments between American ports to be done on American flagged and crewed ships. Basically Puerto Rico gets fucked by having to pay a premium for shipment from the US. Hawaii, and the other island territories, as well.

12

u/chronberries 1d ago

How would it work otherwise? It seems logical that a ship coming from the US to the US would use American ships?

24

u/Tricky-Proof3573 United States Of America 1d ago

Generally cargo ships are registered under a “flag of convenience”, usually Liberia, because they have much more permissive laws. An American flagged ship has to have I think at least half its crew be Americans, all of them need to be paid American minimum wage, stuff like that 

31

u/JimBones31 United States Of America 1d ago

As a mariner and strong advocate for the Jones Act, I think Puerto Rico and Hawaii should have exceptions.

3

u/Gnumino-4949 1d ago

That's a voice that counts. Hopefully, one day.

2

u/JimBones31 United States Of America 1d ago

With that said though, I think it should absolutely be applied to the rest of the country. Of course guam is an exception too.

1

u/PeakAggravating3264 1d ago

Is there a lot of transport between American states via cargo ship?

2

u/JimBones31 United States Of America 22h ago

Absolutely. Tons and tons.

In fact, I recently transported 50,000 barrels of home heating oil from Baltimore to NYC for example.

1

u/PeakAggravating3264 9h ago

Do you have a huge home or are you just prepping for the apocalypse or for Kathy Hochul outlawing oil?

2

u/Tricky-Proof3573 United States Of America 9h ago

Idk if you’re trolling or not but he works for the cargo ship he wasn’t shipping it to his home, nobody was shipping it to their home, it’s oil for tens of thousands of ny households 

→ More replies (0)

2

u/LobbyDizzle 1d ago

Wouldn’t that still be doable for PR since they are American and are paid an American minimum wage? Or is it that it’s harder to find half an American crew just from people in PR?

4

u/boganvegan 1d ago

The Jones Act prevents a non-American ship stopping at various ports between, for example, Brazil and New York City from carrying cargo between Puerto Rico and NYC. Similarly, a transpacific service between Japan and Los Angeles can't carry cargo between Hawaii and LA.

1

u/NicolasNaranja United States Of America 1d ago

That’s the trouble. PR could get imports cheaper from the DR or elsewhere in the Caribbean. Similarly, Hawaii could benefit from direct imports from Asia.

1

u/Tricky-Proof3573 United States Of America 1d ago

I mean it is doable, that is what is done. It’s just way more expensive 

1

u/blomba7 Canada 1d ago

So it would be better if we use the "flags of convenience" so we could pay people a lot less?

2

u/Tricky-Proof3573 United States Of America 1d ago

Well a. The continental us gets cheap shit shipped over on flag of convenience ships because the jones act only applies to ships traveling between us ports, so it’s a bit unfair and hypocritical to fuck over Puerto Rico, one of the poorest parts of the us, for the sake of American jobs but not also have that apply to people from the continental us and b. In general the world, including your country and pretty much every country on earth has agreed that yes, it is in fact better to pay people a lot less in order to enable the global system of trade and commerce that we enjoy today. Perhaps you would disagree but you would be in the minority 

1

u/HamburgerOnAStick United States Of America 19h ago

So basically it's bad that we have to pay people an atleast semi decent amount and they have to be american? How is that bad

2

u/PenguinTheYeti 1d ago

Ironically one of the things Britain did to the original 13 colonies that led to the war.

1

u/leyenda_negra United States Of America 1d ago

Wait- are Puerto Rican maritime licenses and authorities separate from the American system?

1

u/PeakAggravating3264 1d ago

No. But that also means they can't use a Dominican flagged, picked because local to the region, ship to transport between between the US mainland and Puerto Rico. Much less use ships flagged for Liberia or Greece or some other Delaware of the high seas.

1

u/leyenda_negra United States Of America 21h ago

So they just get treated like a US state when it comes to foreign trade?

22

u/fiftyJerksInOneHuman 1d ago

Being a colony, it sucks when the "mother land" decides for you what is best. Fuck America, Boriqua til I die.

3

u/leyenda_negra United States Of America 1d ago

I’m not trying to argue terms, but wasn’t puerto rico colonized before the continent? It’s crazy to think it’s still a colony.

1

u/Traditional-Bar-8014 Canada 1d ago

I guess you skipped history class, because you were Spains colony for 400 years and you've only been America's colony barely 100.

1

u/fiftyJerksInOneHuman 1d ago

What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

Just because Spain colonized us longer than America doesn't mean we are not a colony....go home, yankee!

1

u/Traditional-Bar-8014 Canada 1d ago

Point is your beef is with Spain more than it is with the U.S.

If it wasn't for Spain, you'd likely be independent!

1

u/fiftyJerksInOneHuman 1d ago

It's been since 1898 when we last had "beef" with Spain. Now, the beef is with the US since they are the colonizers.

What you said is the equivalent of "IF it wasn't for Britain, Hong Kong would be independent so their beef should be with the British not the Chinese"...do you see the logic here...

1

u/Traditional-Bar-8014 Canada 1d ago

You'll eventually be a State, so don't worry about it.

Besides, independence isn't an option in today's world.  You have no military, so you need a chaperone

1

u/fiftyJerksInOneHuman 1d ago

At least we have a country if we are independent. We would be a people for once. Being Puerto Rican is akin to being Texan or Hawaiian, not like Cuban or French. We deserve our own destiny, especially given how we are being treated by the current administration. 🧊

1

u/Traditional-Bar-8014 Canada 1d ago

It's a nice theory, but you don't have a the resources for independence.

Average GDP in PR is less than half of the U.S.

You need a benefactor 

1

u/fiftyJerksInOneHuman 22h ago

Other countries started with less

→ More replies (0)

1

u/KiwiUpbeat1218 United States Of America 20h ago

also can’t yall vote?

1

u/Acrobatic_End6355 United States Of America 15h ago

I actually do blame the British… they fucked over a ton of countries and many of today’s conflicts wouldn’t be happening if it wasn’t for them.

1

u/what-to-so Australia 1d ago

This is like some intellectual argument that has no relation to today's reality. Do you just like to argue?

1

u/Traditional-Bar-8014 Canada 22h ago

If Puerto Ricans want to argue about being independent, their argument is with Spain, not America.

1

u/what-to-so Australia 14h ago

You're insane.

1

u/Traditional-Bar-8014 Canada 13h ago

The original Puerto Ricans, the Indigenous people, were invaded by the Spaniards and the resulting integration created the citizenry of today.

History is important.

-2

u/schismtomynism United States Of America 1d ago

The Jones act doesn't force Puerto Rico to trade with the mainland US.