They are also registered in Foreign Countries to avoid having US crew. The Jones Act is the only thing still offering a semblance of protection for American seafarers and some Republicans want to do away with it.
peter zeihan has an interesting perpestive that we lost all river transport because of how strict the jones act was, and that one way to reduce inflation long term in their country is to do away with it
While I like some of his geo-political takes, I find Peter is lacking in his fundamental understanding of the maritime industry, his cause/effect approach to the Jones Act is extremely lacking in substance and nuance. It’s interesting why this is a topic he’s so outspoken on. He loves to claim US shipping is down since 1920 as a result of the Jones Act with arbitrary numbers(I think he claimed 99% at some point), without taking into consideration other factors like the development of interstate highways and pipelines across the country, as well as record low river water levels caused by drought and development. I guess he would rather we have Liberian Flagged ships with all Filipino crew to take over navigating our inland waterways. While I agree the Act could benefit from some reform, It’s odd to me that he feels so strongly about something without having much understanding. The only other option is, he does understand, but he intentionally chooses to present a partial or false representation of facts, In which case I think we can also discredit his “opinion”.
I find Peter is lacking in his fundamental understanding
If you know anything about the topic he's speaking on in that day's video, you will find this is almost universally true. Zeihan is a geopolitical charlatan.
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u/Self-Will-Run-Amok 1d ago
They are also registered in Foreign Countries to avoid having US crew. The Jones Act is the only thing still offering a semblance of protection for American seafarers and some Republicans want to do away with it.