[DoodleDawg]

Did it occur to you that the factors that drove American manufacturers to downsize (through off-shoring and automation) over the years included things like the Jones Act?

No. The Jones act has been around for almost 100 years. The steady offshoring of U.S. jobs is a lot more recent than that.

Something else to consider here is that some of the strongest lobbying pressure in Washington to keep the Jones Act in place comes from the U.S. railroad industry. Nothing pleases them more than a Federal statute that makes a competing industry prohibitively expensive.

You're kidding, right?

[Alberta's Child]

No. The Jones act has been around for almost 100 years. The steady offshoring of U.S. jobs is a lot more recent than that.

It wasn't feasible for the offshoring of U.S. jobs to occur until the mid-1950s, for a number of reasons. The Jones Act isn't the only factor, but it's one of many.

You're kidding, right?

No, I'm not. I happen to work in a field where it's helpful to know these things.