Episode 524: Mr Jones' Act

Note: This episode originally aired in March, 2014.

There's an obscure law that governs just about anything that travels by ship from one port in the United States to another U.S.-based port — bananas, hairdryers, gasoline, even people. Economists do not like it. It's called the Jones Act and it just won't go away.

If you want to send a bunch of oranges by truck from Florida to Baltimore, no one cares who made the truck. Or if you want to fly computer chips across the country, it's fine if the plane is made in France. But if you want send cargo by ship, according to the Jones Act, the ship has to be American made.

It's a 90-year-old law and, among other things, it says that every time you want to send something from one US port to another, the cargo must travel on a ship built in the U.S., staffed by mostly Americans, and flying the American flag.

Today on the show, we look at the all the unexpected places this law pops up from cruise ships, to cattle farms, to New Jersey, where, a few winters ago, we met a guy who really, really needed some salt.

Music: "60's Quiz Show" and "For the Old Souls." Find us: Twitter/Facebook.

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