How can you help Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria? SPEAK UP! Tell your congressperson to exempt Puerto Rico from the Jones Act! The Jones Act is an outdated law from WWI originally created to promote US trade to compete with a new (at the time) German navy. Today, it serves to increase prices for states and territories who rely on imports from the mainland (Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico) From the article below: "Thanks to the law, the price of goods from the... mainland is at least double that in neighboring islands... which are not covered by the Jones Act. Moreover, the cost of living in Puerto Rico is 13 percent higher than in 325 urban areas elsewhere in the United States, even though per capita income in Puerto Rico is about $18,000..." Further- "A 2012 report by two University of Puerto Rico economists found that the Jones Act caused a $17 billion loss to the island’s economy from 1990 through 2010. Other studies have estimated the Jones Act’s damage to Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Alaska to be $2.8 billion to $9.8 billion per year. According to all these reports, if the Jones Act did not exist, then neither would the public debt of Puerto Rico." Speaking now on the immediate effects of the hurricane, they fare much worse. Numbers vary, but it's thought the power and running water will take up to 8 months to be fully restored across the island. It's been two weeks and 80% of the island is still without power. My extended family is rationing their food and water, and we don't know when this will end. They can only access cell service to call us for a few minutes per day. This story is not a unique one. These are American citizens and taxpayers living in this situation. Mainlanders need to do what can be done, and speaking out about the Jones Act will be a huge step to immediate relief and long term recovery.  Thanks for listening. Thanks for speaking. A quick article about the Act and its effect on PR: https://amp.usatoday.com/story/736610001/ A brilliant article with some more detail: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/opinion/hurricane-puerto-rico-jones-act.amp.html A tweet thread with my summary and a copy of this: https://twitter.com/FutureFlamingo/status/917402998073995264 These are at A4 size so please feel free to print and distribute! #PuertoRicoSeLevanta 🇵🇷
