We recently attempted to order a cabinet from a Seattle furniture dealer, priced at $1,133.
Shipping in the contiguous states was $211, but to Hawaii the cost was $988, almost the cost of the item.
Although the cabinet was made in Taiwan, it could not be off-loaded in Hawaii but rather had to be shipped to the West Coast, then loaded onto an American ship for the costly backward journey to Hawaii.
Welcome to the 1920 Jones Act, which mandates that all goods — even from Asia — be shipped to the islands by expensive American-built, -owned, -flagged and -crewed ships.
Called “an idiotic rule” by The Economist magazine, reliable sources estimate the Jones Act increases our cost of living by at least one-third above the mainland average.
The U.S. International Trade Commission reported that Jones Act shipping costs are 82 percent higher, about $600 million annually than competing foreign vessels.
State Sen. Sam Slom researched that shipping a 40-foot container from Los Angeles to Shanghai costs $790 versus $8,700 for the same container to ship from Los Angeles to Honolulu.
Hawaii’s dramatic loss of dairies, poultry farms and reduced agricultural production can be attributed largely to the high cost of shipping in Hawaii.
Shipping industry interests and unions have significantly funded all of our congressional members, past and present.
Indeed, USA Today reports that the Jones Act is “ferociously defended by dedicated lobbies,” including the AFL-CIO and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
Hawaii’s congressional delegates are supporters of the Jones Act who see no reason to exempt Hawaii from an artificially imposed financial burden that increases the cost of everything — housing, education, healthcare, energy, business — and decreases the quality of life and opportunities for everyone in Hawaii.
Our high cost of living limits the future for our youth. Our brightest and highest educated will continue to leave for better paying careers, affordable homes, lower taxes, better educational opportunities and lower costs of living.
Before our eyes, Hawaii is becoming a paradise for wealthy foreigners and mainlanders populated by locals who continuously struggle against increasing living costs from which the poor and increasing homeless suffer disproportionately.
There is hope for Hawaii’s future, if people speak out against this economic injustice.
Ask our congressional leaders why they continue to support the Jones Act monopoly that protects and enriches politically powerful maritime shipping interests and unions on the backs, and from the pockets, of Hawaii’s struggling people.
Ask why:
>> Hawaii is denied access to about 90 percent of worldwide shipping at much lower costs.
>> They support building American ships at five times the cost of Asian ships.
>> Hawaii is named the worse state for making a living (workers get 55 cents for every dollar earned, adjusted for taxes and cost of living).
>> Hawaii is the worst state in which to do business.
>> Hawaii is the least affordable state in which to rent.
>> We have the highest per capita homeless rate in the U.S.: 45.1 homeless versus national average of 19 homeless per 10,000 population.
