Posted on 04/02/2020 5:49:28 AM PDT by cll
For eight years, Puerto Rico has painted a picture of itself as a welcome refuge in the United States for residents of the 50 states to come do business.
Acts 20 and 22 have brilliantly painted that picture and have helped to drive more business, spending, and jobs into the Puerto Rican economy. The only downside to the Acts 20 and 22 is that not all residents of Puerto Rico are included. To lift the burden of income tax for all who reside in and do business in Puerto Rico, would drive even more prosperity to the island.
The experiment has worked for a small portion of the population. Now with the success of Acts 20 and 22 so well demonstrated, the policy should be applied to the rest of the population. The results would be phenomenal.
Sadly, Puerto Rican officials, inheriting this masterful example of how to show the world what freedom looks like, have done the opposite, by acting with great cowardice in the face of coronavirus, putting the island on lockdown, and doing damage to the Puerto Rican economy far beyond what the virus could possibly cause.
The Puerto Rican economy will not soon recover from this massive damage. Neither nature, nor the virus are to blame for the damage, but the over-reaction of Puerto Rican officials.
Globally, the reaction to the contagion is far worse than the contagion itself. It will take years for researchers to determine the damage done to society in these weeks of the corona scare. That damage has been magnified by government and the media many times over.
The Mexican government, in contrast, has said it refuses to participate in the corona crisis that is being blown out of proportion. Mexico has said it will not behave tyrannically as governments around the world lockdown their citizens, shutter businesses, and threaten arrest to those seeking to go about their affairs. Great effort is being put on Mexican officials to comply with the global alarm.
Two weeks ago, until about March 15, 2020, Puerto Rico was the freest jurisdiction in the Western Hemisphere — a welcome land for those seeking to do business, to live life, to create jobs for themselves and for others, to raise a family, and to do their best in life without the burden of a heavy-handed government.
Since then, Puerto Rico, as a jurisdiction, has proven itself unwilling to follow through on that role. Observers that were closely watching Puerto Rico as the amazing refuge for human prosperity that is being formed on the island through Acts 20 and 22 have grown saddened by the heavy-handed corona response of the Puerto Rican government.
Puerto Rico had something truly special, truly unique, and is now, day-by-day, strangling that opportunity. The government’s response couldn’t have been a more awful, fear-filled response toward a health concern that is daily proving itself far less dangerous than originally thought.
Puerto Rico’s leadership, with Acts 20 and 22, looked a lot like a bold guardian ready to stand up for human prosperity. In the month of March, Puerto Rico’s leadership has shown itself to be more of a Chicken Little.
The rest of the United States, once a freer and prosperous place, they have locked down some of the major population centers. Media and public health officials have stoked a great deal of fear over a bug that isn’t known to kill 90% or 30%, but that number is more and more looking like far less than 1%. Fear pervades society as leadership — governmental and non-governmental — fails at its duty to clearly assess and to boldly lead.
The support for individual liberty and human prosperity shrank a great deal in the world this past month. In hopeful Puerto Rico it shrank most. Puerto Rico was once one of the freest places in the world, but the world has gone mad with fear, and the most vocal in some populations have asked their governments to quarantine them, as if they needed a government order to stay home themselves. Puerto Rico’s leadership has followed that same path blindly.
Puerto Rico was once the peerless champion. Mexico is now the freest place in the Western Hemisphere.
Author Allan Stevo is a syndicated columnist. He writes about technology, politics, ethics, and culture at 52inSk.com, and is the author of several books.
Thank You for the article cll.
Yes, I wish they would extend that to long time residents. We would only qualify if we’d moved out for a year and then returned to the island.
You’re welcome.
Puerto Ricos major problem is its rampant corruption and mismanagement.
True.
A little island like PR could simply not let ANYONE in from ANYWHERE for 5 or 6 weeks. No carriers, no Corona!
“The government’s response couldn’t have been a more awful, fear-filled response toward a health concern that is daily proving itself far less dangerous than originally thought.” Other FReepers on other posts are complaining about the FR FluBros who are poopooing the seriousness of Covid by repeating early comments by our President it was no more serious than the flu. Trump has changed his mind on that.
A few days ago I had a VERY long talk with my son who lives near San Juan with his PR wife and my 2 grandchildren who are now home from school and college. He has been studying the Covid situation with great interest, and totally approves of the actions the PR gov. has taken to be an early adopter. I had earlier asked him about the possibility of restoring the major drug mfg. industry that PR once had, now that we know we get 80% of our medical supplies from CHINA. He said there is a 5 mile square industrial park on the south side of PR that has been abandoned that once was a major medical producer. Could it be revived?
He also told me 2 years ago that the PR gov. was recommending the use of Vitamin C in the fight against Zika and Chikungunya viruses. China now has 3 clinical trials on using high dose intravenous Vitamin C, results due in Sept. Another FR post had a comment from someone who praised the treatment they had received for Covid at a Mayaguez hospital. My son says that PR has good hospitals on a par with the mainland.
For those who care to follow the CV story at FR, ask null and void to put you on his “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list. If you want to follow the world and US statistics, follow Worldmeters link. If you want to know how to treat Covid-19 and many other serious illnesses check out the experiences of Dr. Cathcart in the second link who treated over 9,000 patients over 10 years with high Vitamin C dosage.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ http://www.doctoryourself.com/titration.html
I will say this about PR. I know they have some problems, who doesn’t, they have some excellent tax incentives for those wishing to start a business there. Plus, a sailing family I follow who stopped in PR for provisions and supplies, had many good things to say about it.
PR already had the Virus when it shut down. Currently it has over 400 cases with 20 dead. On the other hand the US has over 300,000 cases with almost 10,000 dead. The rate per million population in PR is 6. For the USA it is almost 30.
When I listed the two links at my Comment #10 I had tried to put them on a single line with about 5 spaces, but when it printed there was only 1 space. I checked the first http and it went straight to Worldmeter, so I assume the second one will work fine too. Just be sure you click past the 2nd http. Be sure to have your doctor read it if you or family get sick.
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