Posted on 05/11/2006 7:20:44 AM PDT by Ebenezer
(English-language translation)
The anguish of over 90,000 public employees [in Puerto Rico] who have been out on the street for almost two weeks will end on Monday.
Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, Senate President Kenneth McClintock, and House of Representatives Speaker José Aponte abided yesterday by the recommendations the so-called Consensus Commission presented to them to solve the government’s fiscal crisis.
The Commission worked for two days in search of a solution to the island’s fiscal crisis that compromised the government’s operations.
“The report recommends that the Government Development Bank (BGF) grant the Department of the Treasury a loan of up to $741 million to tend to the deficit in the Puerto Rico government’s budget [and] that the loan be financed through the legislative measures that have been approved or are going to be approved,” Acevedo said during a press conference at the Governor’s Mansion.
He added that the agreements will be fine-tuned today during a lunch the three will have with San Juan Archbishop Roberto González Nieves. “We agreed that, at least, until the [legislative] session adjourns, the three of us are going to meet once a week,” the Governor stated.
The legislative measures collect $200 million, according to the report prepared by economist Ramón Cao, who represented the Governor; former Supreme Court Justice Antonio Negrón García; Professor Nicolás Peña, representing the Senate; and former Office of Management & Budget Director Jorge Aponte, representing his brother, the House Speaker.
However, the document does not recommend what should be the percentage for the proposed sales tax that will be legislated on soon, although it does establish that 1% of that revenue be destined to paying the loan and the government’s extraconstitutional debt which reaches $6.48 billion, the seven-page document specifies.
The report also points out that the annual service for fiscal year 2006-07 reaches $531.9 million, not including the loan the BGF will grant the Treasury Department to cover the government payroll.
“These sums must be complemented with the repayment source coming from one percentage point of the sales tax that Joint Resolution 321 provides for, whose approval should take place, according to its own terms, before June 30, 2006,” the report indicates.
The Consensus Commission emphasized that “it is necessary to reduce the size of the government and [its] expenses in order to make it more efficient, more effective, and less costly to the taxpayer who takes the responsibility of paying taxes to finance the state’s operational cost.”
“It is necessary to reduce expenses [by] incorporating a transition process that, in a reasonable time, will allow for the elimination of expenses without provoking a disruption in services and job placements for workers in the public sector,” the report states.
Despite the consensus reached, Puerto Rican Workers Central President Federico Torres Montalvo, and José Rodríguez Báez with the Puerto Rican Workers Federation, said that today’s march will take place and pressure on the legislators will continue.
“We are satisfied that there is a commitment to return to workplaces on Monday and that [workers] will be paid for the time they were out on the street, but we want to know what is going to happen after June 30,” Torres said during a radio interview. He warned, however, that the march, which is scheduled for 9:00 AM from Dos Hermanos Bridge to the Capitol, will be held because “[job] security has to be demanded, the tax reform has to be fair, and [we will] have the tax relief that was promised.”
The agreement comes after Moody’s degraded all of Puerto Rico’s bonds on Monday, some of them to the “junk” level (these involving speculative investments), because of the fiscal crisis and the impasse between the executive and legislative branches.
“I believe the situation made the legislators, who are sensible people, realize that there is a moment when differences have to be set aside; this has happened in the past, so why shouldn’t it happen now?” said Negrón, who served in the Commission as a mediator.
Puerto Rico, me encanta!
Send in the Navy for the boatlift.
"Send in the Navy for the boatlift."
Can't do that, the Navy is not welcome and we gave away the docks.
Kinda ironic, don't you think?
SO, kicking out the Navy had no effect on the economy in PR?
Any other "dickhead" countries watching this?
Oh, oh does that mean we get them as a state?
All the bills?
All the chaos?
Yeah, San Francisco are you watching?
*"government’s extraconstitutional debt"*
Hey? What the heck is "extraconstitutional debt"? Well, whatever. The situation in Puerto Rico is all Bush's fault anyway.
PR: the definition of "All hat, No cattle".
They wouldn't think of disturbing their 100 official holidays per year or paying any income taxes.
These are the kinds of innovative social programs you get from the conservatives in Puerto Rico.
Oh, and bankruptcy, too. Bankruptcy is popular with conservatives in Puerto Rico, too.
Nuevo conservatism is really taking off in Puerto Rico. Any resemblance to viejo Socialism is purely coincidental.
LOL!
Maybe if they started blowing up Jews we could give them some money.
Yeah, that was a real smooth move, wasn't it? Has anyone even mentioned that?
It's Socialism run amok that's killing the island's budget.
Free medical care and free prescription drugs for 1.5 million islanders every year.
Socialized car insurance for 2 million vehicles and their drivers.
For instance, over 186,000 motorcyclists pay less than $200 per year for compulsory government auto insurance, while the average motorcycle accident costs the government of Puerto Rico $50,000 in hospitalization, therapy and prescription drugs.
The problem in Puerto Rico is Socialism!
"The problem in Puerto Rico is Socialism!"
That is true. Puerto Ricans have been raised to expect the government to solve all of their problems and tend to their every need. Individual responsibility and private investment are, therefore, not welcome in that type of dependency mindset.
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