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As Others Pack, Some Millennials Commit to Puerto Rico
The New York Times ^ | 08/05/2017 | Lizette Alvarez

Posted on 08/07/2017 5:01:14 AM PDT by cll

SAN JUAN, P.R. — Two young graduates from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology did the unthinkable last summer: They quit enviable jobs in New York and moved back to beleaguered Puerto Rico, bringing their plan for a start-up with them.

“People were like: ‘Are you crazy? Why would you ever do that? Go back way later; you’re basically going into a hellhole right now,’” said one of the graduates, Eric Crespo, 25, who helped create Lunchera, a fast-growing online food delivery and logistics company in Puerto Rico.

As the tide of Puerto Ricans leaving the island continues unabated, Mr. Crespo and his partner and college friend, Bryan Collazo, are part of a small but critical wave of educated millennials who are doing the opposite; they are choosing to return home or stay put on the island.

They are opening restaurants and bars, fueling start-ups and small businesses or jump-starting moribund sectors, like agriculture. They are motivated both by an urge to help lift Puerto Rico out of its quagmire, but also by a profound attachment to the island — its beaches and countryside, its friendliness, its intimacy and the tug of family.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: puertorico
I wouldn't characterize Puerto Rico's situation as a "hellhole". If you or your business depended on government handouts or contracts, then yes. But real private enterprise here have always found their way around government an actually thrived.
1 posted on 08/07/2017 5:01:15 AM PDT by cll
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To: rrstar96; AuH2ORepublican; livius; adorno; wtc911; Willie Green; CGVet58; Clemenza; Narcoleptic; ...
Hat tip: EITO.

Puerto Rico Ping! Please Freepmail me if you want on or off the list.


2 posted on 08/07/2017 5:02:41 AM PDT by cll (Serviam!)
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To: cll

‘Hellhole’....maybe not.

But if you compared it with the population, and murders...679 for 2016...it’s probably not a place that most guys would want to settle into.


3 posted on 08/07/2017 5:12:15 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: cll
"...part of a small but critical wave of educated millennials ..."

I laughed at this part.

They are so very important. More so - they're critical!

Oh, and edumajacated!

4 posted on 08/07/2017 5:14:28 AM PDT by T-Bone Texan (Trump's election does not release you from your prepping responsibilites!)
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To: pepsionice

When I was there a tour guide mentioned that his brother, a police officer, was arrested for firearm violations. He didn’t think it was a big deal.


5 posted on 08/07/2017 5:15:53 AM PDT by T-Bone Texan (Trump's election does not release you from your prepping responsibilites!)
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To: cll

Opening a business a Puerto Rico...

They are about to get their heads handed to them.

This ain’t your safe space of college where pushing for socialism had no effect on your day to day life.


6 posted on 08/07/2017 5:19:51 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: T-Bone Texan

Not so much educated as indoctrinated.


7 posted on 08/07/2017 5:35:52 AM PDT by FrdmLvr ("A is A. A thing is what it is." Ayn Rand)
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To: T-Bone Texan

Millenials have an over-over-over-over-over-over-over-developed sense of self-importance.

Or haven’t you noticed?


8 posted on 08/07/2017 5:46:19 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: cll
did the unthinkable last summer: They ... moved back to beleaguered Puerto Rico
Yeah, "unthinkable," because no one has ever done that before. Sheesh.
9 posted on 08/07/2017 5:47:12 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: FrdmLvr
Not so much educated as indoctrinated.

Oh they're about to get the education part - and it will make the student loans look cheap. The good news is, the wealth transfer from the affluent Northeast to bankrupt Puerto Rico may have a short term macro-economic benefit for the island.

10 posted on 08/07/2017 5:47:56 AM PDT by InABunkerUnderSF (Proudly deplorable since 2016.)
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To: cll

That almost makes me want to adopt PR as the 51’st state, but not quite.


11 posted on 08/07/2017 5:58:46 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
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To: cll

It’s not a hellhole. The leftwing politicians have turned it into a sad case, dependent on handouts from the federal government. Puerto Ricans come to the mainland to work. It’s leftist politics that have made the island a dependent underclass as part of the whole “Hispanic” victim group thing.


12 posted on 08/07/2017 6:02:56 AM PDT by I want the USA back (The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it. Orwell.)
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To: cll

I don’t think there’s a lot of difference between these entrepreneurs and the original American settlers. Tackling a dangerous hellhole, a sense of “making their own way”, maybe equipped with some skills...a lot of unknowns.

I wish them luck and hope they succeed.


13 posted on 08/07/2017 6:29:08 AM PDT by moovova
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To: cll

I’ve been to PR several times and believe it is a paradise. Of course they have the favelas and shanty towns (as does Wash DC), but the weather, ocean could make it all worthwhile.

All you need is a way to support yourself and a big guard dog. A work-at-home job? Commerce over the Internet? If you are already retired your benefits may cover your living expenses.


14 posted on 08/07/2017 7:04:11 AM PDT by shalom aleichem
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To: cll

They “moved back” to Puerto Rico, bringing their education with them. This is what should be happening around the world, come here and get an education, and go home and take your skills to improve your homeland.


15 posted on 08/07/2017 8:41:10 AM PDT by christie
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To: cll

STOP letting them in here!


16 posted on 08/07/2017 9:58:13 AM PDT by montag813 (ue)
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To: cll

Now that they finally? have food joints and bars i might consider going to PR. Yep.


17 posted on 08/07/2017 10:12:29 AM PDT by Leep (Less talk more ACTiON!)
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To: montag813

STOP letting them in here!

Isn’t nice of us to let them come here and use our system so they can get what they want and then go back to their home countries..
They have no loyalties to the U.S. of A, anyhow.
Actually, it is good in one respect.
At least they didn’t stay and use our system for the rest of their lives.
Good luck and M-PR-GA!


18 posted on 08/07/2017 10:17:43 AM PDT by Leep (Less talk more ACTiON!)
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