Posted on 04/30/2015 8:03:04 AM PDT by pabianice
Puerto Rico is in trouble, after years of bad policies, mismanagement, excessive debt and bad luck.
Its economy has been shrinking or stagnant for a decade and the unemployment rate sits at nearly 12 percent. The commonwealth and its utilities have a debt of $73 billion, its public pension funds are woefully underfunded and one state agency has warned that the government could be forced to shut down soon because it might run out of money.
Lawmakers in Washington and San Juan need to come up with a plan that addresses the financial and economic problems of the territory, which is home to 3.6 million American citizens. The island’s difficulties also affect investors in the 50 states who own the tax-exempt bonds issued by Puerto Rico’s government and utilities.
Once a growing manufacturing center, Puerto Rico began a long decline in the mid-2000s after federal tax incentives for businesses that produced goods on the island were phased out, prompting some employers and tens of thousands of workers to leave.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
An anomaly, or simply a means to blame Conservatives, I suppose. Most of Puerto Rico’s modern history has been dominated by liberals and liberal policies. PR is really not much different than Detroit, Oakland or other large American cities.
Let’s try a novel solution. Tell all the Mexicans they can have permanent residency status, but only in Puerto Rico. Let ‘em fight it out :)
“They get to vote on statehood every few years and have always turned it down”.
Except the last time in 2012 when we voted for statehood.
Yeah, given the choice, I’d rather go to the Virgin Islands. Been there a few times too — they are very close to PR. You used to be able to get there by ferry, but I think they shut it down.
Next time, go to the British Virgin Islands. Same area, no welfare, no drugs, everyone speaks English and they use US currency. Their economy is based on tourism and offshore banking. There is virtually no crime. There is also no gambling and outside investment is not allowed. Therefore, no big name resort hotels.
The problem that Puerto Rico and the USVI’s(not so much on St. John) have is that it is the ONLY place in the Caribbean that you can go on welfare. It attracts the lazy/slugs of the Caribbean. Every other island in the Caribbean IF you want to eat, you have to work. IF you want to work hard, you can become RICH. Sometimes, very rich.
Thanks—I’ll have to remember that.
I like that quote, and will use it somewhere down the line in the newspaper comments section.
Thank you.
Labor in PR is not as cheap as Mexico, so when the tax incentives ran out the companies that had relocated there moved on. I worked for such a company and made several trips to the island in the 80’s. Beautiful place but dirt poor outside of the touristy areas.
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