Posted on 01/16/2003 1:50:07 PM PST by kattracks
Just do a general search on Vieques and you'll find all kinds of good info.
Puerto Rico is fully a part of the US as it is. Its present commonwealth status simply affords it the level of autonomy that other US states would have if the 9th and 10th ammendments were observed.
With only 4 million inhabitants it probably only rates one seat in Congress, hardly worth the trouble.
Puerto Rico would immediately send 2 of the most fiscally and socially liberal Senators and 6 to 8 similarly liberal Representatives to the U.S. Congress
Actually, the percentage of Repubs to Demos in Puerto Rico is equivalent to any other state with a Democratic governor, that is, about 46% to 48%. The Demos have a slight edge. The only exception is that they do tend to be pro-life either way.
The island is fairly prosperous. Refining has been hurt, as there isn't enough profit margin to compete with mainland refineries when your market is the mainland. Pharmaceutical plants are expanding, even without the tax break.
Overall, the economy is quite good. There is plenty of employment, wages are about 2/3 of mainland wages, which in Caribbean terms is not bad. The infrastructure is in good shape, people live well. There is less obvious misery than you see in an average American city, in fact I would say that there is "way" less. It is in many ways a much healthier place to raise kids than the average mainland city.
The basic problem PR faces is its distance from its markets and its suppliers. This makes it difficult to compete in some industries, especially as its relatively high wages mean it cannot compete with low wage competitors like Mexico and the like. NAFTA has not been their friend.
But the employment that is there is fairly high tech.
The U.S. Taxpayers will receive absolutely nothing of value in return for all of these BILLIONS, if Puerto Rico was offered statehood.
Its hard to measure what the US "gets" if PR is "offered" statehood. Puerto Rico is already part of the US. It isn't going away. It is already one of the nicer places to live in the US. Quibbling about statehood versus commonwealth is more about dotting i's and crossing t's. Essentially, it makes little difference either way. Either way, they are we.
That's a check for $18,000 plus to everyone of those families every year!
What other country besides the USA is crazy enough to be suckered like that?
Should have thought about that before you ran the Navy out of their training area. Why keep Rosy Roads open if it serves no useful function?
Hope the entire Naval presence is withdrawn !
Excellent post!
You brought out many thoughts I had not previously considered.
I think you're right. The international Marxists have been exploiting the situation for years - "evil imperialist America" bombing innocent islanders. I'm peeved at AP and the BBC the most - our biggest international news agencies. Truth? Not when the ends justify the means for the left.
Third World Marxists also continued as stalwarts of international solidarity work.... In 1978 activists in the Puerto Rican left and Puerto Rico solidarity movement formed the Vieques Support Network to assist Vieques residents trying to stop U.S. warships from using the area as a firing range, a fight that continues and has become an important component of solidarity activism today.
What Legacy from the Radical Internationalism of 1968? , the VLWC, scroll down 3/4.
You want to walk around the tourist areas of the Condado, Isla Verde and Old San Juan and imply that the American Flags in their windows, if any, are in some way indicative of what's going on in the rest of the island then you're only kidding yourself.
Try looking around Bayamon, Rio Piedras, Puerto Nuevo, Ponce, Yauco, Mayaguez, Lares, Guaynabo, etc.. You're not going to find any American Flags there, except on the Post Offices and other government buildings. And not all of them.
Carlos Pesquera was recently arrested for trying to put an American Flag back in a government building.
Even the recycled U.S. Taxpayer's dollars that Puerto Rico sent to New York after 9/11 were only for Puerto Rican victims.
You really intend to argue that we need another state that receives more in federal funds than it pays in taxes, because we already have 25? That's the crazy for someone to say even if they're in Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico would pay no net income taxes.
They are almost all below the taxable threshold. Almost all Puerto Ricans would qualify for an 'Earned Income Tax Credit' check. Do you know what that is? It's more welfare, that's what.
Independence for Puerto Rico is much more beneficial to the U.S. Taxpayer than any other status for Puerto Rico.
We don't need a few thousand Puerto Rican mercenaries in our military that cost us $18 billion dollars plus each year.
The $18 billion dollars plus in cash that we gift Puerto Rico every year is what keeps this whole house of cards standing.
There's not a true fiscal/social conservative on the whole damn island. Puerto Rico's Republicans are bigger RINOs than you'd ever find stateside.
Independence should be their only option. They're blood-sucking leeches.
That's how I see it. If it wasn't for the generous financial benefits they receive because of their commonwealth status, I think the majority would have voted for independence years ago. Hey, I don't blame them; if Americans are stupid enough to subsidize them why would they rock the boat? They had a pretty sweet deal going on and all they had to put up with was a military base where live bombing took place. I guess they just want the money without having to be inconvenienced. I think that they need to be taught that that is not the way things work in this world.
The biggest bomb we dropped wouldn't even cause a ripple on the top of a 'Rum & Coke' at the closest resort.
Inconvenienced nuthin', they couldn't even hear it over their car stereos. Did you ever drive around Puerto Rico and listen to how loud the wackos play their music? They all must be legally deaf. They wouldn't hear a bomb, if it landed next to them.
And the speaker trucks that run around the island during campaign season. You wouldn't believe your ears.
There's a lot of politicians and land developers that want that property that the Navy is on for free. It's worth billions.
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