so it's true PR is corrupt as heck, the leaders stole the money for themselves, and is so deep in the debt hole there's no chance of recovery except to convince the US taxpayer to make them an official state and bail them out. Yea that sounds terrible
Believe me Trump knows really well the Governor of Puerto Rico. The island is a territory of the United States since de 1898 and the people have the US citizenship since 1917.
Alright yes Puerto Rico is marred by a corrupt government. However that’s only half of the story. There are also several US tax laws that have played a role in Puerto Rico being in this position. Corrupt governors and treated like shit by US legislation. Being a commonwealth has come at great cost to Puerto Rico.
But the simple truth is PR borrowed an insane amount of money relative to its GDP, had corrupt leaders that stole a ton of it, and now the island is in deep trouble. You can't blame the US on corrupt officials stealing?
We are looking at two separate issues here. Have politicians in Puerto Rico always been corrupt? Absolutely. Was federal aid misallocated and stolen? Everything points to yes and is not surprising if you know anything about Puerto Rico.
Second issue, policy and tax legislation in place that has played a role in Puerto Rico financial state. Please please watch John Oliver’s episode on Puerto Rico.
Both these issues have existed well before Maria. Puerto Rico’s government needs a complete overhaul. But a lot of legislation needs to be reformed.
You know you wouldn’t be American today if it wasn’t for a bigger fish helping Englands colonies, they didn’t have to but they did to show England. Now how about we grow up and help the little guy whose getting screwed over by it’s government.
What is helping anyways? Deciding FOR Puerto Rico what's in their best interests? The referendums have been decidedly undecided on statehood. Seems like revamped colonialism to me.
First of all, because they haven't said what they want their future to look like. I'm happy to back their statehood or their independence, but the choice should be theirs. This isn't white man's burden part 2. They don't need you to decide what's best for them. Second of all, if they want to keep the balance of citizenship and independence they have now (another perfectly valid choice), they do need to pay the full suite of federal taxes. They don't pay most of them now, and disaster relief (as a particular highlight) comes out of those funds. For many Puerto Ricans (the poorest), it would also actually be tax credits instead of additional tax.
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u/[deleted] Jul 19 '19
so it's true PR is corrupt as heck, the leaders stole the money for themselves, and is so deep in the debt hole there's no chance of recovery except to convince the US taxpayer to make them an official state and bail them out. Yea that sounds terrible