Puerto Ricans flock to U.S. mainland as island’s political and economic crisis worsens

[DonViejo]

Source: Agence France-Presse

By Agence France-Presse
Saturday, August 23, 2014 5:09 EDT

The island of Puerto Rico is depopulating, as residents stream to the US mainland fleeing the island’s economic crisis and political gridlock in search of jobs.

Since 2009, more Puerto Ricans have been living pn the American mainland than on the northeastern Caribbean US-territory, a trend that has accelerated in the years since, according to census figures complied by the Washington-based Pew Hispanic Center.

In 2012, some 4.9 million Puerto Ricans lived in one of the 50 US states or the US capital, while the island had a population of 3.5 million, according to the study out this week.

Furthermore, Puerto Rico lost another 144,000 people between 2010 and 2013.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/23/puerto-ricans-flock-to-u-s-mainland-as-islands-political-and-economic-crisis-worsens/

[packman]

1. Does Fox News know this?

Just you wait till Hannity and Limbaugh learns of this - time to build a wall. I can see those Foxheads salivating over a new group of dark-skinned people to beat on.

[pampango]

13. It is sad, isn't it. The right goes to so much trouble to keep Hispanics out of the country and what

happens?

All those US citizen Hispanics in Puerto Rico mess up their best plans. While in PR they can't vote for president or congress so republicans don't have to worry about them too much. But then they move to the mainland and suddenly they can vote.

Must make the folks at Fox News and the RW talk shows livid that there is no wall or other way to keep them off the mainland.

[heaven05]

2. more grist for the mill, huh?

the RW mill that is, media and in Congress. and soon I believe.

[iamthebandfanman]

3. is it still part of the democratic

partys platform that we encourage/endorse PR becoming a state?

[DonViejo]

4. Hope this helps...

The Democratic Party platform of 2008 says:

We believe that the people of Puerto Rico have the right to the political status of their choice, obtained through a fair, neutral, and democratic process of self-determination. The White House and Congress will work with all groups in Puerto Rico to enable the question of Puerto Rico's status to be resolved during the next four years.[20]

The Democratic Party platform of 2012 says:

As President Obama said when he became the first President to visit Puerto Rico and address its people in 50 years, Boricuas every day help write the American story. Puerto Ricans have been proud American citizens for almost 100 years. During that time, the people of Puerto Rico have developed strong political, economic, social, and cultural ties to the United States. The political status of Puerto Rico remains an issue of overwhelming importance, but lack of resolution about status has held the island back. It is time for Puerto Rico to take the next step in the history of its status and its relationship to the rest of the United States. The White House Task Force Report on Puerto Rico has taken important and historic steps regarding status. We commit to moving resolution of the status issue forward with the goal of resolving it expeditiously. If local efforts in Puerto Rico to resolve the status issue do not provide a clear result in the short term, the President should support, and Congress should enact, self-executing legislation that specifies in advance for the people of Puerto Rico a set of clear status options, such as those recommended in the White House Task Force Report on Puerto Rico, which the United States is politically committed to fulfilling. The economic success of Puerto Rico is intimately linked to a swift resolution of the status question, as well as consistent, focused efforts on improving the lives of the people of Puerto Rico. We have made great progress for Puerto Rico over the past four years, including a sharp, historic increase in Medicaid funding for the people of Puerto Rico and fair and equitable inclusion in the Recovery Act and the Affordable Care Act. Going forward, we will continue working toward fair and equitable participation for Puerto Rico in federal programs. We support increased efforts by the federal government to improve public safety in Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, with a particular emphasis on efforts to combat drug trafficking and crime throughout our Caribbean border. In addition, consistent with the task force report, we will continue to work on improving Puerto Rico's economic status by promoting job creation, education, health care, clean energy, and economic development on the Island.[21]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statehood_movement_in_Puerto_Rico

[littlemissmartypants]

5. Kicking as a former resident of the beautiful island. nt

[Judi Lynn]

7. Photos of the island in google images are amazing! Just looked, after seeing your post. Wow. n/t

[JI7]

6. maybe they should just become a state

[MADem]

8. I love PR...wish it could find a balance so that there was enough work for people who live there. nt

[DonViejo]

9. I lived in PR for close to 10 years...

(just returned last May). This article doesn't do justice to what caused the economic collapse of the island. Yes, closure of the military base triggered the huge downfall but, what's left out, is the fact the military base was closed in retaliation for the demand the bombing range on Vieques Island be closed. Clinton began the process of closing the base before he left office, Bush closed it and western State U.S. Senators, e.g., Larry "Wide Stance" Craig and his ilk, demanded Bush close the naval base as pay back for the closing of the bombing range.

The closure of the Roosevelt Road Naval Station caused the economic collapse of entire cities around it. Folks lost their jobs, home foreclosures in the area went through the roof, small businesses (hardware stores, restaurants, mom and pop stores) collapsed in ruin. Then, of course, the Bush economy went to hell on an express train and a Governor (Luis G. Fortuño), from the political party aligned with our own GOP, took office. One of his first acts was to lay-off 30,000 people. Governor Fortuño was promoted by Grover Norquist, as a possible GOP VP candidate in 2012. The Gov declined and was subsequently defeated for re-election.

The local hardware store I frequented had a goose egg in a little box, sitting on the store's check-out counter. The Governor's name, Luis G. Fortuño, was inscribed on the egg shell.

[MADem]

10. The Navy took it on the chin after Nahn Wun Wun.

Their budget and personnel rolls were gutted owing to end-strength limitations--USN end strength was reduced in order to plus-up USMC and USA assets. Had RR survived the BRAC process, it would have been shifted to caretaker status even without Vieques during those years as what little in the way of assets USN had remaining after the end strength adjustments would have gone to support the GITMO mission in the region (and that was non-negotiable, given the commander in chief at the time).

RR was a beautiful facility, I drove around it in its dying days. Quality construction. A real shame. Now everyone shops at FT Buchanan, which is in need of maintenance and comes up every now and again as a future BRAC candidate (unlikely in near term I think), also struggling for MWR revenue to keep servicemember/family programs afloat.

[DonViejo]

11. There was talk of reopening RR....

TDY expenses plus the cost of shipping equipment back and forth from the Caribbean were soaring and the military was having fits about it. That talk is a couple years old so, I'm guessing, the re-opening idea died.

I was on the base about 18 months ago, the roads are falling apart, grass is growing wild, bildings in disrepair...it looked like every military base I've ever seen turned over to local control.

[MADem]

12. So sad. A bit of mortar and a good mowing, though, and a lot of that could be reversed.

It's a long shot, sure, but it might not be impossible. Putin is lusting after the glory days of the USSR (and the Beeeg Roooosian Navy that 'went with') and the Chinese are going batshit crazy in the South China Sea these days, running up on P3s and buzzing 'em like the nut that brought down the P3 a decade or so back. They're also building ersatz carriers AND forging relationships in South America in a big, big way. They'll be in our yard, so we'll be needing resupply points. Can't do it all UNREP.

That'll change the metrics eventually, and RR might be needed in some capacity once again. Frankly, I think it would do well as a resupply depot and perhaps, say, a drone facility and a nice little Naval Air Facility with some AIMD capability.

Hell, why not?

[AngryAmish]

14. The USN no longer needs a coaling station to protect the Panama Canal

1. USN no longer uses coal to fuek their ships.

and

2. The US no longer owns the Panama Canal.

Puerto Rico is in trouble because they lack their own currency. The stronger dollar kills them. What needs to be done is make Puerto Rico independent. They already have a strong national identity. An act of congress would free them and rhe same act could automatically make all old debts payable in PRDs (Puerto Rican Dollars). Run the printing presses and debt problems are solved. Next, announce a highish import duty on agricultural products, to encoyrage local produce (PR food prices are nuts because everything needs to be imported). And look luke crazy for oil.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

15. Not quite.

Somebody would have to accept those payments in PRD's or whatever, and the ability to issue bonds in your own currency AND governed by your own laws is not given lightly. I mean, if you buy savings bonds do you question whether you'll get your money? No. But for a new government just starting out, and given that PR is already in trouble, you'd have a rough time getting anyone to buy their debt. This is why countries like Argentina wind up issuing bonds under US law in US dollars. Has nothing to do with US hegemony or any other nonsense; it has simply to do with the fact that if you buy a bond with 5% interest, you actually want to get your money back with 5% interest. That's not as ironclad a guarantee as you'd think, with some countries. So the people buying that debt ask for something to compensate them for the risk: either a higher interest rate, or that it gets issued in USD under US law, or under your own currency but under British law. Something.
(BTW, just to get this out of the way, I have zero sympathy for the ones who took Argentina to court. Much as I think Argentina's entire political class, from right to left and everything in between, is moronic beyond belief, those people were paid with higher interest rates when they took that debt onto their portfolios. Going into a US court and suing the country when Argentina had set out terms for being repaid was not even remotely fair. The judge ruling in their favor on a technical point of law was idiotic beyond belief.)

[AngryAmish]

17. Those bonds were issued under US law and denominated in USD.

In essence they are municipal bonds. The bonds are issued under us law and us law can be changed. That is called sovereign risk.

You know, everyone thinks that Wall Street and the City of London is the Iron Bank of Braavos. They are as long as we consider the USMC an arm of Wall Street. Guess what? Wall Street can go pound sand. There was a risk premium built in, so let that risk happen.

VIVA PUERTO RICO! PUERTO RICO POT PUERTORICANOS!!!

[Benton D Struckcheon]

19. I was answering the theoretical re if PR was independent.

As these are in USD and issued under US law, not an issue. The Argentine situation certainly doesn't apply, so you're right. The investors were paid off via the higher interest rates they got for the risk they took, and unlike with Argentina, won't be able to double-dip and then claim on top of that that they still have to be paid in full. PR will suffer a loss of faith in the markets if they don't pay, of course, but at least they won't be in the Argentine situation of having paid out a higher rate AND got nothing for it.

[MADem]

16. Puerto Rico has had the opportunity to vote on their status more than once.

They haven't chosen the option you recommend, and I don't see it garnering much in the way of traction--particularly with the Castros getting older, and Cuba likely to do a sharp switch-up when those guys die; PR will probably want to stay close to USA, not risk turning into another Jamaica.

And RR was more than a "coaling station," but that's a moot point at this stage, and it's unlikely that situation will reverse.

[AngryAmish]

18. With the strong ethnic and political ties between our nations, Puerto Rico will always have a friend

in the us. I imagine Puerto Rico as an Israel in the Caribbean. Or maybe a Singapore. There is nothing holding them back.

They do not need their own defense. The us has that.

[MADem]

20. The "independence" crew in PR numbers in single digits.

The people are not stupid--they don't want to go down the same road as Jamrock.

Jamaica believed they'd always have a friend in UK, and look what independence has brought them--it's not good news. Rising crime, money like toilet paper...a beautiful island in the sun riddled by corruption.

PR will either retain commonwealth status or push, slowly and ponderously,, towards statehood. I don't see independence in their future at least not at the near term. I also can't see them doing the Israel/Singapore thing--they don't have anything that Cuba doesn't have in terms of natural resources, and Cuba has a more educated population. There are too many enclaves in the Caribbean that are better positioned to play that game.

[AngryAmish]

21. Why should Puerto Rico be corrupt if independent?

[MADem]

22. ??

They're corrupt NOW. That is why they're in the fix they are in.

There is no support for an "independence" movement. That notion is in the province of fringers and people with unrealistic expectations. If you can find five percent of the island willing to support that concept you'd have some thick figures.

It's Commonwealth or statehood. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/statehood-remains-an-uneasy-question-for-puerto-ricans/2013/12/01/443c7c20-5acb-11e3-a49b-90a0e156254b_story.html

Chart the path of Jamaica following their independence from UK; that's the situation PR would find themselves in if an independence movement ever took hold.

There are too many other options in the area. If Cuba ever loses the Castros and businesses start flowing in there, with no US minimum wages and that highly intelligent population of willing workers, PR will need to be anchored to USA to survive. PR does not have a "specialty" and that's their downfall. It is a bit dire; last time I was there I saw graffiti on the main drag in Condado, where the tourists congregate--in years past, that section was always kept PRISTINE, like Main Street in Disney World--it's emblematic of larger troubles.