[cll]

Another progressive/liberalism/socialism success story! The only good thing about this is that the talk around town revolves around the fact that government will be cut dramatically and that private enterprise should lead in the reconstruction of the economy. We had to hit bottom.

[cll]

Big news from the island, dudes and dudettes.

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

[fieldmarshaldj]

In other words, García Padilla said, “Fortuño’s Fault !”

[al_c]

Well if that won’t make the Dems want them as the 51st state, nothing will.

[Gaffer]

“My administration isn’t to blame for this. But it is my responsibility to get us out of it,” Gov. Alejandro García Padilla said during a hastily convened press conference at La Fortaleza after the downgrade. “Decades of fiscal irresponsibility can’t be fixed in 12 months. We did everything we could.”

The 90s "A BJ is not Sex" W.J. Clinton

The 10s "It's Bush's Fault, I heard about it when you did." B.H. Obama

[Kozak]

I guess they are ready for Statehood now....

[C19fan]

I am shocked another Latin country is having a debt crisis. But who am I as a gringo to talk when we have Illinois, etc. :)

[Eric in the Ozarks]

15 percent unemployment...
It's no wonder the folks with anything on the ball are leaving PR.

[MasterGunner01]

The U.S. got Puerto Rico from Spain as the result of the Spanish-American War of 1898. The US Navy wanted Puerto Rico as a coaling station for the ships of the Atlantic Fleet. Puerto Rico hosted the US Navy's Roosevelt Roads Naval Station and the Vieques Island bombing and gunnery ranges. The Navy transitioned from coal to oil in the early 1920s and Puerto Rico lost its value as a coaling station, but the status quo of maintaining a military presence on the island lasted past the end of the Cold War in 1991.

Departure of the U.S. military from Puerto Rico got into high hear in 1999. Vieques Island was vacated by the USN in May 2003 and Roosevelt Roads NavSta closed in 2004. Puerto Rico's military value has become very questionable, so that argument no longer applies.

I have long believed that the United States should give the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico full independence.