[pabianice]

Liberals and Socialists have been running Puerto Rico into the ground for 80 years. Puerto Rico has long become a broken welfare state. Solution: make it a state and enter 3.6 more uneducated liberals into the US voting roles, or spend more tax money to help prop it up, or both.

[ForYourChildren]

Well then make it the 58th state.

[headstamp 2]

I know, bring them all here and pull the drain plug out of the center of the island.

Let me call Jebbie...............

[rbg81]

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.

---

Putting those incentives back in place may be the most painless way of fixing this. But it may be too little, too late.

Been to Puerto Rico a few times. It’s a beautiful place, but San Juan has some incredibly scary areas.

[Zakeet]

It's not for that purpose ... so you right wing nuts can stop thinking what you're thinking!

[AZLiberty]

Puerto Rico is our Greece (though Detroit made a run at it).

Can we be as tough as Germany?

[Obadiah]

...after years of bad policies, mismanagement, excessive debt...

And when was the last time Conservatives controlled the government of Puerto Rico???

[molson209]

Just turn Puerto Rico back into a Bird Sanctuary

[cll]

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

[blueunicorn6]

Windmills. They just need more windmills.

[rockvillem]

“Bad luck”. Riiiiight.

I love the Robert Heinlein quote about “bad luck”:

“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as “bad luck”.

[Stingray51]

No bailout for Puerto Rico, not one dime!

[VanDeKoik]

Give them back to Spain. They didn’t blow up the Maine anyway, so yeah.....our mistake.

Whats a few million more broke Spanish speakers gonna hurt? You will barely notice!

[Boogieman]

“Lawmakers in Washington and San Juan need to come up with a plan...”

Need?!?

Hmm, normally when I am begging someone for help, I don’t start off by saying “You need to come up with a plan!”

[Boogieman]

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 :)

[pabianice]

NS ROSEY

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

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.