Posted on 11/17/2011 7:00:50 AM PST by cll
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Since the congressional supercommittee appears unable, or unwilling, to take a lesson from Indiana or Virginia -- where Republican governors have made spending cuts and delivered budget surpluses without damaging the social safety net -- members might wish to consider Puerto Rico and what its governor, Luis Fortuno, is doing.
Fortuno is Puerto Rico's first Republican governor in 42 years. In 2009 when he took office, the U.S. territory had a $3.3 billion budget deficit. Three years earlier, Moody's Investors Service downgraded the commonwealth's bond rating to junk status while in deep recession.
Like Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Indiana's Mitch Daniels, Fortuno is turning the economy around by cutting government spending by 20 percent, which has lowered the deficit by 81 percent.
He eliminated more than 20,000 government jobs, reformed government services, trimmed costs and cut spending by 10 percent overall, eliminating official vehicles, cell phones and credit cards.
Following five years of recession, the commonwealth's economy is showing signs of recovery. Moody's took notice, upgrading Puerto Rico's bond status to A3, its highest rating in 35 years. Standard and Poor's raised its outlook on Puerto Rico's credit from "stable" to "positive." It is Standard and Poor's first positive review since 1983.
Over the next six years, newly implemented tax cuts will return $1.2 billion to those who earn the money. Added to this is a 7 percent tax credit for corporations and a reduction in the corporate tax rate from 41 percent to 30 percent.
As for "infrastructure," about which President Obama so often speaks, according to the governor's office, Puerto Rico has created an "aggressive public-private partnership law to encourage private investment and bring efficiencies to schools, roads, airports and water and energy projects."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
bttt
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