Puerto Rico votes to join Union
Puerto Rico staged a referendum on whether the island protectorate should become a state, remain a territory, or become a sovereign nation. According to Reuters, 97% of voters voted to become the 51st state. But only 23% of voters bothered to cast their votes.
The main reason for the lopsided win is that Puerto Rico is sliding into bankruptcy. New conservative regulations are keeping their collective head above water, but it’s only staving off the inevitable. Puerto Ricans see statehood as a bailout – until the first April 15th rolls around and they have to start paying Federal taxes.
Puerto Rico’s former governor, Rafael Hernandez Colon, said in a statement: “A contrived plebiscite fabricated an artificial majority for statehood by disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of Commonwealth supporters.”
Rather than heading to the polls, some 500 Puerto Ricans marched on the streets of San Juan, waving Puerto Rico’s flag and burning the American flag while chanting in support of independence.
“This is a bogus plebiscite. Our future is independence. We need to be able to decide our own fate,” said Liliana Laboy, one of the organizers of the protest.
Boycotters were also angry about the costly referendum at a time when over 400 schools have closed and many Puerto Ricans are struggling to make ends meet. Schools where voting took place were in poor condition, with cracked paint and bare-bones playgrounds.
Yeah, that’s what we need another 3.5 million welfare recipients and 2 million Democrat voters.
Category: Politics
“whether the island protectorate should become a state, remain a territory, or become a sovereign nation”
I’m all for sovereign nation.
Then they can apply for aid in exchange for opening up the bombing range again.
Yeh I vote for separate nation, no need for our taxpayers money to support the “know nothings!”, They are too lazy to fix their own nest up, want the U.S. to do it for them!
I heard this was the 4th or 5th time they’ve voted on this, but it is largely symbolic.
Congress will never approve it.
That was also mentioned by more than one reporter. Something basically along the lines of possible, but not probable.
It is a perfect vote for congress. The socialist democrats will vote for it, knowing there is no down side for their party if the PR’s get in, and the republicans can all vote against it, because they know full well there aren’t really any republican voting PR’s. There is no down side for them either, and we will keep Puerto Rico from getting in.
Fuck Puerto Rico. Let them burn the American flag on their own time and dime. They can figure out their bankruptcy problems on their own too.
“Fuck Puerto Rico”
BTDT 🙂
“F.P.R.” Franklin Prickless Roosevelt!
Damn straight! Grant them independence as soon as possible.. then give it a year, or two at most, and they’ll be begging to come back…
I’m sure if the Democrats had control of Congress they’d be more than happy to get millions more democratic votes so their stooge can win the white house too. Along with more Congressional votes for their causes.
Shoot, it’s three, maybe four electoral votes; the two senators will have more effect. I think this half-way situation has gone on too long. Puerto Rico needs to have a binding vote and follow up.
Someone else (I know not who nor where, but not too long ago) said that it’s the federal minimum wage that hosed Puerto Rico’s economy.
Or the US just needs to cut them loose.
I don’t remember voting on adding Puerto Rico to the union, do you?
Neither do I…
They can vote to do whatever the fuck they want, doesn’t mean we’re going to allow it.
With respect to Independence I think it’s a fantastic way for them to learn self sufficiency….of course the people who are here will most likely be told to make a choice as to whether or not to leave or stay which sort of defeats the concept of independence…independence should mean those Puerto Ricans here would need visas or green cards or have to vacate the country within x number of days or be considered to be here illegally.
Second that motion!
I wonder if only 23% casted a vote, is because convicted felons cannot vote?
One thing I find interesting is that Puerto Ricans technically already ARE Americans. They use the dollar, have US passports, and even have some National Guard units. They just don’t get representation (that matters) or a say in who the president is. IMO we should either grant them statehood or independence. I don’t care which, but either makes more sense than the limbo they’ve been in. But I highly doubt congress will even acknowledge this referendum, given the huge pile of more important work they should already be doing.
This video nicely explains their current status:
If the Navy moved Gitmo to Puerto Rico, the Castros could have their crap back, and PR might have a better economy.
They threw the military out once already, and the millions of annual dollars they brought. GITMO’s rent to Cuba is like what, $100 a year? Just a formality, and they never have cashed the check.
Been to Roosevelt Roads many times- we were briefed that if driving after dark in San Juan, to just drift through intersections and never come to a complete halt.
They made it, they can keep it.
Well, it was just an idea, nothing else. And it IS further away than Cuba.
And not a bad idea at that- I’m sure they could use the income. But the limousine liberals closed Rosy Roads, and I’m sure they’d love to do the same to GITMO, wherever it is.
Closing that base was in the BRAC era, wasn’t it? I thought it was a mistake to close NAS Glenview and Fort Sheridan, which they will never get back. But this isn’t war time, so we don’t really need the extra right now.
Sometimes I miss the days of the Cold War. Important things mattered back then.
http://www.peoplesworld.org/article/navy-closes-last-base-in-puerto-rico/
(snerrkk!) I guess that episode of booting the US out of Puerto Rico (that lovely island) has not had quite the economic effect that was forecast. It’s discussed in this 2015 article from ‘Heritage’.
http://www.heritage.org/markets-and-finance/report/economic-crisis-the-heart-puerto-ricos-financial-crisis
If they want statehood, shouldn’t we be able to reinstate the Vieques range and the base at Roosevelt Roads? Or am I being too optimistic?
Yep! A classic “careful what ya wish for” moment, ’cause ya just may get it.
$300M a year just walked away.
Then explain Guam.
If this does gain traction is it possible that some southern states ask to leave the union?
Would permitting PR in, absorbing their debt, both current and outstanding, be taxation without representation?
Remember Stockton, Jefferson County and Detroit all happened under the former ‘Executive’. My fear is if those lefty d-bags work their devil magic and get a majority and somehow displace President Trump in ’20…
“Here in Soviet America we love the EU so much we’ll take on our own Greece, Puerto Rico.”
I forgot the Detroit bankruptcy was to the tune of $18-20 Billion, Stockton’s was the highest before that. San Bernardino got away without negotiating down pension payments.
Wait until Hartford CT and possibly the whole state becomes, err, more insolventer?
First one to get the ruling party of all these fine locations gets a cigar.
Make that a beer and I’ll play.
Different processes for a territory or a state to secede.
Wouldn’t it better if a few parts of California seceded instead?
Yes.
I think they already have.
In the past, states were often admitted in pairs so as to maintain the balance in Congress, IOW a Republican-leaning state was admitted (Alaska) very shortly followed by a Democrat-leaning state (Hawaii.)
Without another R leaning state to admit, PR’s chances of being admitted are minimal unless the Dems retake Congress AND the White House.
Those calling for independent status are fools. PR has a pretty sweet gig right now, with full US citizenship for all of its residents. Independence would cost them that, and PR would likely turn into a clone of its fellow Greater Antilles neighbor, Haiti.
Or PR will end up being Caribbean Detroit. Ruled by Dems, ruined by Dems.
Either way, they’ll get what they paid for.
Maybe Spain will take them back? /sarc
It already is, and for the reasons you stated.
That’s only if it doesn’t turn itself into another Venezuela.
I don’t think a country can go the Venezuela route unless it starts off rich – which PR would not. So it would be either DomRep or Haiti.
It’s like the old saying, the best way to make a small fortune in commodities is to start with a large one. 😉
Nothing will change. The drug companies are way to powerful to allow Puerto Rico to become independent. Not enough people want to become a state.
“Yeah, that’s what we need another 3.5 million welfare recipients and 2 million Democrat voters.”
Borinquen already gets welfare under Federally administered funds about the same as other states (Section 8, food stamps, Head Start etc). PR is a little outsized getting about 1.5% of Federal Dollars while having a population of about 1.2% of the US. They are not the highest dollars per capita in the US but right up there.
Around half of prescription drugs that are consumed in the US are made there by US makers, making this the largest segment of their economy by far. The makers pay billions in taxes through these plants. They pay enough taxes normally just through the drug plants to fund all of their federal assistance dollars.
Without PR, US drug manufacturers would fall well behind other countries and either be forced to relocate or lose their place of preeminence in the world.
The Republican Party of PR (which went 71% for Rubio 26K Votes and 13% for Trump in the Primary) is fully in favor of Statehood. The Desm went with Clinton (59% – 55K votes) over Sanders.
PR is a low voter participation state and is the wealthiest state per capita in the Latin America and the Caribbean.
With respect, TOM, the drug makers pay no taxes. They pass those costs on to the consumer, just like every other corporation in the history of forever.
They don’t pay income taxes, no publicly traded company in America with a decent tax attorney pays income tax. They pay import/ export taxes to the US Treasury. This is about $3.5B a year just for the drug companies. Workers also pay SS Tax but are eligible for it when they retire.
The way the tax code is currently written the overwhelming majority of people living in PR would come out way ahead under US Federal Income Tax. Those that would suffer the most would be the rich, US Corporations, the US Government and the PR Government. This is why things won’t change, the people in power don’t want it to.
Actually, the do not pay the tax. No business does.
They pass the entire cost of the tax along to the consumer, as a cost of creating and delivering the product. At most, one can say they collect the tax for the government, sometimes explicitly, as in a sales tax, sometimes indirectly, as in other taxes/fees/assessments levied on the business and added to the “cost” side of the business.
How could it be otherwise? All the money comes from the consumer of the goods and series delivered by the business. The business isn’t printing money.
Sure, but in this case the biggest consumer in that market is….. the US Federal Government.
So whether you see it as a claw back, zero sum game or whatever it turns in to kind of a chicken or the egg thing.
Sea story time, now this ain’t no shit.
There I was, on the first leg of a UNITAS Detachment, where we exercise with our South American friend’s Navies. Usually a coveted det, especially the last leg, which is held in Rio. Coveted because the per diem was generous and the accommodations were usually 4 star hotels and high end restaurants. Usually, that is, unless one is on the first Unitas leg, as I was. My P-3 crew and I were billeted in the famous Bundy barracks in Puerto Rico (open bay, no screens, floor fan to move the air), and had a dining choice of the Navy chow hall or the Exchange’s greasy spoon. To add insult to injury, on our in-chop brief, they issued us ration cards for booze and tobacco. Something like two fifths of hard liquor and 10 cigars a week. Completely unsat, as I had planned to stock up on the unbelievably low priced Bacardi rum and stogies for the trip home. What to do….
Hmmm, seems the “ration card” was merely an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper, with check off blocks at the appropriate items. I looked at the ration card.
I then looked at the Xerox machine in the corner.
20 copies later, and I was eventually able to pretty much fill a cruise box with cases of rum and boxes of Nicaraguan stogies.
I guess the first leg of Unitas wasn’t so bad after all!
Then there was the emerald I scored in Panama, but that’s another story.
*grin*