Is It Time To Cut Puerto Rico Loose, Or Completely Take It Over?

Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, was struck by hurricanes in September 2017. These storms left the island devestated.

Hurricane Irma struck Puerto Rico in early September 2017. Two weeks later, on September 20, Hurricane Maria made landfall in the municipality of Yabucoa. When the debris settled, almost 3,000 people were dead, thousands more were displaced, and the island’s already aging infrastructure was severely weakened. The island’s antiquated power grid, which had been neglected for years, took an especially hard blow. Immediately after the storm, at least 1.5 million people were left without electricity, some for almost a year, casting the island into the longest blackout in U.S. history.

Of course "climate change" was blamed. As we all know, living in the middle of an ocean has no risk whatsoever. And there is no reason to build your infrastructure accordingly for example.

When the scolds came up for air, it was "Orange Man Bad"."

The mouthy representative was joined by Miami Representative Donna Shalala, who said:

“It’s been almost 2 1/2 years since Hurricane Maria devastated the island, but the Trump administration continues delaying the disbursement of billions of dollars in disaster relief for Puerto Rico. Rebuilding Puerto Rico cannot continue to be postponed due to bureaucratic inertia in Washington.”

Not all of the problems with Puerto Rico's recovery were Washington's fault. The duly elected governor resigned.

And of course we can't forget about aid wasting away in warehouses.

The government of Puerto Rico is either inept or corrupt. I'm starting to think there are more inept individuals there than corrupt. The latest news from Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico’s government fell victim to a $2.6M email phishing scam

The government of Puerto Rico has revealed it fell victim to an email phishing scam, with the attackers making off with more than $2.6 million in stolen funds.

On February 12, the finance director of the island’s Industrial Development Company, Rubén Rivera, filed a compliant to police, noting the agency wired the funds to a fraudulent account, AP reports.

The transfer purportedly took place on January 17, after the agency received an email which suggested there has been a change to a banking account tied to remittance payments, according to a police statement.

It's time to say "Buh-bye" Puerto Rico. Give them a set amount of money and let them sink or swim on their own. Without Uncle Sam's cash trough to prop them perhaps they will get serious about governing. There is no need to take them as the 51st State of the U.S.A. as we have enough incompetent states. (Looking at Illinois and California)

posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian at 02:15 PM

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