Why is Puerto Rico less deserving then the rest of the United States?

[sarettah]

Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017.

On October 12, 2017, 3 weeks later, President Trump tweeted:

"Puerto Rico survived the Hurricanes, now a financial crisis looms largely of their own making." says Sharyl Attkisson. A total lack of accountability say the Governor. Electric and all infrastructure was disaster before hurricanes. Congress to decide how much to spend. We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump

However, if you look at FEMA's website at FEMA.gov you will find that as of 2015 (the last time the page was updated) FEMA was still involved in the recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Mississippi. Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. That was 10 years before the article was written. There are updates to some Katrina pages into 2016. I have not found anything saying that we are not still involved in the Katrina recovery today, 12 years after the hurricane hit.

https://www.fema.gov/news-release/20...ricane-katrina

Ten years into the recovery, FEMA continues to support communities and families, working side-by-side with state, local, and tribal partners to finish the job of rebuilding communities that are the economic engines and lifeblood of the Gulf Coast. To date, FEMA has provided $6.7 billion to more than one million individuals and households. FEMA has also provided more than $15 billion to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida for thousands of public works projects, including the repair and rebuilding of schools, hospitals, roads, police and fire stations, and historic buildings.

My question is, How come American Citizens in New Orleans and Mississippi are worthy of receiving aid 10 years after the disaster and there is not a peep out of the President but he is complaining about American Citizens in Puerto Rico receiving aid 3 weeks after their catastrophe? Why are the people of the mainland United States more entitled to help then the people of Puerto Rico are?

In my opinion we should help Puerto Rico until they do not need the help any more, just like any other part of the United States.

.

[slapass]

Racism. Add in that they did not like Trump and his golf course went bankrupt.

[Bladewire]

They're black & brown and that's all the alt-right cares about, but they'll make a bunch of other excuses to pretend it's not about race in 3.. 2.. 1..

[GFED]

Does PR pay taxes? If they do then yes, they should get the same benefits as any other tax paying state.

[pornlaw]

Puerto Ricans dont pay federal taxes the same way other US citizens do.

And they dont vote in US elections...

And it will cost $96 billion to completely rebuild Puerto Rico - approximately $6400 per tax payer in the US. That is twice the entire foreign aid the US gives out in any given year.

So while Puerto Rico might be a territory they arent really the same as a state and its citizens arent on the same footing as US citizens.

Would you agree to cut all foreign aid to all other countries for 2 years so we can rebuild Puerto Rico, since in essence its still a foreign country. They could take the $96 billion and vote to be an independent country once the rebuilding is complete and there is nothing we could do about it.

[Fat Panda]

fuck PR

place has always been a shithole

tell em all they got 8 weeks to move to usa or wherever

then turn PR into bombing range for the us military

[Bladewire]

They're all migrating to America in droves the last few weeks, hundreds and thousands of black & brown American people from devastated Puerto Rico

[Fat Panda]

trumps tweets are right on the money

bunch a pathetic helpless leaches down there

they dug their own debt grave, then never spent a dime of it on infrastructure, etc

where did the money go? oh ya...

[Busty2]

The people who live in PR look like Mexicans and Chump is unable to distinguish the difference. Hence he could care less about PR because he is an obvious racist !

[Fat Panda]

sure is funny

the state of florida has 500k sq feet of warehouses filled w emergency supplies (water, meds, food, cots, clothing, etc)

you'd think PR would have the same, considering they are a fucking island in middle of caribbean prone to hurricanes

they dont? FUCK EM

[Bladewire]

Puerto Ricans dont pay federal taxes the same way other US citizens do.

And they dont vote in US elections...

Incorrect, they do vote in U.S. elections.

They also don't need a passport or VISA to leave devastated Puerto Rico and settle on the American mainland which they've been doing by the thousands the last few weeks

[Fat Panda]

its not the us govt job to take care of em

they are not even a fucking state

have no congressional representation

they pay no fucking taxes, just leech

fuck em

[Bladewire]

its not the us govt job to take care of em

they are not even a fucking state

have no congressional representation

they pay no fucking taxes, just leech

fuck em

Just leech?

Puerto Rico exports nothing to America? Puerto Rico has no value to America?

[Fat Panda]

Puerto Rico has no value to America

period

[Steve Rupe]

Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017.

On October 12, 2017, 3 weeks later, President Trump tweeted:



https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump

However, if you look at FEMA's website at FEMA.gov you will find that as of 2015 (the last time the page was updated) FEMA was still involved in the recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Mississippi. Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. That was 10 years before the article was written. There are updates to some Katrina pages into 2016. I have not found anything saying that we are not still involved in the Katrina recovery today, 12 years after the hurricane hit.

https://www.fema.gov/news-release/20...ricane-katrina



My question is, How come American Citizens in New Orleans and Mississippi are worthy of receiving aid 10 years after the disaster and there is not a peep out of the President but he is complaining about American Citizens in Puerto Rico receiving aid 3 weeks after their catastrophe? Why are the people of the mainland United States more entitled to help then the people of Puerto Rico are?

In my opinion we should help Puerto Rico until they do not need the help any more, just like any other part of the United States.

.

Possibly one reason is that PR is not a state so legally the obligation may not be the same. At one point the Donald said something about wiping out PR's debt but we will have to wait and see as what the Donald says and does are often not the same.

[Bladewire]

Puerto Rico has no value to America

period

"The economy of Puerto Rico is classified as a high income economy by the World Bank and as the most competitive economy in Latin America by the World Economic Forum."

$64 billion in exports to America of chemicals, electronics, rum, beverage concentrates, medical equipment, canned tuna.

"The main drivers of its economy are manufacturing, primarily pharmaceuticals, textiles, petrochemicals, and electronics; followed by the service industry, notably finance, insurance, real estate, and tourism"

So much for Puerto Ricans as being lazy do nothing leeches.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Puerto_Rico

[mineistaken]

Are you for real? Last time I checked it is 50 states, not 51. How would anyone even consider to think that ANY place outside of 50 states deserves the same as 50 states?

I mean this thread must be a parody of dumb libsters, right?

[Steve Rupe]

Incorrect, they do vote in U.S. elections.

They also don't need a passport or VISA to leave devastated Puerto Rico and settle on the American mainland which they've been doing by the thousands the last few weeks

They do not have a vote in Federal Elections.

[mineistaken]

Racism.

This is a parody of libsters as well, right?

[Bladewire]

Are you for real? Last time I checked it is 50 states, not 51. How would anyone even consider to think that ANY place outside of 50 states deserves the same as 50 states?

I mean this thread must be a parody of dumb libsters, right?

You're not American and you don't live in America let alone have any idea what kind of standing an American territory like Puerto Rico has with America but the racist in you just had to chime in regardless of you knowing NOTHING on the topic.

Mind your own business or only post when you have knowledge on the topic dingleberry.

You're so obsessed with America and hating other races & everyone non Trump that you post in every thread even those of which you have absolutely no knowledge of the topic STFU

[Bladewire]

They do not have a vote in Federal Elections.

You're saying Puerto Ricans can vote in our elections? They don't have delegates either? They do. They vote in the federal election primaries you dope!

Puerto Rico Republican primary, March 6, 2016
Candidate Votes Percentage Actual delegate count
Bound Unbound Total
America Symbol.svg Marco Rubio 28,937 70.24% 23 0 23
Donald Trump 5,474 13.29% 0 0 0
Ted Cruz 3,610 8.76% 0 0 0
Other 1,540 3.74% 0 0 0
John Kasich 582 1.41% 0 0 0
Carly Fiorina (withdrawn) 375 0.91% 0 0 0
Jeb Bush (withdrawn) 296 0.72% 0 0 0
Ben Carson (withdrawn) 168 0.41% 0 0 0
Mike Huckabee (withdrawn) 77 0.19% 0 0 0
Rand Paul (withdrawn) 48 0.12% 0 0 0
Rick Santorum (withdrawn) 36 0.09% 0 0 0
Jim Gilmore (withdrawn) 30 0.07% 0 0 0
Chris Christie (withdrawn) 23 0.06% 0 0 0
Unprojected delegates: 0 0 0
Total: 41,196 100% 23 0 23

[brassmonkey]

Puerto Ricans are by law natural-born citizens of the United States and may move freely between the island and the mainland. As it is not a state Puerto Rico does not have a vote in the United States Congress, which governs the territory with full jurisdiction under the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950.

[Fat Panda]

40 us CITIES have GDPs larger than ENTIRE island of PR

[Fat Panda]

yes, pr is meaningless

fuck em

[Bladewire]

It's like educating short bus folks here seriously

[pornlaw]

It's like educating short bus folks here seriously

And you're at the front of that bus...

Incorrect, they do vote in U.S. elections.

They also don't need a passport or VISA to leave devastated Puerto Rico and settle on the American mainland which they've been doing by the thousands the last few weeks

No they dont. Before answering you really should do some research...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federa...in_Puerto_Rico

Puerto Rico has 0 electoral votes... and they do not have a voting member of Congress.

Sure let them come to the US and become a part of the United States. That is far more less expensive than spending $96 billion to rebuild a island which we do not own...

[Bladewire]

40 us CITIES have GDPs larger than ENTIRE island of PR

There are 19,543 cities in America the 3.4 million people in Puerto Rico are doing damn well being 41st on your list, compared to the rest of Americas 19,543. That the top 99.9%

[Fat Panda]

pr is meaningless

[Fat Panda]

lol, have fun pr

[Bladewire]

pr is meaningless

$9 billion in aid and $63 billion in exports to America is not meaningless

[Fat Panda]

pr = meaningless

[Matt 26z]

$63 billion in exports to America is not meaningless

So we should spend nearly $100 billion on an island because they sell us $63 billion a year in goods?

[EonBlue]

Racism.

Against white people?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto...ulation_makeup






.

[Rochard]

We need to think of Puerto Rico like Hawaii. Prior to 1941, Americans didn't know anything about Hawaii. Back then we thought of Hawaii very much how we think of Guam now - It's an island with an American military base.

Why not make Puerto Rico into Hawaii? Why do Americans go to the Bahamas and not Puerto Rico for vacation? Imagine if Puerto Rico was a full US state, like Hawaii. We would be jumping through hoops.

Our president has made it very clear he has no interest in Puerto Rico, even if they are American citizens. That's horrifying.

[Steve Rupe]

You're saying Puerto Ricans can vote in our elections? They don't have delegates either? They do. They vote in the federal election primaries you dope!

Puerto Rico Republican primary, March 6, 2016
Candidate Votes Percentage Actual delegate count
Bound Unbound Total
America Symbol.svg Marco Rubio 28,937 70.24% 23 0 23
Donald Trump 5,474 13.29% 0 0 0
Ted Cruz 3,610 8.76% 0 0 0
Other 1,540 3.74% 0 0 0
John Kasich 582 1.41% 0 0 0
Carly Fiorina (withdrawn) 375 0.91% 0 0 0
Jeb Bush (withdrawn) 296 0.72% 0 0 0
Ben Carson (withdrawn) 168 0.41% 0 0 0
Mike Huckabee (withdrawn) 77 0.19% 0 0 0
Rand Paul (withdrawn) 48 0.12% 0 0 0
Rick Santorum (withdrawn) 36 0.09% 0 0 0
Jim Gilmore (withdrawn) 30 0.07% 0 0 0
Chris Christie (withdrawn) 23 0.06% 0 0 0
Unprojected delegates: 0 0 0
Total: 41,196 100% 23 0 23

Puerto Rico does not have a vote in Federal Elections not for Congress and not for the Presidency. Educate your self dumb ass.

[thommy]

$9 billion in aid and $63 billion in exports to America is not meaningless

well let´s talk a bit about economy.
i mean away from that that puerto ricans are american citizens since more than 100 years the main income there is producing (mainly textiles) for US industries in so called tax free zones.
means that this US companies do NOT pay tax in puerto rico - import the goods for a lower price have a higher marge and higher wins IN USA because of that and pay more tax in the states.

btw. these tax free production zones are also existing on the neighbour island dominican republic an haitii.

and they where founded by US governments what did not want that their industry have to pay foreign taxes.

but the very big bomb will explode when US is not helping puerto rico because many US pension fonds have invested in puerto rican bonds.
so if puerto rico have to declare bankruptcy these pension fonds will lose A LOT of money. and now guess who will pay that.

this discussion shows one time more how few the people in the land of free economy understand about economy and the consequences of their simple and shitty ideas.

the problem in america is that a lot of people are too dumb and under-educated to understand the system what they declare as the best in the world.

i am still waiting that one of this right radical dumbfuckers explains us how to land on the moon because "america did it". BUT: NO - AMERICA has never been on the moon these where AMERICANS - but not the dumb ones !!!

[beerptrol]

They are stuck with the same retard and white nationalist Chump and his supporters like everyone else.

Let's not forget Chump's golf course had to declare bankruptcy there

[Bladewire]

well let´s talk a bit about economy.
i mean away from that that puerto ricans are american citizens since more than 100 years the main income there is producing (mainly textiles) for US industries in so called tax free zones.
means that this US companies do NOT pay tax in puerto rico - import the goods for a lower price have a higher marge and higher wins IN USA because of that and pay more tax in the states.

btw. these tax free production zones are also existing on the neighbour island dominican republic an haitii.

and they where founded by US governments what did not want that their industry have to pay foreign taxes.

but the very big bomb will explode when US is not helping puerto rico because many US pension fonds have invested in puerto rican bonds.
so if puerto rico have to declare bankruptcy these pension fonds will lose A LOT of money. and now guess who will pay that.

this discussion shows one time more how few the people in the land of free economy understand about economy and the consequences of their simple and shitty ideas.

the problem in america is that a lot of people are too dumb and under-educated to understand the system what they declare as the best in the world.

i am still waiting that one of this right radical dumbfuckers explains us how to land on the moon because "america did it". BUT: NO - AMERICA has never been on the moon these where AMERICANS - but not the dumb ones !!!

[Barry-xlovecam]

1. They cannot vote in Presidential contests.
2. They cannot elect members to Congress (neither can Guam).
3. They are brown people that speak Spanish.

They are citizens of a US Territory.
They were acquired as a war spoil of the Spanish-American war

Spoils of war. Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico became territories of the United States as part of the terms of the Treaty of Paris that officially ended the Spanish-American War of 1898.Jul 3, 2014
Spanish-American War - Guampedia

» Spanish-American War

Trump floated the idea to allow Puerto Rico to declare Bankruptcy and settle their debt at some discount. A *haircut* to the investors of state and municipal bonds. Should that happen: Interest rates on that class of bonds will rise dramatically and all states and cities will faced increased costs. There is no US constitutional guarantee of state, city (and territorial) bond principal.

[pornlaw]

but the very big bomb will explode when US is not helping puerto rico because many US pension fonds have invested in puerto rican bonds.
so if puerto rico have to declare bankruptcy these pension fonds will lose A LOT of money. and now guess who will pay that.

That ship has left the port... Puerto Rico declared bankruptcy even before the hurricane hit...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/b...rico-debt.html

[Bladewire]

[LIST=1][*]They cannot vote in Presidential contests.

Puerto Rico Primary Results ? 2016 Election

They vote in the primaries, which are a part of our federal elections.

"Like other territories, Puerto Rico can participate in the presidential primary process. It holds a primary election in the spring of each presidential election year. Then the parties choose delegates to the Republican and Democratic National Convention, who are pledged to vote at that convention for the winners of Puerto Rico's primary"

[thommy]

That ship has left the port... Puerto Rico declared bankruptcy even before the hurricane hit...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/b...rico-debt.html

i know - already obama tried to find a way how to prevent that and the case was kind of "on hold" - now after the hurrican it is even worse because the point is the the us CAN NOT help by law because puerto rico is not an official state.

this is YOUR GREECE now !!!
let´s see if you manage it better as EU did and WHO will pay it at the end - this is a case for a REAL economist - sorry that there isn´t one in the white house.

[PbG]

Wow that's harsh! It's still someone's home and could very well be your home one day suffering from a disaster.

fuck PR

place has always been a shithole

tell em all they got 8 weeks to move to usa or wherever

then turn PR into bombing range for the us military

[Steve Rupe]

Puerto Rico Primary Results ? 2016 Election

They vote in the primaries, which are a part of our federal elections.

"Like other territories, Puerto Rico can participate in the presidential primary process. It holds a primary election in the spring of each presidential election year. Then the parties choose delegates to the Republican and Democratic National Convention, who are pledged to vote at that convention for the winners of Puerto Rico's primary"

They are allowed to pledge at the party conventions but they are not allowed to vote come election day, so not they are not allowed to vote in Federal Elections. Period.

[Rochard]

Didn't trump have a golf course in Puerto Rico that went bankrupt, and he wrote off $30 million there?

[thommy]

[LIST=1]

Trump floated the idea to allow Puerto Rico to declare Bankruptcy and settle their debt at some discount. A *haircut* to the investors of state and municipal bonds. Should that happen: Interest rates on that class of bonds will rise dramatically and all states and cities will faced increased costs. There is no US constitutional guarantee of state, city (and territorial) bond principal.

correct and he can´t do a lot more because of the missing state status of puerto rico.

more funny is the this status does also nor allow to use the bankruptcy code and the "Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act" is under fire from trump
and can be canceled in case his morning coffee is not hot enough.

so yes what happend here was already in movement but another consequence of US foreign policy.
this country was used to produce cheap and did not have a VAT for that reason (if so if would be more expensive to produce there).
the imports from PR to USA have been cheaper for that reason and the tax on the profit
(for work done outside the USA) was paid in USA.

from WHAT should this country live if they do not have tax income ????

now the second funny part:

this "Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act" gave the PR government the ability to set up VAT and with that a tax income.
THIS tax income was used as value for bonds and those bonds where allowed to buy from hedge and pensions fonds AFTER TRUMP CANCELED THE REGULATIONS OF THE FINANCIAL MARKET.

all this fonds have been allowed again to buy that high risk papers with the money of their members.

and here the circle closes and approves that trump have NO FUCKING CLUE of international and national economy - he is a pure and very bad amateur and i think even paul markham could beat him in this position.

however that will end it will be paid by the US taxpayer - there is NO WAY OUT !

the only question is if the big society is shouldering that mess or if it will be paid by the poor assholes who wanted to safe something for the time when they are old.

[Barry-xlovecam]

Puerto Rico Primary Results ? 2016 Election

They vote in the primaries, which are a part of our federal elections.

"Like other territories, Puerto Rico can participate in the presidential primary process. It holds a primary election in the spring of each presidential election year. Then the parties choose delegates to the Republican and Democratic National Convention, who are pledged to vote at that convention for the winners of Puerto Rico's primary"

google > In US Federal elections -- primaries are for the political parties -- the vote is non binding. and get back with me

I'll make it easy
https://www.google.com/search?q=In+U...is+non+binding.

[Barry-xlovecam]

The legal case is not technically considered a bankruptcy filing under the federal code that governs municipal cases, but it's similar. Instead, it was filed through a bankruptcy-like mechanism dubbed Title III of legislation authorized by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in 2016.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money...tcy/101243686/

The Congress and Obama made a new law that will control Puerto Rico's insolvency. SO?

Bottom line -- they will be able to adjudicate the discount or the termination and release of the territory's debt. Governments just make new laws.

What matters is that the decisions made will influence the risk status and the corresponding interest rates of state and municipal debt. If your city or county wants to pay for a road -- they sell bonds in the public markets. If a state government wants to build a new university the state will sell bonds in the public markets. The taxpayers of the state or city issuing the bonds will repay these bonds. Bond rates affect tax rates. Higher interest rates on bonds require tax rate increases or government spending cuts -- states and cities cannot just print more money like the US Federal government does.

[Bladewire]

google > In US Federal elections -- primaries are for the political parties -- the vote is non binding. and get back with me

I'll make it easy
https://www.google.com/search?q=In+U...is+non+binding.

Don't deviate from what I said bro, Puerto Ricans vote in our elections. Your like the 4th person I've had to explain this to in this thread

I've learned a lot about Puerto Rico today that I really don't give a shit about in my day to day life LOL

It's odd how they are citizens, but not citizen citizens you know what I mean? It'll be best off just moving to America and becoming full citizens by living in one of the 48 Mainland state or Hawaii or Alaska

[Steve Rupe]

Don't deviate from what I said bro, Puerto Ricans vote in our elections. Your like the 4th person I've had to explain this to in this thread

I've learned a lot about Puerto Rico today that I really don't give a shit about in my day to day life LOL

It's odd how they are citizens, but not citizen citizens you know what I mean? It'll be best off just moving to America and becoming full citizens by living in one of the 48 Mainland state or Hawaii or Alaska

No they do not, dumb ass.