jlf1961
Posts: 14840
Joined: 6/10/2008 From: Somewhere Texas Status: offline
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A few points that people seem to forget: States (actual states) have representation in congress, and as such has a means to get Federal aid in updating power and water infrastructure, territories such as Puerto Rico do not. When the federal budget is laid out, the states, by their very nature as states, get the bulk of the money allocated for highways, ports (if applicable,) health and education.... Territories do not. So, that leaves territories on the bottom of the money chain, so to do improvements, they sell bonds to who ever they can get to buy them, so they can upgrade power and water utilities. However, territories are subject to the same rules for water quality, etc that states are. Of course, if the territory is strategically important, then more money is spent there simply to support the military. With the fall of the Soviet Union, and its support of Cuba, the bases on Puerto Rico were no longer strategically important, so they were closed to save taxpayers money, and when they closed, so did the cash that would have been used for upgrading infrastructure. Bottom line, US territories are the red headed unwanted step children of America. And the simple truth is that President Trump cannot legally do anything about Puerto Rico's debt, because it is a territory.
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Boy, it sure would be nice if we had some grenades, don't you think? You cannot control who comes into your life, but you can control which airlock you throw them out of. Paranoid Paramilitary Gun Loving Conspiracy Theorist AND EQUAL OPPORTUNI
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