Except that PR is not a state, and as such residents do not pay federal income taxes. And again, we’ve got 10,000 federal workers over there busting their butts to help out. Supplies are sitting in warehouses waiting for local truckers to distribute. The feds have acquiesced to every one of the PR governor’s requests.
“Do some of you buying the excuse making and party line have no compassion or concern?”
Looks like my question has been answered in the affirmative. Compassion and concern is lacking.
No matter the assertions the PR govt was or is incompetent, these are people suffering.
I’m worried about whether correct information is getting to the White House. The President tweeted “All buildings now inspected for safety.” The governor of Puerto Rico, Gov. Rosselló, denies this; some areas “really haven’t gotten contact,” he says. The federal government can’t make good decisions without good information.
Only some? That’s better than what I thought.
Huh? How do you distribute help through an incompetent government? It matters greatly.
I think the difference in some of the island recoveries versus others is that an island government has acquiesced that they do not have the resources and experience to manage a large scale recovery. They have invited a mother country to bring in military to take over operations. My suspicion (and it’s just an opinion) is there is a local pride that is keeping the government from handing over complete control to US military or FEMA.
As an example, and I hope I am wrong, I’m guessing that the PR electric utility is saying they can fix everything themselves and just asking for wire and materials (which are probably sitting somewhere where US sent what they asked for) .
Well, the San Juan mayor has been asking for help and rather than being respected for her honesty about what her people need, the administration has turned on her. What’s the incentive here to ask? Public criticism on social media?
How can any place the size of PR in terms of land mass and population help themselves? They’ve all been hit.
It’s particularly sad that the people of Puerto Rico aided greatly the other nearby islands after Irma hit (and they were only dealt a glancing blow). Now those islands would probably love to return the favor but haven’t had enough time to recover in order to do so.
John Oliver did a piece on Puerto Rico in 2016. The crisis has been ongoing for a long time. It’s not as simple as people fudging on their taxes! Section 936 gave tax breaks to companies moving to Puerto Rico, starting in the 1970s. This brought a lot of manufacturing and prosperity to the island. These tax breaks were phased out in 2006, and an economic crisis started, with the government issuing bonds that Congress decided would be triple tax exempt. Wall street loved those bonds and Puerto Rico was soon underwater.
Yes, Puerto Rican private citizens (the boating community) were the first and only aid that came to the Virgin Islands after Irma. They packed their large sport fishing yachts full of generators, tarps and water and pulled right up to local small docks that were still intact.
Two days after the Haiti earthquake, the U.S. deployed 8,000 American troops and within two weeks there were 22,000 troops and 33 support ships. Now you can’t directly compare the relative sizes of the responses, but I point out Haiti simply as an example where we very quickly sent massive aid to a foreign government in desperate need. By contrast Puerto Ricans are US citizens, fellow Americans. I don’t recall hearing about how the Haitian government was corrupt, incompetent, in debt, and not a contributor to the US economy as reasons to not send aid.
The federal response to Katrina was not held back because Louisiana receives more than $3 back in federal money for each $1 they pay. Or for Irma in Florida, which receives about $4.50 back for each $1 paid. Or Harvey in Texas, which receives about $1.40 back for each $1.
If the feeling is that Puerto Ricans are somehow lesser Americans because they don’t have Congressional representation or pay federal taxes, then people who feel that way should advocate for cutting them loose as a territory. The Constitution makes no provision for lesser Americans and IMHO it’s harmful to the country as a whole to feel that way about any of our fellow citizens and to use that as an excuse for providing a different level of life-saving assistance.
Thank you for putting that in perspective, anomander.
IOW, just die quietly and stop whinging.
I love when people say someone chose to live somewhere.
It’s not exactly doable for most people to pick up and move especially when you’re already living in poverty.
The median household income in Puerto Rico is $19,518.
It’s tough to help yourself when your infrastructure is so badly damaged. For instance, can you imagine the challenges involved with simply contacting your trucking force when the individual truckers don’t have internet or phone at the moment? In some places they’ve had to resort to runners to communicate with communities cut off by hurricane damage.
The majority of the containers on the dock that the news media are showing are private shipments belonging to retail establishments such as grocery stores and pharmacies. According to Crowley Shipping, either the owners haven’t contacted to get their shipments, or import paperwork cannot get processed and only 20% of truckers have shown up to work. My understanding is that if the private goods are not collected by the owners, govt may transfer items in the refrigerated containers to relief aid.
Which means that grocery stores and pharmacies may have severe shortages a little bit down the road
Honore also ssid they could have gotten the 82nd Airborne in there, dropped them in to work on distribution.
You can’t play Peapod or pretend this is FedEx overnight delivery, if roads aren’t passable.
Most of us must have been watching natural disaster recovery through our adult lives. Mudslides, earthquakes, dam breaks, fire, and more. It takes time, sure. But when do leaders mock, in essence, “Aw, quit yer bitchin. Waah waah.” Or state any complaints have dubious purpose?
Btw, if “they” shouldn’t live in hurricane zones, it’s ok in Florida or parts of SC and TX?
The jobs in the tourism and hospitality business are not coming back to Puerto Rico any time soon. They are American citizens and can move to the mainland for jobs and opportunity. (Yes it’s hard for people in poverty to move but that’s just what was suggested when talking about coal mining jobs not coming back to W. Virginia and Kentucky. “They can just move”.)
It will take years for the infrastructure to be built back. It will take even more years to convince tourists that the hotels and beaches are ready. How long will it take for the cruise lines to come back? The El Yunque rainforest, one of the prime attractions was denuded and will take years to grow back.
^ “If there’s no bread, why can’t they eat cake?”
For all I know the physical response has been as good as it could be. There are enormous challenges involved in getting PR back on its feet.
I am, however, very disturbed by the impetus to blame desperate politicians, play partisan politics, and tell people who have to wait in lines for hours just to get potable water that they’re not giving enough community effort. How about a little empathy? There’s no shame in saying, “I know things are rough, and they’re not going to get much better right away. We are going to do everything in our power to help. In the meantime take care of each other and hang in there.”