Puerto Rico's Debt Crisis - An Island in Depression

[SunSpace]

Here's some information about what has been going on in Puerto Rico for a decade and a half. It truly continues to worsen, and our youth, myself included, will be considered a "lost generation" by historians. That is, if there's any youth left at the end of it all; our population is rapidly disappearing in a desperate escape from the island only to end up homeless or sleeping in cars in the states, in part due to racism. We become prime targets for the anti-Latino hatred that has led to the rise of Donald Trump, for example. There really is no way out. Personally, I chose to return, and let life take whichever turns it has to. Nevertheless, the video should at least be informative, since I realize that many probably don't even know that Puerto Ricans are American citizens.

[1bad65]

Didn't Puerto Rico elect socialists in the recent past?

[El-blanco]

It has nothing to do with racism and everything to do with bad policy on both sides of the water. They still use oil fuel for electricity ffs. Their energy rates are double the national average. The place has been a mismanaged mess for years which is why there has been a massive exodus from there. Now they're going to turn the island into a sweat shop and toilet for the rich.

[SunSpace]

Didn't Puerto Rico elect socialists in the recent past?

No, in the recent past they elected a Republican governor. He's the one who speaks in English in one of the video interviews above. His approach was to cut government jobs (a typical Republican type of idea), and it didn't work.

We have a governor who's a Democrat now, and he's also been unable to fix anything. He's the one who says the debt is not payable in the video above.

[Mighty_Windir]

May the Lord help us, because it ain't looking very bright for us

[SunSpace]

It has nothing to do with racism and everything to do with bad policy on both sides of the water. They still use oil fuel for electricity ffs. Their energy rates are double the national average. The place has been a mismanaged mess for years which is why there has been a massive exodus from there. Now they're going to turn the island into a sweat shop and toilet for the rich.

I agree on that there has been terrible abuse of the island by both mainland Americans and Puerto Ricans themselves. However, I wouldn't say it has nothing to do with racism. As you can clearly see in the video, we've been discriminated against by the U.S., for practically no reason, when it comes to basic law protection. Sometimes, policies have even reached an irrational level, as in how goods sent to the island must first go to the mainland U.S., even if they first sail by Puerto Rico! We end up getting taxed double for it. We pay more tax than any U.S. state, and, of course, that goes to the states. In fact, our total contribution, although being an island "only 100 miles long," rivals that of states many times our size.

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

We're also not allowed to do our own business with other countries, despite the fact that we've been left for dead. Everything has to go through the U.S., and it always has a steep price in favor of it.

As you can see in the video, they even eliminated a measure that avoided sending jobs out overseas, just to save some money in the mainland U.S. It totally wrecked the economy here.

And, don't even get me started on how Puerto Ricans who move to the U.S. are treated, lol. I went through that one myself. Even government officials discriminated against me off of where I was from. I was certified by the same agency which grants certification to professionals from all across the United States of America, obviously including that state, and they still didn't want to grant certification. One man literally told me that it was because "our standards weren't the same." He also said that I should go to the senate, if "I had an issue with how things were done" in that state.

It wasn't until I contacted superiors, complained about the obvious racism and then proceeded to ignore their bureaucracy after time had passed that they actually decided, in an action designed to protect themselves from any possible litigation, I'm sure, to grant me a temporary certification. Of course, this was on the condition that I take a ridiculous amount of courses within a year.

It ended up not mattering, because I couldn't even get a job. The local government would post a job, and, once I applied, it would disappear from the listing the next day. I personally went to apply, as well, and no one would call me back.

As humiliating as it is to admit, I ended up riding a bicycle for most of my year there. And, this was in a state where no one in their right mind would willingly want to ride a bicycle--Arizona. Let's just say that 126 degree temperatures aren't fun in the desert.

People would mock me, yell insults at me. Heck, I bumped into some White guys who were acting like they wanted to rape me. And, all the while, I had to bring a smile to my face as I went to work at the only part-time job I could find. Even there, I had customers who, not noticing I was Latino because of the lack of an accent, would complain about things such as, "Can you believe I bought beers the other day, and they had some MEXICAN boxer on the cover! I don't want no damn Mexican boxer on the cover." Etc. I suspect this "Mexican boxer" was probably Canelo Alvarez.

I ended up having to give up my check to live in what could best be described as a large closet. Eventually, I realized I had been wrong about the American dream and decided to go back to PR and face whatever may come. I've returned to the eye of the storm, I suppose, since everything is even worse now and about to further decline.

I've heard it various times, even in the media, about how many other Puerto Ricans suffered a lot more than I did. Those are the ones I refer to when I say that they've ended up homeless, sleeping in their cars.

To say that racism has nothing to do with what's happened would be incorrect, in my opinion.

[.!WAR MIKEY!.]

and they have a HIV problem

[baya]

I agree on that there has been terrible abuse of the island by both mainland Americans and Puerto Ricans themselves. However, I wouldn't say it has nothing to do with racism. As you can clearly see in the video, we've been discriminated against by the U.S., for practically no reason, when it comes to basic law protection. Sometimes, policies have even reached an irrational level, as in how goods sent to the island must first go to the mainland U.S., even if they first sail by Puerto Rico! We end up getting taxed double for it. We pay more tax than any U.S. state, and, of course, that goes to the states. In fact, our total contribution, although being an island "only 100 miles long," rivals that of states many times our size.

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

We're also not allowed to do our own business with other countries, despite the fact that we've been left for dead. Everything has to go through the U.S., and it always has a steep price in favor of it.

As you can see in the video, they even eliminated a measure that avoided sending jobs out overseas, just to save some money in the mainland U.S. It totally wrecked the economy here.

And, don't even get me started on how Puerto Ricans who move to the U.S. are treated, lol. I went through that one myself. Even government officials discriminated against me off of where I was from. I was certified by the same agency that certifies all other states, and they still didn't want to grant certification. One man literally told me that it was because "our standards weren't the same." He also said that I should go to the senate, if "I had an issue with how things were done" in that state.

It wasn't until I contacted superiors, complained about the obvious racism and then proceeded to ignore their bureaucracy after time had passed that they actually decided, in an action designed to protect themselves from any possible litigation, I'm sure, to grant me a temporary certification. Of course, this was on the condition that I take a ridiculous amount of courses within a year.

It ended up not mattering, because I couldn't even get a job. The local government would post a job, and, once I applied, it would disappear from the listing the next day. I personally went to apply, as well, and no one would call me back.

As humiliating as it is to admit, I ended up riding a bicycle for most of my year there. And, this was in a state where no one in their right mind would willingly want to ride a bicycle--Arizona. Let's just say that 126 degree temperatures aren't fun in the desert.

People would mock me, yell insults at me. Heck, I bumped into some White guys who were acting like they wanted to rape me. And, all the while, I had to bring a smile to my face as I went to work at the only part-time job I could find. Even there, I had customers who, not noticing I was Latino because of the lack of an accent, would complain about things such as, "Can you believe I bought beers the other day, and they had some MEXICAN boxer on the cover! I don't want no damn Mexican boxer on the cover." Etc. I suspect this "Mexican boxer" was probably Canelo Alvarez.

I ended up having to give up my check to live in what could best be described as a large closet. Eventually, I realized I had been wrong about the American dream and decided to go back to PR and face whatever may come. I've returned to the eye of the storm, I suppose, since everything is even worse now and about to further decline.

I've heard it various times, even in the media, about how many other Puerto Ricans suffered a lot more than I did. Those are the ones I refer to when I say that they've ended up homeless, sleeping in their cars.

To say that racism has nothing to do with what's happened would be incorrect, in my opinion.

sorry to hear about your troubles.

your first problem was moving to AZ though, dude.

that is a shit state with its only redeeming factor being josh homme.

come to the DMV for jobs and opportunity. we're about to get a new president so there are going to be a lot of jobs opening up real soon around here again.

[MOMENTO MORI]

shyt let it get as cheap as some of the countries in central america and I'm going. Seems like a beautiful country, with beautiful people...specifically the women. As for the puerto rico economy, I don't know enough to commit, perhaps cuz the news don't seem interested. Blame the US govt for this one.

[Zaryu]

Yeah, my sister sent me that video recently. We've been screwed, but the only thing we can realistically do is try and move forward and work hard. Not sure what brought you to Arizona, but you will not run into those problems everywhere.

Usually, the micro racism I encounter has more to do with ignorance than anything, and I've been living in the south for the past three years.