Sorry, Puerto Rico is closed for the day

[solypsist]

Schools closed. Building permits were on hold. Renewing a driver's license was impossible.

Many basic functions of Puerto Rico's government were unavailable Monday as the U.S. commonwealth ran out of money and imposed a partial public-sector shutdown — putting nearly 100,000 people — including 40,000 teachers — out of work and granting an unscheduled holiday to 500,000 public school students...

...Puerto Rico is saddled with a $740 million budget shortfall because the legislature and the governor have been unable to agree on a spending plan since 2004. Conflicting sales tax proposals have been floated that would allow the island to secure a line of credit so it could pay public salaries through the end of the fiscal year on June 30. The island currently has no sales tax...

...Overnight, the leader of the Senate proposed a 5.9 percent sales tax that he said would raise enough money to pay off an emergency $532 million line of credit that the government needs to finish the fiscal year.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060501/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/puerto_rico_shutdown

holy crap.

[discovery1]

Yeah I heard about this from a Puerto Rican on my floor. Not sure what is to be done, aside from the sales tax. She said 'what about the poor people' but that doesn't seem to be a problem on the mainland.

Edit: I suppose the DC government could bail them out.

[Tribesman]

Wow , a podunk economy with a large chunk of the nations workforce as salaried government employees .
I could have sworn there was a topic here recently where people said this sort of thing only happened with the Palestinian Authority in charge .:laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4:

[solypsist]

i posted this hoping people read between the lines here and realize that puerto rico regularly votes on whether enter statehood with the u.s. imagine inheriting this territory with full statehood with the economic infrastructure is has now.

"...it could be admitted as a state of the United States by a vote of the U.S. Congress, in the same way that Hawaii was in 1959."
and
"When asked to choose between independence, statehood, or continuation of the present status with enhanced powers, as proposed by the Popular Democratic Party, Puerto Ricans have voted to remain a commonwealth."




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Puerto_Rico
http://www.prstatehood.com/home/index.asp
http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2001/vol5n26/PR51State-en.shtml

[Major Robert Dump]

Wow , a podunk economy with a large chunk of the nations workforce as salaried government employees .
I could have sworn there was a topic here recently where people said this sort of thing only happened with the Palestinian Authority in charge .:laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4:


That was me, and I didn't say it only happened to the Pallies. I did, however, use the word "podunk."

Disproportionate people on government payroll is very, very bad in any economy, but the smaller the country and the less tradable goods they have the worst.

I don't, however, understand how its congress cannot "agree" on a budget for 2 years. Not familiar with Puerto Ricos constitution, but they need to add a balanced budget amendment so that people can get impeached and kicked out of office for not doing their job, instead of hanging on until their term is over.

[BigTex]

Yeah I heard about this from a Puerto Rican on my floor. Not sure what is to be done, aside from the sales tax. She said 'what about the poor people' but that doesn't seem to be a problem on the mainland.

Edit: I suppose the DC government could bail them out.

Omg why would we send them another emergency bail out when we already have. They can't decide on a 7% sales tax, thats cheap, its also insanely efficient way to raise money. In most states the sales tax is usually nearer to 8%, so I don't understand what the problem is. 7 cents to the dollar is not going ot screw a poor person out of food.

As for us inheriting the problem if they do become a state. We already own the problem, they are a US territory, and we've already bailed them out once. At least if they become a state we can tax them higher, and tax alot of the businesses that seem to migrate their headquarters over to there.


Originally posted by Tribesman
Wow , a podunk economy with a large chunk of the nations workforce as salaried government employees .

Their a USA territory not a nation, keep that in mind, we inevitably have to bail them out if they dont solve this. If it gets worse I hope those masked kids don't spread their revolution idiocy. Hopefully they'll ubnderstand just how small a peace keeping force would be needed from the US army.

[Major Robert Dump]

Not that I agree with a revolution or violence, but a country not agreeing on a budget for 2 years and not performing services the taxes are meant to provide is a damn good way to give a revolution a kickstart. I bet all those people in the Senate got paychecks, yes?

[BigTex]

Not that I agree with a revolution or violence, but a country not agreeing on a budget for 2 years and not performing services the taxes are meant to provide is a damn good way to give a revolution a kickstart. I bet all those people in the Senate got paychecks, yes?

Would be willing to bet they not only got payed, but got raises. Yes a good reason for a revolution, but considering the result of that, not a good idea.

[yesdachi]

They could do what the rest of the US does and borrow the $ from China. ZING! :laugh4:

Hey waitaminute that’s a zing against my own country.:embarassed:

[Alexanderofmacedon]

:laugh4:

[Zalmoxis]

I hate sales tax soooo much.