[ShepherdsDog]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/18/us/puert ... index.html

They are just 6 weeks away from the beginning of the next Hurricane season.

[DrCaleb]

They aren't a real US State anyway.

/s

[Thanos]

Somewhere a MAGA is gloating about all the "winning" with this one.

[BartSimpson]

Thanos Thanos:

Somewhere a MAGA is gloating about all the "winning" with this one.

Puerto Rico fucked itself over long before DJT ever even thought of running for President. They borrowed $70 billion from the banks which was supposed to be used to update their infrastructure.

One of the key things they were supposed to do with the money was to fund the publicly owned electric agency's plan to put 100% of their electric lines underground. This would have made PR pretty safe for hurricanes.

Instead they put less than 5% of the system underground and the rest of the money got siphoned off for typical Latin American corruption.

Now they've run out the credit card, they can't borrow any more money to pay for the restoration of services, and Congress isn't interested in handing the fuckers a blank check to fix things when we already know the corrupt bastards will steal 95% of the money based upon past experience.

And the fact that Congress won't give these gangsters any more money is one of the things that really will make America great again.

[Tricks]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Thanos Thanos:

Somewhere a MAGA is gloating about all the "winning" with this one.

Puerto Rico fucked itself over long before DJT ever even thought of running for President. They borrowed $70 billion from the banks which was supposed to be used to update their infrastructure.

One of the key things they were supposed to do with the money was to fund the publicly owned electric agency's plan to put 100% of their electric lines underground. This would have made PR pretty safe for hurricanes.

Instead they put less than 5% of the system underground and the rest of the money got siphoned off for typical Latin American corruption.

Now they've run out the credit card, they can't borrow anymore money to pay for the restoration of services, and Congress isn't interested in handing the fuckers a blank check to fix things when we already know the corrupt bastards will steal 95% of the money based upon past experience.

And the fact that Congress won't give these gangsters anymore money is one of the things that really will make America great again.

So do it yourselves. Couldn't they fund the USACE to go down and do it right, by passing the government entirely?

[Thanos]

That would probably take an order by Prez Dennison to use the Corp of Engineers, and he has much more of a political interest in seeing them rotten s***s suffer because his base gets off on seeing their enemies in that kind of misery. Most of what he sent last year in "aid" turned out to be more of his grafting grifter buddies going to PR to loot what they had left in exchange for the nothing that got done.

[BartSimpson]

The government in PR can always sell the utility to a private firm and let the private firm get the power up and running some time next week.

Or they can wait for hell to freeze over.

Whatever.

[Thanos]

Or an American national government that's dominated from top to bottom by self-proclaimed Christians can do the Christian thing and help out poor people in misery. Pretty sure by now that all that self-proclaiming they do is a total crock though, and all the evidence of that is out in the open for anyone willing to see it.

[BartSimpson]

Thanos Thanos:

Or an American national government that's dominated from top to bottom by self-proclaimed Christians can do the Christian thing and help out poor people in misery. Pretty sure by now that all that self-proclaiming they do is a total crock though, and all the evidence of that is out in the open for anyone willing to see it.

Throwing money at Puerto Rico will not suddenly fix systemic and cultural problems that existed for decades prior to the hurricane.

Obama, for instance, took over control of PR's finances and facilitated their effective bankruptcy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Ri ... ebt_crisis

And, what do you know? PR is privatizing their electric agency in order to get a private firm to effect the update and repair of the electrical system that government so soundly botched.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Ri ... _Authority

[martin14]

Thanos Thanos:

Or an American national government that's dominated from top to bottom by self-proclaimed Christians can do the Christian thing and help out poor people in misery.

Even you should be able to admit that at some point addicts need to be cut off.

3.5 million people, $70billion of debt.

Thanks, Democrats.

No more.
Let them live cheap until they learn.

[DrCaleb]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

The government in PR can always sell the utility to a private firm and let the private firm get the power up and running some time next week.

Because privatization never goes wrong, amirite?

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2009 ... in-america

[martin14]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

The government in PR can always sell the utility to a private firm and let the private firm get the power up and running some time next week.

Because privatization never goes wrong, amirite?

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2009 ... in-america

3rd world people, 3rd world problems.

meh.

Transferring control from a corrupt government that was unable to do this simple thing,
over to a private company that gets given a monopoly or duopoly from the same
corruption, and then people wonder why it all goes wrong.

People should not live where there are not adequate supplies of water.
Simple.

[DrCaleb]

martin14 martin14:

3rd world people, 3rd world problems.

Like New York, with the highest debt per GSP income? Kansas at 24% of GDP? How about the US Virgin Islands at 72%, far higher than Puerto Rico (66%)?

Certain groups like to blame 'corruption' for the debt problem in Puerto Rico, but its funny the things I read don't seem to play that way.

$1:

Looking at the long-term history of Puerto Rico's debt and what caused it reveals that the federal government in fact shoulders much of the blame for the crisis.

While Puerto Rican politicians took actions that exacerbated the island's debt, they were operating within very small parameters set for them by Washington, having had little say on federal policies that have affected them ever since Puerto Rico became a US territory in 1898.

http://www.businessinsider.com/puerto-rico-debt-2017-10

So, why is it OK for one part of the USA to get emergency funds and help to clean up - while building in a flood plain, but another group can get bent because they are just "corrupt brown" people anyhow?

[ShepherdsDog]

$1:

People should not live where there are not adequate supplies of water.
Simple.

Time to turn California back to nature then.

[DrCaleb]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

$1:

People should not live where there are not adequate supplies of water.
Simple.

Time to turn California back to nature then.

And most of the Mid-West.