I have to say that the Puerto Rican government is just a tool of the US
federal government. It's kind of like the relationship between the
Palestinian Authority and Israel. The P A carries out its masters orders.
Puerto Rico has always been a colony of the US to be used economically in
whatever way US business saw fit to use it. If you read War Against All
Puerto Ricans by Nelson A. Dennis which is on Bookshare, you'll get an idea
of the history. And at this point in time, it's the hedge funds that are
bleeding it dry. What has been done to these people, explains the terrorist
bombings and attempted assasination of Truman that Puerto Rican independence
groups have carried out over the years. The bombings were terrible, but one
can understand the motives. The people have absolutely no control over their
destiny.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran
Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx" for DMARC)
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2015 2:38 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Puerto Rico govt targets workers to,pay
unpayable debt of US colony
http://themilitant.com/2015/7925/792505.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 79/No. 25 July 20, 2015
(front page)
Puerto Rico govt targets workers to
pay unpayable debt of US colony
BY SETH GALINSKY
Admitting June 29 that Puerto Ricos $72 billion public debt is unpayable,
Alejandro García Padilla, the U.S. colonys governor, called on unions, the
government, the banks, the bondholders, the citizens to share the
sacrifice.
The parallels between Greeces full-blown debt crisis and Puerto Ricos
burgeoning one are striking, the Economist wrote June 30.
García urged bondholders to negotiate stretching out the amount of time to
get paid back.
But the main target of the propertied rulers is working people.
García repeatedly lauded a report his government commissioned by former
International Monetary Fund official Anne Krueger titled Puerto Rico: A Way
Forward. Released earlier that day, it prioritizes removing disincentives
for firms to hire workers and for workers to accept jobs.
While the cost of living in Puerto Rico is on average 14 percent higher than
in the U.S. and per capita income is half that of Mississippi the poorest
of the 50 states the report says the federal minimum wage of
$7.25 per hour is too high relative to local incomes and regional
competitors.
The report argues that generous welfare benefits can exceed what a minimum
wage earner receives, taking away incentives to work.
The solution? Eliminate the minimum wage, or at least slash it by
two-thirds. Eliminate year-end bonuses. Reduce paid vacation days. Only pay
overtime after 40 hours, like in most of the U.S., instead of after an
eight-hour day. Extend probation for new employees from three months to
one-to-two years. Make it easier to lay people off. And reduce welfare
benefits.
The report also calls for privatizing much of the islands electrical
generation. It calls for exempting the island from the federal Jones Act
that requires all maritime cargo between Puerto Rico and the U.S. be carried
on ships under U.S. flag, doubling shipping costs.
García said that he supported most of the reports proposals but opposed
reducing the minimum wage.
We cannot pretend to pull Puerto Rico out of its stagnant economic growth
by sunbathing on the beach, he said a few days later, attacking the 12 paid
sick days and 15 vacation days many workers on the island receive by law.
Crisis magnified by colonialism
Decades of exploitation as a U.S. colony have magnified the impact of the
worldwide capitalist production and trade crisis in Puerto Rico.
For 25 years Puerto Rico has been mired in economic stagnation, fueling
reliance by successive colonial governments on loan after loan and growing
indebtedness to U.S. investors. Today interest payments alone are the
equivalent of $200 per island resident a month.
Things have gotten worse since the 2008-2009 recession. Puerto Ricos gross
national product has dropped 14 percent since 2006. Commercial bank assets
have fallen by 30 percent since 2005. The labor participation rate those
working or actively looking for work dropped from just under 50 percent in
2006 to 40 percent. Some 40 percent of the population is dependent on
government aid, from food stamps to disability payments and Medicaid.
Over the last five years the government has laid off some 30,000 workers,
slashed pensions, raised the retirement age and cut social spending.
Before the layoffs there were 6,500 workers at the electrical company,
Angel Figueroa Jaramillo, president of the Union of Electrical Workers
(UTIER), told the Militant by phone from San Juan July 2. Now theres
3,700. What is the result? The number of injuries on the job has gone up
dramatically. Last year three compañeros died on the job.
The government wants to privatize energy, water, roads and the ports,
he said. This would impoverish the country even more and subject it to the
greed of the private sector.
They offer all kinds of incentives to so-called investors who are really
just usurers, William Hernández, a pharmaceutical worker in Guayama, said
by phone July 6, pointing to the tax breaks the government gives to
capitalists who move to Puerto Rico. Then they impose austerity on working
people.
In the latest move to make workers pay for the crisis, the government hiked
the sales tax to 11.5 percent, making it higher than any U.S. state.
Puerto Ricans are leaving the island for the U.S. in droves. From 2010 to
2014 the population dropped 5 percent to 3.5 million.
As a U.S. colony, Puerto Rico, unlike U.S. municipalities, is barred from
declaring bankruptcy. So far efforts by Puerto Rican officials, backed by
the New York Times and others, to change federal law to allow
government-owned enterprises on the island to use Chapter 9 bankruptcy to
restructure debts have gone nowhere.
Capitalist speculators so far dont seem too worried about Garcías request
to negotiate debt terms. The government-owned Electric Power Authority made
a $415 million debt payment July 1. In return, capitalist lenders agreed to
buy $128 million in new bonds to be paid in full by December and extended
another payment deadline to Sept. 15.
Related articles:
Amid turmoil, Greek workers face ongoing social crisis
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