 |
| Yeah, boy! Trample them liberties! |
Hello. I am Gabriel Ramirez, also called Batzarro. I run a small blog
called Bestgeekeverpr.blogspot.com . I am a Puerto Rican, I live in Puerto
Rico, and I stand for Puerto Rico.
For those of you that don't know, congress and President Obama are just
about to sign act HR 4900 known as P.R.O.M.E.S.A., which would establish a
Fiscal Control Board over the America owned territory of Puerto Rico. This
as a result of the crushing debt our small island has racked up in over 30
years of bad administration after bad administration.
Our relationship with the U.S. has never been one of equals. After we were
taken in as war booty in the Spanish American Wars we spent decades under
military occupation.
 |
| And look, frankly sometimes the stuff you do gives us cancer. |
Later, the Island was declared an Estado Libre Asociado, or free
associated state. The only true part about that title is that we were
associated, because we are not a state on any definition of the word, and all our laws can be revoked by
congress, under which we remain.
So, when we run into a huge fiscal crisis created by our lack of self
governance, you would expect this very congress to step in. Or step up.
But instead they step on. On us.
So here's the plan the Subcomitee For Natural Resources came up with. You
heard right, the enormous fiscal and political crisis we face was
spearheaded by a Natural Resources group. This isn't a goddamn oil spill!
Were was I? Yes, the plan. So they will establish a board that will be
making all the financial decisions from now on. This board will be mostly
handpicked by the President, it will not answer to the people of Puerto
Rico at all, they are completely unaccountable for anything that happens,
and they can freely recieve gifts. They will have the power to overturn
laws, create laws, and arrest anyone who refuses to cooperate with their
making of said laws. And they can do all that secretly and behind closed doors because why tha fack nat?
Now, let's take this point by point.
* Having an unnacountable board have this much power is bad. It's kind of
the opposite of democracy. It's like a dictatorship, or rather since this
is a board created by a foreign dignitary, a colony.
* To give an unnacountable group this much power could lead to ridiculous
ammounts of corruption. I mean, legally, I could go to the FCB members and
tell them to sell me half the island in exchange for a box of
tangerines, and they would face no risk. They'd have to be kind of
incredibly good or incredibly dumb NOT to start accepting bribes openly.
 |
| Also, quick reminder, THIS guy may soon be the one naming such said authoritarian group. |
*It's highly troubling that this group doesn't take any responsibility for
what they do. The actions of this group could lead to loss of life,
liberty and material goods. Actions of austerity are what lead to the town
of Flint getting poisoned with lead. And this isn't a small town we're
talking about. 3.5 million people live here!
In fact, in theory, these assholes could make our debt worst, and run off
laughing, and we'd be left holding the broken pieces.
* The plan to reduce the minimum wage is heart rending, and the fact that this was put in as if this was an obvious economy boosting title makes me want to hang myself. To put this
on perspective, I tried to buy the materials for a breakfast with the
proposed minimum wage.
And for the record , this minimum wage doesn't
count what they take away for taxes and social security.
You expect young people to live off of this crap? I mean, I couldn't
afford housing with full time minimum wage, what the hell are people with
part time minimum wage gonna do?
P.R.O.M.E.S.A. is a sham, but congress is pretty proud that they can do us
this "help" without spending any taxpayer money. After all it would be a
real tragedy to use your taxes to help millions of fellow Americans, some
of whom fought and died side by side with you on your wars.
The problem with Puerto Rico is not a spending problem. Our local
governments spent and borrowed unwisely, but that didn't cause the
problem. The problem is the backbone of our economy was taken away by a
congress, which now happily attempts to find the literal least they
could do.
So why am I telling you this? To guilt trip you or make you feel bad? No.
I'm telling you because there is still time to stop it. P.R.O.M.E.S.A is
going to the senate, and you can still call your senators and ask them
to stop it. We Puerto Ricans don't have any representation on the senate,
because if we did, I wouldn't have to write this kind of thing, but with
your help we can turn things around.
We have to do something about the enormous debt we have. But it has to be
a good something. We can't afford to half ass and penny pinch our way to a
solution that has been building up for 100 years. You don't want to rush
up a bad idea, and end up bemoaning that "well, we had to do something.
Call or write your local senator and tell them to call off P.R.O.M.E.S.A.,
to help us restructure our debt, and to allow us to manage our economy.
That's all we want. We don't want to not pay the debt. We just want to pay
it at a reasonable pace, and without selling basic services and historicaly
and environmentally valuable landmarks to hedge funds. Without putting our children through the fire for a debt they did not accrue.
We only ask that you try.
0 comments:
Post a Comment