There is an old saying in government: “the best social program is a job.”
In Puerto Rico, that presents a problem…because there are not enough jobs to go around.
The unemployment rate in Puerto Rico is close to 13%. This is double the unemployment rate of Mississippi, the poorest state in the USA.
But that is only the official unemployment rate, which includes people working in part-time and seasonal jobs – such as a construction worker, or a sales clerk during Christmas time. The unofficial employment rate is closer to 25%.
That is why over 1,000,000 (one million) Puerto Ricans have moved off the island over the past 15 years, in search of jobs somewhere else.
That is why 1,000,000 (one million) Puerto Ricans now live in Florida, and 700,000 of them live in Orlando.
And so, this message goes from Puerto Rico to the politicians in Washington, and the bankers on Wall Street:
Puerto Rico does not need a “Financial Control Board” to take over the island, and hand its infrastructure to a dozen hedge funds on Wall Street.
Puerto Rico needs the 50,000 shipping jobs in Jacksonville, FL, that would be in Puerto Rico, if it weren’t for the Jones Act of 1920.
Puerto Rico needs to stop being a colony.
Puerto Rico needs jobs.
For a history of the War Against All Puerto Ricans, read the book…
Si prefiere ver la página web en español por favor visite: http://www.guerracontratodoslospuertorriquenos.com
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Unemployment …. in Puerto Rico!!
LikeLike
The Jone’s Act was nothing but a scam job.
LikeLike
What Puerto Ricans need is a good lawyer in the US Judicial System. One that can sue Congress over any unconstitutional treatment of its citizens. Puerto Ricans are, after all, US citizens by birth. Equal treatment under the law should prevail. The equal rights movement of MLK and other black leaders provides the blueprint to follow.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The oficial figures do not take into account the inmense impact of our underground economy. We are not a country of lazy bums. Our eagerness to be productive leads us to migrate, and the ones who remaim generate a fabulous amount of wealth that leaves the island, because we do not have the power to keep it here.
Oficial figures grosely disfigure what we are and have been fed to us as if they were the truth. The current crisis is drawing enough attention as to raise hopes that the grose anomalies and gigantic contradiction that colonial rule poses for the champion of democracy will finally be attended.
LikeLike