This morning I decided to sit down and read a few articles regarding the Puerto Rican debt….in a few they talked about how our situation is similar to Greece’s, in others they talked about how the governor left for vacation right when the government of Puerto Rico failed to pay for a debt payment, while in others they mentioned how mysterious was the government of Puerto Rico’s restructuring plans to pay for this debt.
First off, I think the gesture from the governor reflects exactly what our government currently wants to do with the debt… hand it to Wall street and the United States so that they can implement a restructuring plan (in other words, cleaning their hands like Pontius Pilate). Where is the true leader of our island? We are selling the only thing we have left… our pride. Instead of reducing the government’s payroll and the amount of municipalities, they prefer to sell us to Wall Street. Of course, since this was the past administration’s fault and not ours, then I have no need in taking responsibility and action regarding this issue.
Because politicians work for themselves, just as the “political animal” that Aristotle had referred to. Let the people pay for our mistakes since they also need to collaborate… perhaps we don’t collaborate with the taxes we are currently paying? Why was there another PRFAA office opened in Orlando, if we were so indebted? Aren’t the rich, who came to invest in Puerto Rico, helping our economy?
The root of this problem is not the lack of money… is the lack of moral and pride. The government agencies screwed up and now need the citizens to help… perhaps we don’t already pay enough for our utilities? And are the tax refunds also in the unpaid debt?
Corruption, lousy fund management, excess of government employees, and poor public responsibility from the government employees are in summary the primary instigators of this crisis. Now… what are we going to do? Prostitute ourselves to Wall Street as “Puerto Rico Limited”? Maybe if our “leaders” would show a little more legitimacy and compromise, the US would not think twice about giving us access to Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Law.
Below is a brief calculation of the Senate and its budget:
I know that $3,682,682 million is just a small part of the approximate total of 55 billion in debt, but I do understand that we have to start somewhere. If every government body and agency would do some type of reduction, we could get to a more substantial number. Why does Juan Eugenio have to have a $150k? And just like him, there are many other executives of government agencies that should prove their leadership by taking part of the solution to this problem.
The people can’t generate this type of money… but the government can. Another example of restructuring….you have the Chamber which is composed of 51 representatives and is sustained by a $9million Budget, while the senate has 27 members and a budget of approx. $40 million. Wouldn’t this be the best moment to bring up the topic of a one Chamber Congress?
Other areas of restructuring could be privatizing some government agencies, such as PREPA, eliminating the pensions for life assigned to ex governors, between others. I don’t think it is fair for some people to be working for years in the government and not have the right to this pension, meanwhile a governor that only works for 4 years has those rights.
These are mere ideas, but I think that these ideas at least show a little bit more credibility (if there is any left) and some pride towards our current situation. If politicians would truly want the wellbeing of our island and its citizens, then they need to take action. I think that in doing this, it would show a bit of fiscal and moral responsibility. This way we would have more credibility when going to the United States or any other organization and asking them to aid us. No one is going to help us due to the “Ay bendito”.
References:
http://senado.pr.gov/SiteCollectionDocuments/presupuesto2013-2014.pdf
http://senado.pr.gov/presidencia/Pages/Presupuesto%20del%20Senado.aspx
http://www2.pr.gov/agencias/ogp/Pages/Exgobernadores.aspx
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-08-03/has-puerto-rico-reached-its-point-of-no-return-
http://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/politica/nota/vuelvealaislaestanocheelgobernador-2082936/
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