7 ms·
Why would USA want PR as 51? What benefit is there? PR has more debt that California, and zero industry except for Bacardi rum. Name one thing made in PR?
by eagletusk 9y ago
Why would USA want PR as 51? What benefit is there?
PR has more debt that California, and zero industry except for Bacardi rum.
Name one thing made in PR?
- bluetwo 9y agoLots of our pharmaceuticals are made there due to favorable tax laws.
- SEJeff 9y agoWell by that logic, what would the USA want with PR as a colony? Why not let them be free? Because it is the USA. You could say the same about what would you want with $ALL_POOR_STATES_IN_THE_SOUTH, but we want them too!
- blackbagboys 9y agoI think the United States would happily not deal with Puerto Rico and it's tens of billions of dollars of debt, but almost no one in Puerto Rico wants to be 'free' (independent).
- zanny 9y agoPuerto Rican statehood and / or independence is not up to the citizens of PR by themselves, its up to the whole of the US. The reasons for the civil war demonstrate why state / territory autonomy are subservient to the will of the majority.
- SEJeff 9y agoYup, like Lord of the Flies, and in specific: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranny_of_the_majority https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranny_of_the_majority This is also why the Electoral College exists, as annoying as it can be, it makes sense.
- anigbrowl 9y agoWe own you but we don't want to give you more rights because we can't figure out how to profit enough of you. Ha! Ha! Ha! Assuming you were born in the USA, why were you born there rather than in Puerto Rico? Was this a matter of skill and judgment on your part, or just luck? If so, what basis do you have for denying the rights you enjoy to others who live in a territory rather than a state?
- SEJeff 9y agoBingo!
- eagletusk 9y agoWelcome to Earth? U.S.A was also once owned by another country and it managed to figure something out. I lived in PR for a few months in 2014, every week I would learn more and more about how much of a disaster that island is. I wish them luck cause it's going to be hard to get things going again.
- mcjiggerlog 9y agoSo you're suggesting they go to war for independence? This is the 21st century - any self-respecting democracy should respect the right to self-determination.
- vkou 9y ago> Why would USA want PR as 51? What benefit is there? Wasn't the USA founded on the principle of no taxation without representation? On a principle of enfranchisement? On a principle of self-determination?
- coddingtonbear 9y agoAlthough Puerto Ricans do pay certain local and federal taxes, they do not pay income taxes like citizens of US States do.
- vkou 9y agoThey also pay full medicare and social security tax, but only receive ~15% of the medicare benefits they would be entitled to on the mainland. The tax/benefits situation is complicated.
- rovr138 9y agoSome* First, not all states pay income tax. On the other side, you have people with federal jobs that are taxed federally. Then you have other people with registered companies in the US which pay federal taxes in the US, the state it's registered in, then also pay taxes locally. -- It's complicated.
- akvadrako 9y ago> First, not all states pay income tax. Are you talking about states of Puerto Rico? In the US, no states pay income tax, but residents of every state pay federal income tax.
- projektfu 9y agoThere is a lot of pharmaceutical manufacturing in PR. Also, textiles and electronics. Tourism and financial services are also significant. Rum is a tiny sector.
- eagletusk 9y agoIt's my understanding that almost all of it that can has left the island. Wiki had data up until ~2013 and things haven't exactly improved since then. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Puerto_Rico https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Puerto_Rico