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Ask HN: What can we do to help Puerto Rico?

Passively watching this evolving crisis from home is hard. There is a lot of brainpower here. Is there anything we (coders, techies, etc) can do to help? Any creative ideas?

Firebrand 9y ago
We can start lobbying for the United States to get rid of Puerto Rico. The appeal of independence to Puerto Ricans at large faded once the advantages of belonging to a modern welfare state became apparent. Of those favoring a change of status in 2012, only five percent wanted independence; 61 percent voted for statehood. Nowadays the place is—like the rest of the Caribbean behind a thin façade of rich-folk villas, tourist trinket markets, and tax-break corporate frontages—a slum. Thirty-five percent of the population is on food stamps; 35 is also the percentage of working-age Puerto Ricans actually in the workforce. Public finances are in a dire state: Debt is at $73 billion and bond issues are rated as junk. Plainly the U.S. should be the one to get rid of this millstone. That’s easier said than done, though.
- byoung2 9y ago
  How does that help Puerto Rico?
- mayank 9y ago
  And then should we do the same to Arkansas and Misssissippi?
- dsacco 9y ago
  Have you been to Puerto Rico? It's quite beautiful! I was there just this past January. You just described a large and diverse island with millions of people as some sort of homogeneous culture, using terms like "the place" and "a slum." Yes, Puerto Rico has places like La Perla in Old San Juan, which are infamous for being rather unsavory. But that's not at all representative of the entire island. To be clear, I'm not saying that you're necessarily wrong in your normative claim - that Puerto Rico should be independent - but your positive claim (that most of the island is simply a slum) and your dismissive presentation of such is simply poor. A more nuanced and charitable argument is that the island could have far more economic output than simple tourism if it were provided with the same support as the rest of the states in America, or that it would fare even better with independence. But you're not making either of those arguments, you're just saying we need to get rid of them as though they're a burden. That's not productive for anyone involved.
- unclebucknasty 9y ago
  Meanwhile, how do we help the human beings who are suffering there now?
joshmn 9y ago
Replacing the orange baboon with any other baboon would probably help a lot.
- jabgrabdthrow 9y ago
  Look at yourself: https://i.imgur.com/kLUVcdp.png https://i.imgur.com/kLUVcdp.png
  - joshmn 9y ago
    Compare me to Trump.
panic 9y ago
Donate: http://unidosporpuertorico.com/en/ http://unidosporpuertorico.com/en/
brudgers 9y ago
TANSTAAFL. Long term, Tariffs on foreign trade would probably benefit Puerto Rico because its industries would not be subject to them and that might offset the logistical disadvantages of its location relative to US markets...i.e. under NAFTA goods from Canada and Mexico can be shipped by rail and truck and under other globalization policies large scale trading nations such as China benefit from massive economies of scale. As US relations with Cuba normalize, Puerto Rico will probably struggle more economically. So political will that is perhaps not directly in one's best interest as a consumer.
cm2012 9y ago
Donate money. A dollar goes a long way there.
pasbesoin 9y ago
Help clear the lies that make slow and ineffective response politically palitable. Learn and tell the truth about what's happened to them. I remember working for a bit for Big Pharma, a couple of decades ago, when Peurto Rico was "the future" for them and they were going to... "modernize", or something, the island's economy. Uhuh... (To quote a song, maybe a bit out of context, "same as it ever was".) http://billmoyers.com/story/vulture-capitalists-circle-puerto-rico-prey/ http://billmoyers.com/story/vulture-capitalists-circle-puert...

Passively watching this evolving crisis from home is hard. There is a lot of brainpower here. Is there anything we (coders, techies, etc) can do to help? Any creative ideas?

Firebrand 9y ago

We can start lobbying for the United States to get rid of Puerto Rico. The appeal of independence to Puerto Ricans at large faded once the advantages of belonging to a modern welfare state became apparent. Of those favoring a change of status in 2012, only five percent wanted independence; 61 percent voted for statehood. Nowadays the place is—like the rest of the Caribbean behind a thin façade of rich-folk villas, tourist trinket markets, and tax-break corporate frontages—a slum. Thirty-five percent of the population is on food stamps; 35 is also the percentage of working-age Puerto Ricans actually in the workforce. Public finances are in a dire state: Debt is at $73 billion and bond issues are rated as junk. Plainly the U.S. should be the one to get rid of this millstone. That’s easier said than done, though.

byoung2 9y ago
How does that help Puerto Rico?
mayank 9y ago
And then should we do the same to Arkansas and Misssissippi?
dsacco 9y ago
Have you been to Puerto Rico? It's quite beautiful! I was there just this past January. You just described a large and diverse island with millions of people as some sort of homogeneous culture, using terms like "the place" and "a slum." Yes, Puerto Rico has places like La Perla in Old San Juan, which are infamous for being rather unsavory. But that's not at all representative of the entire island. To be clear, I'm not saying that you're necessarily wrong in your normative claim - that Puerto Rico should be independent - but your positive claim (that most of the island is simply a slum) and your dismissive presentation of such is simply poor. A more nuanced and charitable argument is that the island could have far more economic output than simple tourism if it were provided with the same support as the rest of the states in America, or that it would fare even better with independence. But you're not making either of those arguments, you're just saying we need to get rid of them as though they're a burden. That's not productive for anyone involved.
unclebucknasty 9y ago
Meanwhile, how do we help the human beings who are suffering there now?

joshmn 9y ago

Replacing the orange baboon with any other baboon would probably help a lot.

jabgrabdthrow 9y ago
Look at yourself: https://i.imgur.com/kLUVcdp.png https://i.imgur.com/kLUVcdp.png
- joshmn 9y ago
  Compare me to Trump.

panic 9y ago

Donate: http://unidosporpuertorico.com/en/ http://unidosporpuertorico.com/en/

brudgers 9y ago

TANSTAAFL. Long term, Tariffs on foreign trade would probably benefit Puerto Rico because its industries would not be subject to them and that might offset the logistical disadvantages of its location relative to US markets...i.e. under NAFTA goods from Canada and Mexico can be shipped by rail and truck and under other globalization policies large scale trading nations such as China benefit from massive economies of scale. As US relations with Cuba normalize, Puerto Rico will probably struggle more economically. So political will that is perhaps not directly in one's best interest as a consumer.

cm2012 9y ago

Donate money. A dollar goes a long way there.

pasbesoin 9y ago

Help clear the lies that make slow and ineffective response politically palitable. Learn and tell the truth about what's happened to them. I remember working for a bit for Big Pharma, a couple of decades ago, when Peurto Rico was "the future" for them and they were going to... "modernize", or something, the island's economy. Uhuh... (To quote a song, maybe a bit out of context, "same as it ever was".) http://billmoyers.com/story/vulture-capitalists-circle-puerto-rico-prey/ http://billmoyers.com/story/vulture-capitalists-circle-puert...