AOC: White House "starving out" Puerto Rico

[Badger]

Puerto Rico exists solely as a colony to be exploited by its dominating imperial power. That's why their status as US citizens will be downplayed, their bid for statehood will be denied, and whatever resources they have (human and natural) will be extracted and appropriated (almost entirely) by people located in distant power centers. And, thanks to the current method of capitalist domination, they're also experiencing the wonders of crippling debt, high interest rates, and forced privatization while simultaneously being punished with austerity aimed at crippling their lower and working classes for daring to aspire to a modicum of basic human dignity.

If our government couldn't muster a shred of care about all the poor (mostly POC) people abandoned in New Orleans and left to die, flooded by a storm that broke a levee system that was systematically underfunded and carelessly neglected; if our government couldn't be bothered to make the necessary investments in Flint's water infrastructure, even after the lead poisoning occurred, and still neglects the very lives of its own citizens in a US state; what the hell makes anyone think our government would treat Puerto Ricans as if they're actual human beings?

The raw truth. I also believe Puerto Rico is functioning as a lab test for future attempts to implement nationwide austerity to the extreme.

To be completely fair; the people of Puerto Rico have some blame in this for being so damn indecisive when it comes to whether they want Independence or Statehood. Clearly the status quo isn't fairing well for them, but they seem intent on keeping it.

They voted like 97% for statehood in June 2017.

The referendum was boycotted by opponents of Statehood and got literally 23% turnout. So once again, they couldn't even be bothered to turnout.

I mean, there just can't be an idea that you can boycott an election and the results don't count. Imagine if Trump were losing big in 2020, told his supporters to boycott the election, and then claimed his landslide loss didn't count.

Those are fundamentally different scenarios.

No they aren't. If you don't show up to vote, you don't matter.

In the real world; in elections, sure, your vote doesn't matter. In non-binding referendums; your vote or lack thereof matters a great deal in the enforcement and legitimacy of that referendum.

This is true. I strongly support statehood for Puerto Rico, but support for it on the island has to be solid to overwhelming, which isn't currently clear-cut.

[Badger]

Puerto Rico exists solely as a colony to be exploited by its dominating imperial power. That's why their status as US citizens will be downplayed, their bid for statehood will be denied, and whatever resources they have (human and natural) will be extracted and appropriated (almost entirely) by people located in distant power centers. And, thanks to the current method of capitalist domination, they're also experiencing the wonders of crippling debt, high interest rates, and forced privatization while simultaneously being punished with austerity aimed at crippling their lower and working classes for daring to aspire to a modicum of basic human dignity.

If our government couldn't muster a shred of care about all the poor (mostly POC) people abandoned in New Orleans and left to die, flooded by a storm that broke a levee system that was systematically underfunded and carelessly neglected; if our government couldn't be bothered to make the necessary investments in Flint's water infrastructure, even after the lead poisoning occurred, and still neglects the very lives of its own citizens in a US state; what the hell makes anyone think our government would treat Puerto Ricans as if they're actual human beings?

The raw truth. I also believe Puerto Rico is functioning as a lab test for future attempts to implement nationwide austerity to the extreme.

This is so dumb. Puerto Rico contributes nothing in federal taxes but gets billions in federal aid. The federal government is not exploiting Puerto Rico, it's the other way around.

Yeah, because all those payments in Import/Export taxes via the Jones Act are non-existent, which by the way, are mandated to go through a mainland port before it comes to Puerto Rico, even if it's being shipped from a neighboring country like the Dominican Republic. At least get a little bit informed before going on your usual tirades of ignorance so you can circumvent logic like you usually do.

I post this information for the use of others, as I know it will be lost on you (see below).

"As residents of Puerto Rico pay into Social Security, Puerto Ricans are eligible for Social Security benefits upon retirement but are excluded from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) (Commonwealth of Puerto Rico residents, unlike residents of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and residents of the 50 States, do not receive the SSI),[26] and the island actually receives less than 15% of the Medicaid funding it would normally receive if it were a state."

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Puerto_Rico#cite_note-26 (via ssa.org)

"A common misconception is that the import/export taxes collected by the U.S. on products manufactured in Puerto Rico are all returned to the Puerto Rico Treasury. That is not the case, as such import/export taxes are returned only for rum products, and even then, the US Treasury keeps a portion of the taxes" (Read: Indirect taxation, and it's quite a lot)

Link: https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/house-bill/900 (HR-900)

See this reddit thread for a larger discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/NeutralPolitics/comments/4ep8hr/does_puerto_rico_account_for_a_net_benefit_or/


In short, there is plenty of de facto Federal Income tax in Puerto Rico, and it adds up to much more than the average American citizen would pay in any state. It's all hidden behind different names, but it's there. You would feel it if you lived there.

On top of that, you get fractional benefits from the Federal Government, such as severely reduced Medicaid and an inability to vote or be represented in any meaningful way in Congress, on top of ignorant people (like such person above who doesn't bother to look into anything and prefers to spew talking points) adding insult to injury.

As usual, mortimer's posts can be readily translated into " dirty ignorant lazy spics are dragging us down".

[Badger]

Puerto Rico exists solely as a colony to be exploited by its dominating imperial power. That's why their status as US citizens will be downplayed, their bid for statehood will be denied, and whatever resources they have (human and natural) will be extracted and appropriated (almost entirely) by people located in distant power centers. And, thanks to the current method of capitalist domination, they're also experiencing the wonders of crippling debt, high interest rates, and forced privatization while simultaneously being punished with austerity aimed at crippling their lower and working classes for daring to aspire to a modicum of basic human dignity.

If our government couldn't muster a shred of care about all the poor (mostly POC) people abandoned in New Orleans and left to die, flooded by a storm that broke a levee system that was systematically underfunded and carelessly neglected; if our government couldn't be bothered to make the necessary investments in Flint's water infrastructure, even after the lead poisoning occurred, and still neglects the very lives of its own citizens in a US state; what the hell makes anyone think our government would treat Puerto Ricans as if they're actual human beings?

The raw truth. I also believe Puerto Rico is functioning as a lab test for future attempts to implement nationwide austerity to the extreme.

This is so dumb. Puerto Rico contributes nothing in federal taxes but gets billions in federal aid. The federal government is not exploiting Puerto Rico, it's the other way around.

Yeah, because all those payments in Import/Export taxes via the Jones Act are non-existent, which by the way, are mandated to go through a mainland port before it comes to Puerto Rico, even if it's being shipped from a neighboring country like the Dominican Republic. At least get a little bit informed before going on your usual tirades of ignorance so you can circumvent logic like you usually do.

I post this information for the use of others, as I know it will be lost on you (see below).

"As residents of Puerto Rico pay into Social Security, Puerto Ricans are eligible for Social Security benefits upon retirement but are excluded from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) (Commonwealth of Puerto Rico residents, unlike residents of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and residents of the 50 States, do not receive the SSI),[26] and the island actually receives less than 15% of the Medicaid funding it would normally receive if it were a state."

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Puerto_Rico#cite_note-26 (via ssa.org)

"A common misconception is that the import/export taxes collected by the U.S. on products manufactured in Puerto Rico are all returned to the Puerto Rico Treasury. That is not the case, as such import/export taxes are returned only for rum products, and even then, the US Treasury keeps a portion of the taxes" (Read: Indirect taxation, and it's quite a lot)

Link: https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/house-bill/900 (HR-900)

See this reddit thread for a larger discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/NeutralPolitics/comments/4ep8hr/does_puerto_rico_account_for_a_net_benefit_or/


In short, there is plenty of de facto Federal Income tax in Puerto Rico, and it adds up to much more than the average American citizen would pay in any state. It's all hidden behind different names, but it's there. You would feel it if you lived there.

On top of that, you get fractional benefits from the Federal Government, such as severely reduced Medicaid and an inability to vote or be represented in any meaningful way in Congress, on top of ignorant people (like such person above who doesn't bother to look into anything and prefers to spew talking points) adding insult to injury.

As usual, mortimer's posts can be readily translated into " dirty ignorant lazy spics are dragging us down".

(1) It's clear Puerto Rico gets more out of their relationship with the US than the US gets out of its relationship with Puerto Rico, (2) that's why support for independence is in the single digits. If you believe Puerto Ricans are being exploited, you necessarily have to think that they're pretty stupid to keep supporting their exploitation. I, of course, realize they aren't being exploited and they're being very savvy by continuing to support "colonization".

(1) False, it isn't. Show that it does; counteract what I pointed out above. I posted data and historical conversations and documents, and you have nothing but talking points.

(2) Support for independence is in the single digits because Puerto Ricans have developed a shared culture and identity with the United States by this point. Many of us feel American as well as Puerto Rican, in the same sense as Texans feel American as well as Texan.

Support for statehood is high because most of us are aware that many of those barriers, such as lack of representation, loss of fiscal control, and budgetary issues, would be torn down with statehood. It's a matter of identity, not political and economic benefit per se, where Puerto Ricans have clearly been getting the short end of the stick for over a century now.

Don't even pretend to begin to understand a people when all you have is bias and an outsider's perception.

Puerto Rico refuses to speak the same language as the rest of the United States. Given that fact, claiming that they want to remain part of the US because of our great "shared culture" is ridiculous.

Why is mr. Stormfront not banned yet?

 Oh yeah. This is now considered mainstream political discourse because of trump. So remember kids. On Forum it's okay to be Nazi, but bad bad bad to call someone a Nazi.

For cripes sake, at least ban him because he's invertebrate troll that derails every thread into discussion of immigration.