Friday, July 10, 2015

Statehood Is the Only Antidote for What Ails Puerto Rico - The New York Times - By PEDRO R. PIERLUISI - JULY 10, 2015

Statehood Is the Only Antidote for What Ails Puerto Rico - The New York Times

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WASHINGTON — PUERTO RICO’S governor recently claimed that the island could not pay all its debts. In the media, comparisons to Greece abound. But if Puerto Rico were a patient, then most commentators would have been misdiagnosing its illness and recommending improper treatment. A dose of reality is in order.
Puerto Rico is a United States territory, home to the 3.5 million people I represent in Congress. Residents have been American citizens since 1917 and have served in the United States military since World War I. There are also five million individuals of Puerto Rican heritage living in the States, and as conditions in Puerto Rico deteriorate, my constituents are now leaving for the mainland at a rate of 50,000 a year.
The analogy to Greece is inapt. Puerto Rico is not a sovereign country in a monetary union with the United States. From a constitutional perspective, Puerto Rico belongs to the United States. The federal government has almost absolute power over Puerto Rico, but has delegated to Puerto Rico about the same authority over local matters that the states possess.
Perhaps in an effort to be polite, certain commentators refer to Puerto Rico as a “commonwealth,” implying that Puerto Rico has a special status. But this word has no practical meaning, as demonstrated by the fact that several states call themselves “commonwealths.”
Puerto Rico’s illness is a chronic condition. The unemployment rate, poverty rate and median household income have always been far worse than any state’s. The main cause is inequality. Residents cannot vote for president or senators, and have one nonvoting delegate in the House. It is disheartening to see many self-styled progressives, who otherwise speak eloquently about the importance of voting rights, go silent on this subject when it comes to Puerto Rico.
Congress routinely treats Puerto Rico and the other territories worse than it does the states. Consider Medicaid, which provides health insurance for the poor. Federal funding for a state Medicaid program is open-ended, but capped for Puerto Rico. The $1 billion in annual Medicaid funding that Puerto Rico receives from Washington is about 20 percent of the $5 billion received by similar-size Oregon. Puerto Rico is also treated unequally under Medicare, even though my constituents pay the same federal payroll taxes that fund much of this program. The Affordable Care Act — Obamacare — has been the subject of partisan debate, but the law’s rarely mentioned defect is that the territories are barred from most of its new programs and protections.
The list goes on. Puerto Rico is excluded from the Supplemental Security Income program that aids the most vulnerable Americans. It does not participate in the federal nutrition program, instead receiving a block grant that shortchanges it by $450 million a year. Puerto Rico is partly excluded from the child tax credit and fully from the earned-income tax credit, which encourages low-income individuals to seek employment. Unlike a state, Puerto Rico cannot authorize its public enterprises to seek relief under Chapter 9 of the federal bankruptcy code, which impedes its recovery.
The argument that such treatment is justified because Congress does not require Puerto Rico residents to pay federal income taxes on local earnings is weak. Nearly half of all stateside households do not earn enough to owe income taxes, but are still treated equally. Moreover, because of federal tax credits, a working-class family of four in the States is likely to have greater take-home pay than an identical family in Puerto Rico.
It is little wonder, then, that Puerto Rico is in recession, has excessive debt and is bleeding population. Unequal treatment at the federal level, combined with mismanagement at the local level, has a debilitating effect on the island’s economy. To compensate for the lack of federal support, the Puerto Rico government has borrowed heavily. And when my constituents move to the States, they are entitled to vote for their national leaders and to equal treatment under federal law. So naturally they leave.
Having misdiagnosed Puerto Rico’s illness, many commentators prescribe the wrong cure, like exempting Puerto Rico from the federal minimum wage. A far wiser proposal would be to grant Puerto Rico more equitable treatment under federal spending and tax credit programs. The goal should be to close the gap with the states, not widen it.
In the near term, Puerto Rico can manage its crisis with smarter policy making, but the only enduring solution is statehood. At a recent congressional hearing, I told my colleagues: If you give us the same rights and responsibilities as our fellow American citizens, and let us rise or fall on our merits, we will rise. But if you continue to treat us like second-class citizens, don’t claim to be surprised when we fall.
In 2012, Puerto Rico voters rejected territorial status and expressed a preference for statehood. Congress responded by authorizing a federally sponsored referendum. I expect this vote will be held in 2017. If voters affirm their desire for admission, Congress must place Puerto Rico on the path to statehood. For Puerto Rico to prosper, it should be treated equally. And to be treated equally, it must become a state.
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Sunday, July 5, 2015

Recent Headlines - 5:33 PM 7/5/2015

Despair and Anger as Puerto Ricans Cope With Debt Crisis - NYTimes.com

The Bonds That Broke Puerto Rico - NYTimes.com
Puerto Rico Debt Crisis Splits Congress on Party Lines and Draws Muted Response From White House - NYTimes.com
Puerto Rico’s Bonds Drop on Governor’s Warning About Debt - The New York Times
Puerto Rico’s Governor Says Island’s Debts Are ‘Not Payable’ - The New York Times
Puerto Rico says its debt is 'not payable.' Is America's? - AEI | Pethokoukis Blog » AEIdeas
Puerto Rico Needs Debt Relief - The New York Times
Puerto Rico Can’t Pay $72 Billion Debt, Governor Warns | TIME
Puerto Rico says it can't pay its debts - Nick Gass - POLITICO
Puerto Rico’s governor: Debts are ‘not payable’ - Fortune
Puerto Rico governor warns public debt not payable | Fox News
​5 things to know about Puerto Rico's debt crisis - CBS News
Puerto Rico faces its own debt crisis | Business | DW.COM | 29.06.2015
Puerto Rico Governor: Creditors Should Help Solve Crisis - ABC News
Puerto Rico to Seek Debt Moratorium From Bondholders - ABC News
Director of Troubled Puerto Rico Public Power Company Quits - ABC News

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Puerto Rico: Another Harsh Lesson About The Consequences of Violating Fiscal Policy’s Golden Rule 

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When I make speeches about fiscal policy, I oftentimes share a table showing the many nations that have made big progress by enforcing spending restraint over multi-year periods.
I then ask audiences a rhetorical question about a possible list of nations that have prospered by going in the opposite direction.
Are there any success stories based on tax hikes or bigger government?
The answer is no, which is why I’ve never received a satisfactory answer to my two-part challenge, even if I limit the focus to fiscal policy.
And nobody will be surprised to learn that the fiscal crisis in Puerto Rico reinforces these lessons.
Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Daniel Hanson explains that the American territory in the Caribbean is on the verge of default.
As Puerto Rico struggles under the weight of more than $70 billion in debt, it has become popular to draw parallels with Greece.
The one theme that is common with the two jurisdictions is that their fiscal crises are the result of too much government spending.
How bad is the problem in Puerto Rico?
It’s hard to answer that question because government budgeting isn’t very transparent and the quality and clarity of the numbers that do exist leaves a lot to be desired.
But I’ve done some digging (along with my colleagues at Cato) and here’s some data that will at least illustrate the scope of the problem.
First, we have numbers from the World Bank showing inflation-adjusted (2005$) government consumption expenditures over the past few decades. As you can see, overall spending in this category increased by 100 percent between 1980 and 2013 (at a time when the population increased only 12 percent).
In other words, Puerto Rico is in trouble because it violated the Golden Rule and let government grow faster than the private sector over a sustained period (just like Greece, just like Alberta, just like the United States, etc, etc).
Here’s another chart and this one purports to show total outlays.
The numbers aren’t adjusted for inflation, so the increase looks more dramatic. But even if you consider the impact of a rising price level (average annual increase ofabout 4 percent since the mid-1980s), it’s obvious that government spending has climbed far too fast.
To be more specific, Puerto Rico has allowed the burden of government to rise much faster than population plus inflation.
A government can get away with that kind of reckless policy for a few years. But when bad policy is maintained for a long period of time,
the end result is never positive.
Now that we’ve established that Puerto Rico got in trouble by violating my Golden Rule, what’s the right way of fixing the mess? Is the government responding to its fiscal crisis in a responsible manner?
Not exactly. Like Greece, it’s too beholden to interest groups, and that’s making (the right kind of) austerity difficult.
Indeed, Mr. Hanson says there haven’t been any cuts in the past few years.
In the past four years, when the fiscal crisis has been most severe, four successively larger budgets have been enacted. The budget proposed for the coming year is $235 million larger than last year’s and $713 million, or 8%, higher than four years ago. Austerity this is not.
What special interest groups standing in the way of reform?
The government workforce would be high on the list. One of the big problems in Puerto Rico is that there are far too many bureaucrats and they get paid far too much (gee, this sounds familiar).
Here are some details from Mr. Hanson’s column.
…more than two-thirds of the territory’s budget is payroll. The proposed budget…contains no plans for head-count reductions. …Median household income in Puerto Rico hovers around $20,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but government workers fare much better. Public agencies pay salaries on average more than twice that amount, a 2014 report from Banco Popular shows. Salaries in the central government in San Juan are more than 90% higher than in the private sector. Even across comparable skill sets, the wage disparity persists.
In other words, life is pretty good for the people riding in the wagon, but Puerto Rico doesn’t have enough productive people to pull the wagon.
So we’re back to where we started. It’s the Greece of the Caribbean.
P.S. This column has focused on fiscal policy, but it’s important to recognize that there are many other bad policies hindering prosperity in Puerto Rico. And some of them are the result of Washington politicians rather than their counterparts in San Juan. Nicole Kaeding and Nick Zaiachave explained that the Jones Act and the minimum wage are particularly destructive to the territory’s economy.
P.P.S. At least Puerto Rico is still a good tax haven for American citizens.


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Clinton Says Puerto Rican Economy Deserves 'Fair Shot'

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Hillary Clinton says Congress, White House should help Puerto Rico restructure



Tuesday, June 2, 2015

» Why Every American Should Care About Puerto Rico's Austerity Crisis 02/06/15 10:27

Mike Nova's Shared NewsLinks Review

From The Major News Sources

» Why Every American Should Care About Puerto Rico's Austerity Crisis
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