“In my view it is a very, very, very bad piece of legislation,” Sanders said at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference in Washington last week. “[W]e are taking away virtually all of the political and democratic rights of the people of Puerto Rico. We are treating them as an absolute colony.”
As living conditions in Puerto Rico continue to deteriorate students and young workers from the island will continue to flood those places where family connections and job opportunities pull them. Not all will be targets of violence because of their multiple identities, as the Orlando victims were. Their fate, however, will continue to be a reminder of how invisible forces pattern seemingly random events in the lives of individuals and communities.
There's evidence some of it is illegal - and activists agree that Washington's colonial control over the island's economy helped create the crisis. We are urging members of Congress to put the people of Puerto Rico first and oppose H.R. 5278 as currently written, said SEIU 32BJ President Hector Figueroa. We need a real solution and Congress must get back to work immediately to provide a path forward that allows Puerto Rico to negotiate a feasible debt restructuring plan.
The bill has provoked a furor among many island residents because it imposes a seven-member oversight board with dictatorial powers that harken back to colonial days, and because it is geared to protecting bondholders and paving the way for massive cuts in the island’s public services
John Oliver: Puerto Rico. Bernie Challenges Dems. Pres. Obama's Language Games. How Did Life Begin on Earth? Samantha Bee | Twenty-Dollar Tubman.
Puerto Rico is suffering a massive debt crisis. Lin-Manuel Miranda (author of the musical Hamilton) joins John Oliver to call for relief.
Reader Comments: Puerto Rican Coalition Against Debt Formed; Verizon Strike; Sanders, Hillary and a Revitalized Left; Sanders Allies - June Conference - Future of the Movement; Beyoncé's Lemonade; Harriet Tubman currency; and more;
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You could call it a perfect storm: a fiscal crisis converging with a deep secular economic decline.[1] Once touted as the showcase of U.S.- led economic development, debt-strapped Puerto Rico is currently embroiled in a struggle for survival. During the mid-twentieth century, Puerto Rico grew at a rapid pace, betting on cheap labor, privileged duty-free access to the U.S. market, and tax incentives for U.S. companies.
By the year 2000, the government ran on ever-larger deficits. It all came to a screeching halt in 2014, when Puerto Rico’s debt was degraded to junk status and the island was effectively shut out of the financial markets. The fiscal and economic predicament has had a devastating impact on the working and middle classes.
Reader Comments: Zika Virus-Puerto Rico; Brussels Attacks; Elizabeth Warren; Bayard Rustin - from those who knew him; Letters from Langston; Dr. Quentin Young; Trump's Ideology of Violence and Working-Class Appeal; How Black Youth Helped Unseat Anita Alvarez; Demonstrating Against Trump; Future of Education-Colleges as Investments; Community Colleges;
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