I don't know if anyone else noticed, but what the fuck happened to Puerto Rico's economy? Well, it's in the tank. The "general strike" of October 15th, made a tiny blip in the mainstream media and, beyond the photo ops, it illustrated the wide spread opposition to the incompetent economic policies of the current administration.
Puerto Rico, not suprisingly, is reeling from the U.S. recession, which, according to most estimates, is not going away any time soon. The massive budget shortfall (3.2 billion, proportionately the highest deficit of any state in the nation), the crushing 16 percent unemployment, and the crippling recession are causing pandemonium and, of course, a requisite amount of pathetic navel gazing. The Fortuño administration, relying on the tried-and-true political tactic of passing-the-buck, immediately sought to portray the crisis as one that predated his tenure. In other words, a reasoning of the "if past administrations had..." we wouldn't be in this position, variety.
So, in order to the prevent the downgrading of Puerto Rico's credit rating from shit to negative shit, the administration has been "forced" to take some "tough" measures like laying off 20,000 state employees. And, just so they don't give the impression that they're a bunch of bitch ass thieves stealing the people's money, the governor mandated a 20 percent salary cut for his staff. The governor was interviewed by Univision's Jorge Ramos during the general strike, he asked him to explain the disparity between his salary 65k and that of some of his closest staff members which is still well over 100k . The governor looked befuddled for a split second, shit a brick, and then did the classic public relations maneuver of evading the question by acting like it wasn't even asked.
Of course the governor is not going to mention how the douchebags in his administration that are making over 100k while the island is 3.2 billion dollars in the red, are being cheuferred around the island, eat government subsidized meals at the priciest restaurants, and make enough dough to live like kings in their police protected gated communities. So why would they really give a shit about showing a little modesty?
Finally, Kenneth McClintock, the current Secretary of State for Puerto Rico, takes the prize for the most inane comment about how to solve the economic crisis. From CNN.com:
Puerto Rico is "still the pharmaceutical capital of the world, but we have to try to manufacture even more Tylenol to resolve our economic headaches," McClintock said. "We have to manufacture even more Viagra than we already manufacture so our economic statistics will rise."
So Puerto Rico is a pharmaceutical sweat shop. In other words, there are no Puerto Rican owned pharmaceutical corporations, just like there are no Puerto Rican patents on any of the drugs that are manufactured there. There's also no mention of developing a bit of self reliance for an economy that for far too long has been slavishly dependent on the good graces of foreign corporations or government handouts.
But perhaps I'm wrong, and McClintock's "limp dick" strategy for economic development will "raise" the island's economy. Veremos.
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