[Sonambulo]

While I believe that Puerto Rico is indeed a colony of the U.S in a legal-political sense, which US District Judge Juan Torruella very precisely details in his book, “Puerto Rico- Doctrine of Justice and Unequal”, the island is essentially administered just like the 50 state territories, save for a few little things like [zero] representation in Congress, and no potent advocacy in Congress, lol. [Although, kidding aside, the negative impact the lack of representation has had on the Puerto Rican economy been well documented by many writers]. Nonetheless, the institutional/economic structure is essentially the same as a state. My comparison was based on this factual analogy.

Now, because of the level of poverty and the disproportionate number of persons living on some form of government assistance, we all know that Puerto Rico would be the poorest state if granted entry into the union. This too has been extensively written about by many. The implications of this fact in terms of US Puerto Rico relations are obviously to the detriment of the island's political future but whether it will be the only issue in future structural changes remains to be seen.

You suggest there is no problem of revenue generation or overspending in Puerto Rico and essentially assert that the problems in Puerto Rico are attributed to a welfare state that does not produce income. Is it not the case that the “transfer payments” that you refer to are proof of this lack of revenue?. [Of course vagancia does not produce income]. As for overspending whether by the government or consumers in Puerto Rico, this has been well documented over the years by well versed economists in and out of Puerto Rico. In terms of the welfare consumerism that you refer to, there is, sadly a lot of truth to this and a lot of people live “embrollao”.

As far as a gringo pull out, whatever that means, I have never heard any credible figure in Washington ever suggest that the US is going to “pull out” of Puerto Rico. Some PIPolos and PSPs speak of this but I dont give this argument any credibility.

Miranda, while I cant say that I am too optimistic about the islands future I don’t take such a dark and bleak view of things as you do.


Y llegó la policía
y arrestaron al matón
y a un negrito policía,
que también era Bembón,
le tocó la mala suerte
de hacer la investigación.
¿Y saben la pregunta que le hizo al matón?
A ver, diga usted, ¿por qué lo mató?
¿Y saben la respuesta que le dio el matón?
¡Yo lo maté por ser tan Bembón