Puerto rico finnaly approved of being our 51 state does anyone have any objections?

There is absolutely nothing I can do about it. I have objected to deficit spending my entire life. Called every representative in congress, and the white house. What good has it done?

FYI, there is nothing you can do about it either. Democracy and government by the people is an illusion.

 

Saying we're all screwed, so let's get even more screwed doesn't sound like good public policy.

 

They've figured that out:

 

Do all States have this option? I thought the idea was creating fair and equal working wages throughout the country.

The reason PR did well during Industrialization, was because they were able to use cheap labor to make things less expensive than were possible in the US. By bringing them into the US they will immediately be forced to play by the same rules and immediately fall behind.

 

You're going to have to bail them out anyway, might as well get a State in the process (unless you anticipate some irredeemable Puerto Rican traits entail perpetually bailing the place out.

With more Puerto Ricans living in the US than on the Island, whatever traits could have induced the need for a bailout should be evident among the Puerto Ricans in the US. The source cited says they're mostly in New York and Florida, are better educated and earn more than other Hispanics; "16% of Puerto Ricans ages 25 and older (compared with 13% of all U.S. Hispanics) have obtained at least a bachelor’s degree", with "median annual personal earnings for Puerto Ricans ages 16 and older were $25,000 in 2010; the median earnings for all U.S. Hispanics was $20,000". However, [t]he share of Puerto Ricans who live in poverty, 27%, is higher than the rate both for the general U.S. population (15%) and for Hispanics overall (25%), so there the problem could be indolence.

Evidently the government on the Island tries to help with public sector jobs, but this sure isn't effective as it is the source of the problem now (huge debt) and evidently they've not much to show for all the work of those indolent government employees.

 

They are a very proud people and from what I have seen much more driven and educated than those in Mexico. However to me that isn't the point.

The point is that they DONT WANT TO BE AMERICAN. They are now in some serious trouble and are looking for the US to solve their problems. They have time and time again refused becoming a state as they felt their culture was their own and they would do fine industrializing and growing independent of the US.

Well, now they got their hands caught in the cookie jar. If they become a US state they will add a drastically different culture to our own.

I wish more people would actually go to PR and meet the people. Great people, just not Americans

 

I was married to a Puerto Rican, though I've never been to the Island, I do know a bit about the culture, it's not that different. Naturally, as an Hispanic myself, what I know of Puerto Rican culture doesn't seem that different from what I know of whatever could pass as "US culture".

One ought to identify what precisely is meant by "cultural differences". The more carefully one isolates specific differences, the more similar these appear.

 

Being an American has one thing in common with each other, wanting to be an American.

I do not feel the actions of PR over the last 50 years have proven they want to be anything than the proud Puerto Rican's, they are, which is absolutely fine and actually really cool of them to have such pride.

Being so, I simply do not believe them when they all of the sudden say "we are ready now to become a state", all with abysmal voting turnouts in favor of.

Being an American is a proud and exciting thing to A LOT of people. We don't care what your culture is, we don't care what your ethnicity is, it's all about whether or not you want to pick up our set of morals and live by the life and laws that We The People have created. If and when all this happens and they are PROUD to call themselves an American, then we can talk.

I don't see it as of this moment even one little bit.

And I actually been on PR soul 25-30 times in my life with quite a bit of experience to back that up.

 

They don't want to be American. They just want us to pay off their debt. No thanks on being used. This ship sailed decades ago. It will never happen, and support to even keep giving PR a non-voting representative is shaky, at best.

 

No, the Federal government does.

I didn't say get rid of the minimum wage for Puerto Rico, I said get rid of minimum wage.

That's a really bad idea.

Uh-huh.

That's what I'm saying. The rules suck.

They already have to follow them, that's why they de-industrialized.

 

This is an aspect, cultural identity is a whole lot more, it involves more than notions of morals and political organization (diet, dress, custom, art...). As I noted before, "the more carefully one isolates specific differences, the more similar these appear" when we look at specific moral values and how laws are created, there isn't much difference between the Puerto Rican and unitedstatian.

 

Many years ago I supported the idea of Puerto Rican statehood. What turned me off of the idea was the protests and popular support to the closing of the Naval bombing range in Vieques and the reaction of Puerto Ricans to the clemency of those FALN terrorists by Clinton. Those terrorists were treated as heroes. So no, Puerto Ricans don't want to be American, they just want the money.

 

Sounds like you've got some sort of chip on your shoulder.

Nationalism is a manifestation of cultural identity for people everywhere. Puerto Ricans, if challenged by others will magnify their defence and love for their Island, very much like a unitedstatian would when challenged by another. To get a truer measure of their difference one would need to see how either of the two react when challenged by a compatriot. This is an inherent feature of all nationalities, cultural identity gets magnified by foreign challenge.

 

No one yet has even hinted at a benefit to the USA of making PR a state.

All the impoverished people of the world go on government welfare, food stamps, medicare, medicaid, disability and social security - plus free medical care. Swell plan.

 

I pointed to specific instances that indicated that Puerto Rican priorities are not American priorities. They are the priorities of an occupied territory that feels they are under the boot of an imperialist power.

 

More bad news for America..more money will go out the door for welfare programs...more economic disaster...never any good news for America..always bad.

 

Right, so they prepared to enter our system and in doing so became an even obviously larger drag on what would eventually integrate into OUR economy.

Why would we want that? Better yet, why would they want that?

Let them re-industrialize and let American "co-investment" go crazy. With PR leadership they could become an economic powerhouse in a decade, instead they are going to trade that freedom to become the largest welfare state in the US

 

It can take the place of California.

 

California is incredibly productive, there isn't even a close comparison'

Puerto Rico has 3.4 Million people with a total GDP of $93.52 Billion.

To put it in perspective, that is basically the same GDP as Nebraska, however with having almost double the population. (3.4M vs 1.9M total people)

Furthrmore, a quick google search yeilds the following for welfare cost of each State/Territory

Puerto Rico - $6.5B annually while Nebraska needs $1.1B annually (best I could find, if anyone finds differently let me know)

So we have

State/Territory Population GDP Welfare

Nebraska . 1,900,000 . $89.6 B . $1.1 B
Puerto Rico . 3,400,000 . $93.52 B , $6.5 B

And as I have said from the beginning, the biggest issue for me is that I don't believe they truly want to be Americans. That is my sole issue on the matter, the rest can be wrestled with.