Puerto Rico is thorn in my heart because it took more than twenty years for this collapse to happen; meaning, more than half my lifetime. I left the island 20 years ago this September because I saw no future in the banana republicanism, corruption and cronyism that has been the norm in la isla del encanto.
The collapse of Puerto Rico's economy has been in the making since the Reagan presidency. When Reaganomics hit us, it was like a tsunami. The island went into a recession that lasted almost 10 years. That's because Southern-strategy Republicans and Republicrats saw fit to do away not only with federal tax incentives for business development in the island; but to kill small business and family farming programs as well. The Republicrats went with the blessing of the Great Communciator and they did everything they could to wipe out what they saw as the competition to their beloved yet economically depressed South.
Did Puerto Ricans do anything to avert the crisis? Of course not. Because the island's economy was predicated on not taxing businesses --big business that is--, once the US decided that US businesses in the island had to start paying federal taxes, the island's government did everything they could to avoid doing the same. Puerto Rican's pay one of the highest personal income taxes in the US.
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