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PR gets plenty US direct aid . $6.5 billion annually . 1/3 of the population gets food aid .25 percent of the monthly benefit may be redeemed for cash.”in direct cash block grants" .A 2010 USDA report said that it's widely acknowledged that 25% of the money gets spent on non-food items.Quote:
If it is a US territory why hasn't it been the benefactor of US largesse?
The answer for PR is either independence or becoming a US State . This territory limbo has to end.
So if it becomes a state what changes and independence sends it down the girgler. They are doing well if only 25% gets spent on non food items When I asked about US largess, I mean't development aid, investment there instead of Mexico
This is a non story Clete because in fact there are actual states in America that are in much worse economic shape than PR, and even Greece for that matter. Matter of fact there are governors running for president, even though their states are in very sad shape.
Well Tal what can I say, where I live you get no marks for failing to lead and we don't actually get state governors running for political office, since it isn't an elected office, quite the contrary a successful politician might be offered a governorship although it more often goes to those of notable achievement. Should we become a republic this will probably change. I looked up Peurto Rica and no doubt it has seen better days, but it is extraordinary that the US has this territory and hasn't exploited it for its strategic value
We have all seen better days before the global financial crisis.
PR has been a basket case for years . So was Greece . All that has happened was very predictable.
I can only agree with you Tom, but would expand that list globally to other countries, states, and towns that are no better off than the ones in the headlines.
Of course ! The economic engine of progressivism is dying ;sustained only by the deficit spending and illusions. You see it all over the world . The liberal vision is being challenged and replaced . In Europe the combination of Fascism and Islamism has social democracy on the ropes . Greece is telling the EU there is no legal basis for them being expelled .' So suck it up and bail us out '. Meanwhile Hasbro has volunteered to begin printing the new Drachma .
Greece illustrates how incredibly fragile the progressive house of cards has become.The Greek crisis has the potential to wreak major damage on the entire world economic system. Just check out the empty ATMs .
PR is equally plagued by liberal tinkering . As an example ,the minimum wage in PR is the same as the rest of the US . But their economy is so much weaker . Only 40 percent of the population has a job..or is even looking for one. That figure has plummeted in recent years. People who want to work can't because businesses that haven't fled yet can't afford the pay scale. The minimum wage is only slighty lower than the medium wage on the island .You think those businesses are a bunch of greedy bass turds too ?
It's expensive to hire and pay workers in PR. There is also a high cost of living , high cost of transportation, energy goods and services . And businesses are subject to unfriendly regulations.
Fewer tourists are planning trips to PR than they were a decade ago .The number of hotel beds is the same as it was four decades ago !
Like Maggie Thatcher said ...... eventually they run out of other people's money .
Obviously you are delighted that a socialist economy should fail, it gives you hope foryour capitalist utopia to emerge
The Greek bailout may come from unexpected sources, China has emerged as an interested player and has much to gain from not being a bystander. I suspect they are very good at acquiring state owned assets since they understand how they should be operated. They also have strong reserves and don't want anything to restrict their markets. How will this change your view in years to come, when you realise your own country stood idly by and allowed your IMF to attempt to destroy the Greek economy with their capitalist driven austerity. As their middle class grows no doubt they can direct droves of Chinese to holiday in the greek islesQuote:
Of course ! The economic engine of progressivism is dying ;sustained only by the deficit spending and illusions. You see it all over the world . The liberal vision is being challenged and replaced . In Europe the combination of Fascism and Islamism has social democracy on the ropes . Greece is telling the EU there is no legal basis for them being expelled .' So suck it up and bail us out '.
http://www.breitbart.com/national-se...e-in-the-euro/
It's not progressivism that ruins the world but economic extraction. What you refer to as OPM, is an excuse for non circulation of the money. Rich guys holding onto the crumbs and basically starving everyone else, everywhere.
I find it amusing whenever austerity is mentioned it's only for the poor working class slumps, and never for the rich investor class. When things screw up it's always the middle classes fault, and never the rich guys, or their paid for political stooges. How do you expect any economy to be effective if 80% is in the pockets of less than 1%?
Damn Greeks and Ricans just refuse to be assimilated! Illogical to even think such small pockets of humanity will bring the whole world down though!
obviously you haven't been watching the China market lately . What are they going to do for the Greeks ? Build more Potemkin cities ? For what ? Cornering the feta cheese market ?
They have to worry about their own "middle class " and their aspirations . What was the deal ? Wasn't it constant expansion of the economy in return for not revolting against the corrupt cadres ? This week they started their own version of QE .
As you know their whole economy is teetering on the mother of all real estate bubbles. Countries should not ride bubbles ;especially ones with a fragile economy and a rigid political system . Turns out it's much harder to state manage a consumer society than it was to force the peasants off the farms and into the state managed factories making cheap products for export .
You have such a myoptic view of the world. That you talk like this indicates you have never been to China and just swallow the propaganda your government spews out. China has large currency reserves and so a few billion to ease the woes of Greece is not too hard. They understand that investment and opportunity are important because they have a long term view. They also avoid interferring in domestic politics, no doubt because they expect that this will be recipricated. They have a vested interest in keeping Europe strong, it is a big market for them and a source of investment in China. Yes they may loose a little in property values but with a huge stock of unsold dwellings some adjustment is warranted. We would certainly like to see the China property market come off the boil because it is fueling a bubble in our own property markets. Besides they are getting their own development bank going and they will expand their interests dramatically. They don't have the same beggar my neighbour policies that your multinationals and fed employ.Quote:
Originally Posted by tomder55
They have a lot of farm boys wanting the big city life and this must be managered with employment, a fact that seems to be lost in capitalist thinking, so strategic investments in markets are important. A prosperous EU is good for their economy, whereas another financial debacle is no good for anyone
you're such a Sinophile suck up. China and Greece are both experiencing debt implosions. In Greece's case there will be a sovereign collapse . China is seeing the end of their growth explosion and they do not know how to manage a decline. It was a phony expansion fueled by the single largest credit expansion in monetary history.When the Real Estate bubble burst, China pushed for a stock market bubble. Now that bubble is bursting.
Not at all Tom but I recognise the trends, You may not like it but the twentieth century was your century and the twenty first century belongs to Asia and you know why?You gave them all your industries and know how. Economies like yours flower and then slowly decline. Don't talk of stock market bubbles, how many has your nation suffered ? You should take the lessons of history, nothing lasts forever. Look back at the empires of the past and you see the basket case economies of today, the world is littered with them. Overreach has a price
I see Japan circa 1980s . It will take decades for them once the dam bursts ;and they won't have that much time. The restive people made a devils bargain with the regime ;and the regime can no longer fulfill it's promise of huge expansion.Quote:
Originally Posted by paraclete
The cheap labor they relied on has moved on to other nations in the region. It aint coming back . They tried to pump it up with real estate investment . If they don't bull doze the ghost cities there will be vegetation climbing up the walls of the unoccupied high rises.
Many of the suckers in their "middle class " invested in properties they can't afford . Some are lucky enough to rent them out while they live in people's dormitories at their work place. The rest are about to get a to the skin hair cut .
Get ready for Tiananmen Square on steroids . You want basket case economies ? History is littered with repressive regimes that fail .
of course the US is not in much better shape. PR could have a bigger impact than we imagine. Then there is the national debt that has conveniently and mysteriously been stuck just below the national legal limit for 15 weeks ! I'm thinkin they's lyin to us rubes. How convenient for the Obots in the WH and @ Treasury ,and for Congress .Keeps em from doing something about it and having to listen to those inconvenient Tea Party members of Congress .
Tom get it straight, your republic is a shambles, two hundred years and your politicians have brought you undone. Your debt is legendary but your denial is even greater. As a citizen of the world I cannot understand or agree to your continued support. Literally you are wasting my money and you don't understand this.
My nation has problems but it has debt a tenth per capita of your nation and we are a viable dynamic economy. What makes the difference, An entirely different view point. Capitalism is not dead here, it operates with some of the world's largest corporations, but in an entirely different way.
You think I should endorse your vendetta against China but you fail to realise if you succeed you sink yourselves. You are a hollow shell of what you might have been sixty years ago and all that protects you is that others don't possess your strength
We are in shambles yet the strongest country in the world? Doesn't say much for the rest of the world. Doesn't say much for your vibrant economy either.
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We are the strongest country in the world?
What I say to you Tal is all we have to do is take the long term view you will exhaust yourselves fighting your wars long before we will. There have been others who could make that statement and where are they today? We don't aspire to be the strongest country in the world, but in one hundred years we are among the top twenty
60 years is about right. I'd say 50 years because you can find specific events that lead us on the road to predition. 1955 we were the only economy standing after WWII so yes we were at our zenith economically compared to the rest of the world . It was unrealistic to think we would continue with such an advantage for long.Quote:
You are a hollow shell of what you might have been sixty years ago and all that protects you is that others don't possess your strength
In fact ,our time of unrivaled prosperity was extended because JFK wisely adopted supply side tax cuts .
But he was murdered and LBJ became President . He began a period of increasing the unsustainable spending and granting entitlements that has led us to where we are today . So it's 50 years .
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