Puerto Rico's Economic Crisis: Analysis, Alternatives and Solutions with Rafael Bernabe, candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico for the Partido del Pueblo Trabajador (PPT) 2012; he is professor and director of the Federico de On s Hispanic Studies Center at the University of Puerto Rico at R o Piedras; economist; who has published three books including Puerto Rico: Crisis y Alternativas
The fiscal situation in Puerto Rico is dismal. Public debt (including that of the central government and public corporations) stands around $73 billion and is roughly equal to Puerto Rico s GNP. The government s credit rating has been degraded to junk bond level. Any new credits seem to be available only at truly usurious rates (above 10 percent). Wall Street commentators admit that It s been clear for a while that Puerto Rico is going to have to default on its debt Bloomberg, 4/9/14). The other side of this coin is the fact that two dozen U.S. corporations extract around $35 billion a year in profits from or through their operations in Puerto Rico. Bear in mind that the total income of the government of Puerto Rico is around $9 billion. U.S. corporations benefit from the tax-exemption measures that have been the centerpiece of the government s development policy since 1947.
We ll speak with Prof. Bernabe who further details the current economic crisis affecting the island of Puerto Rico, a United States colony. He will speak about the history of the Puerto Rican economy, the federal and local laws that impact its economy, the current status of its bonds, and the proposed bankruptcy relief and austerity measures. Prof. Bernabe explains why it s in the interest of U.S. working people (including, needless to say, the more than four million Puerto Ricans that reside in the United States) to see that Puerto Rico acquires a healthy economy that no longer requires major subsidies to dampen the poverty from which a handful of U.S. corporations profit. Prof. Bernabe says the struggles for radical reversal of the dominant economic and social policies and structures in Puerto Rico and in the US must advance together. Building alliances and common proposals with like-minded currents and movements in the US is indispensable For those of us who are independentistas and socialists, and thus, internationalists, such collaboration is essential now and will remain so after independence. The fact that these movements are still minority forces in both the US & Puerto Rico makes it all the more urgent that those seeking to build them join forces and collaborate.
produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
please notify us if you plan to broadcast this program - knash@igc.org