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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Puerto Rico: Hard Blows / Blowhards

Puerto Rico: Hard Blows / Blowhards

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81Comments

  1. 1.

    RSR

    My wife, who teaches ESL here in Philadelphia, said the same thing about migration. She is expecting students to start arriving to her school and the region as soon as travel can be arranged.

    It will hit some neighborhoods, schools and school systems worse than others. Pennsylvania is already among the worst states for equity in school funding and support, and it’s likely to get noticeably worse.

  2. 2.

    NCSteve

    Has anyone seen or heard the Orange Shitgibbon express the slighest concern or sympathy for the Spanish speaking brown people?

    I know it’s not going to make any difference to what FEMA does, but it sure as shit signal whether deficit mongering hypocrisy by right-wing assholes in Congress who voted for relief for Houston will be tolerated.

  3. 3.

    rikyrah

    This is the part of the morning when I remind people that Puerto Rico ???? has more US citizens living there than 21 US states. #MariaPR

    — Julio Ricardo Varela (@julito77) September 20, 2017

    Keep on reminding them.

  4. 4.

    feebog

    Given we have to invest billions in Texas, Florida, the Virgin Islands and now Puerto Rico, maybe building a wall on our southern border will be put on permanent hold.

  5. 5.

    satby

    When I was on my way to deploy with the ARC to New Orleans after Katrina I met a woman I knew from childhood and a friend of hers at the train station. When I said where I was going, they assumed I was volunteering with the Humane society because they knew I did rescue, and before I could correct them, they laughed and said “better the four legged animals than the two legged.” I tried to give them frostbite with my answer: “people are always more important than animals”. I never forgot that.

    A huge proportion of people have no empathy or even internal humanity, and they’re going to be responsible for running the disaster management for this. They don’t see the victims of these disasters as real people. It’s up to us to be sure the disaster responses are handled well and to raise hell if they aren’t.

  6. 6.

    Elizabelle

    They may not like it, but how cool would it be to resettle Puerto Ricans in South Dakota, and Nebraska, and other midwest states. (Indiana. Wisconsin.) And have them vote.

    Could be revolutionary.

    The folks may have to settle somewhere while their island and its infrastructure are rebuilt. Send them to red states, with more affordable housing options. Register them to vote, on the mainland.

  7. 7.

    randy khan

    I can imagine that some Republican states will try to prevent migrants from Puerto Rico from voting, like Dana Houle suggests. It will be interesting to see how successful the push back against that will be, since push back is inevitable. It would seem like a pretty easy case – they’re American citizens, after all.

  8. 8.

    Barbara

    I wish Puerto Rico would become a state. Its status as something in between, not having the same autonomy as a regular state and yet not having anything like independence makes it harder and harder for it to carve its own destiny. It is closer to the mainland than Alaska or Hawaii, and has more residents than either of those states (as well as many others). This is a catastrophe for them and they were already barely hanging on because of the economic blows they have incurred.

  10. 10.

    randy khan

    I did some work with people in Puerto Rico years ago, and infrastructure development is pretty complicated there. The geography is such that it’s hard, for instance, to do things like run telephone lines through the center of the island, and of course the tropical conditions cause big maintenance headaches. If there are fundamental issues with the electric grid, recovery will take a very long time.

  11. 11.

    Matt McIrvin

    They may not like it, but how cool would it be to resettle Puerto Ricans in South Dakota, and Nebraska, and other midwest states. (Indiana. Wisconsin.) And have them vote.

    I’m not sure I’d wish that fate on them–the backlash from the locals would be ferocious. Given options, they’d be far more likely to come to places like NY or Massachusetts where there are already a lot of Puerto Ricans.

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    This is a dumbass comment, but I have been to San Juan, PR for one day out of my life. Cruise ship stop. Loved it. Visited the old fort.

    Was struck by all the street cats, and how lovingly they were cared for. They were all over the place. I do wonder how they, and other PR animals, fared.

    But most important of all is the people.

    And hurricane season has — what — 6 to 8 more weeks? If it were a normal year ….

  14. 14.

    raven

    President Donald Trump said Thursday he’ll visit Puerto Rico, adding that the island was “absolutely obliterated” by Hurricane Maria.

    This week, Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, knocking out 100 percent of electrical power, destroying infrastructure and causing widespread flooding and mudslides. The Category 4 hurricane came as Puerto Rico was recovering from Hurricane Irma, which struck the U.S. territory earlier in September.

    Now we can all bitch about him going. Win-win.

  15. 15.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Barbara: If Puerto Rico were a state, it’d have about 5 representatives in the House, and 7 electoral votes (depending on how the representation gets rejiggered). Pretty significant–I always think of it as being about the same size as Connecticut, in both population and land area.

  16. 16.

    JanieM

    Has anyone else noticed that while info about donating to disaster relief during/after Harvey was everywhere, there’s little or nothing (easily visible) about Puerto Rico, much less, let’s say, Dominica?

    I have just been googling around and am thinking of giving via Direct Relief International, which I’ve done in the past. They’re highly rated by Charity Navigator, and one of their big current headlines is Puerto Rico. There’s a giving category simply for “Hurricane Maria.” Also the earthquake and other items.

    Any other suggestions?

  19. 19.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Elizabelle: …Come to think of it, from a purely partisan perspective, there’d be more leverage in getting them to settle in swing states like Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio, all of which already have considerable Puerto Rican communities.

  20. 20.

    The Moar You Know

    Congress should use it as a way to expand the size of the House, which has been at 435 for something like 100 years.

    @Barbara: Why would Congress do such a thing? The vast majority of those seats would be Dem.

  22. 22.

    Elizabelle

    @Matt McIrvin: Yes. Absolutely.

    For what it’s worth, there is a hardy (maybe very small) community of Venezuelans in South Bend, Indiana. It’s fun to find all sorts of little communities you are not expecting, all over this wonderful country.

    I would like to see the Puerto Ricans settle in swing states, and purple states. For all of our sakes.

  23. 23.

    satby

    @JanieM: I’ve been trying to donate for the earthquake in Mexico on Mexican sites, but I was hampered by my lack of Spanish. When I get home from the market I’m going to get on my laptop so Google can translate the page for me. And as much as I dislike the ARC, the international Red Cross/ Red Crescent is probably where I will donate for the non-USA Caribbean islands. Or Doctors Without Borders.

  25. 25.

    Matt McIrvin

    @The Moar You Know: I was just looking up House representation per capita and was surprised to discover that the state that gets most screwed in the House is actually Montana, because it’s just under the population threshold to get 2 representatives. (On the other hand, they still get the vast small-state advantage in the Senate and the Electoral College.)

  28. 28.

    satby

    @Elizabelle: Because of all the colleges, South Bend is home to thriving small communities of immigrants from everywhere. First decent place I can get really authentic ethnic food since I left Chicago!

  30. 30.

    Elizabelle

    @satby: Yeah, I really liked South Bend area (didn’t see much of it) and all things Lake Michigan. The Amish too.

    Gonna swing back through in a few weeks, if I can.

  31. 31.

    Barbara

    @The Moar You Know: Well, they most likely will be now, but that wasn’t necessarily the case even five years ago. But really, Puerto Rico has to ask for statehood, and Congress has to (if it has not already done so) place conditions that have to be met. However, it is unlikely much will have to be done for Puerto Rico because we already share currency, their residents are citizens, etc. Sure, I understand they could look at it from the standpoint of pure political power, but the damage of turning down a request for statehood on that basis would be high as well.

  32. 32.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Elizabelle: Thers’s a Greek area in Tulsa OK. Already a large number in town in the early 1900s. In the 40s and later the Greek Orthodox church had weekly Greek lessons for the kids. Today the largest fall festivals in Tulsa are the Greek celebration and Oktoberfest.

  35. 35.

    Elizabelle

    @Ladyraxterinok: Yum. I love Greek festivals. Good to hear.

    Can’t really think of an ethnic cuisine that is not delicious. Some more than others. Everybody has something palatable.

  36. 36.

    Butch

    Another point that I know is a minor note, but I’ve visited the two islands just east of PR, Culebra and Vieques….some of the prettiest beaches I’ve ever seen but mostly poor and run down. I’m sure they’re also devastated and probably won’t get much attention.

  38. 38.

    Heidi Mom

    Heartbreaking — they’re not leaving without their dogs, no matter how much harder that makes everything.

  39. 39.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Ladyraxterinok: There’s a small Czeck area in IA. IIRC Dvorak spent some time there. Also 2 large Dutch areas–a large tulip festival in Pella each year. And several Norwegian areas–an annual Story City Scandinavian Days festival with food, etc, by the Sons of Norway. And the most important museum of the history of Nowegians in the US (have forgotten the location).

  40. 40.

    Ian G.

    @Elizabelle:

    No way would that happen. If I’d just lost everything, I’d want to end up as much as possible with familiar kinfolk, which for Puerto Ricans means places in already solid blue states like Elizabeth NJ, Hartford CT, Holyoke MA, or the Bronx.

  41. 41.

    Lurking Canadian

    @Barbara: in retrospect, expansion of the size of the House (via the “Wyoming Rule”, say) would have been a great way to spend January 2009.

  42. 42.

    Jeffro

    I don’t really care where they temporarily or permanently resettle, as long as we start getting folks off the island just as fast as humanly possible. No power for 4-6 months? The average American household wouldn’t know what to do if the power was out 4-6 days. Those folks are going to be hurting badly.

  44. 44.

    Barbara

    @Major Major Major Major: Whale, char, ptarmigant and skyr. Maybe lingonberries and horse meat. That’s what keeps you from dying in February. But really, most native cuisines are based on making a virtue out of want. Kim chi and sauerkraut, for instance, are what gets you through a loooooong winter. And think of snails and vichyssoise — the equivalent of slugs and leek and potato soup. My father refused to eat sauerkraut as an adult because his family ate it nearly every day during the depression. His dad spent hours and hours cultivating a garden and bartering vegetables for other goods.

  45. 45.

    rikyrah

    It’s this sop to White Mediocrity that bothers me most about Dolt45.

    There are people that go to school to learn about Agriculture and it’s issues. It’s not my thing, but these folks study it. They learn about it. They’re interested in it, and, genuinely, chose, as their life’s work, to help the American Farmer.

    THEY don’t get jobs, but these ‘ all you gotta be is White’ muthaphuckas do?

    ……………………..

    Trump hires campaign workers instead of farm experts at USDA
    Truck driver, landscaper among political appointees at agency headquarters.
    By JENNY HOPKINSON 09/21/2017 05:09 AM EDT

    President Donald Trump’s appointees to jobs at Agriculture Department headquarters include a long-haul truck driver, a country club cabana attendant and the owner of a scented-candle company.

    A POLITICO review of dozens of résumés from political appointees to USDA shows the agency has been stocked with Trump campaign staff and volunteers who in many cases demonstrated little to no experience with federal policy, let alone deep roots in agriculture. But of the 42 résumés POLITICO reviewed, 22 cited Trump campaign experience. And based on their résumés, some of those appointees appear to lack credentials, such as a college degree, required to qualify for higher government salaries.

    It’s typical for presidents to reward loyalists with jobs once a campaign is over. But what’s different under Trump, sources familiar with the department’s inner workings say, is the number of campaign staffers who have gotten positions and the jobs and salaries they have been hired for, despite not having solid agricultural credentials in certain cases. An inexperienced staff can lead to mistakes and sidetrack a president’s agenda, the sources say.

    “There is a clear prioritization of one attribute, and that is loyalty,” said Austin Evers, American Oversight’s executive director, who provided the documents after his organization received them in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. He said the group sought résumés for Trump administration political appointees from across the federal government and found an abundance of former campaign workers in positions that did not appear to match their qualifications. “The theme that emerges is pretty clear: What do you have to do to get an administration job? Work on the campaign,” he added.

    ………………………………………..

    The truck driver, Nick Brusky, was hired this year at USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service — an agency tasked with developing overseas markets for U.S. agricultural trade goods — at one of the highest levels on the federal government’s pay scale, a GS-12, earning $79,720 annually. Though that pay grade requires a master’s degree or equivalent experience, it’s not clear from Brusky’s résumé whether he’s a college graduate. The document lists coursework in business management and political science at three universities from 2000 to 2013, but does not specify a graduation date.

    …………………………

    Another example: Christopher O’Hagan, an appointee as a confidential assistant at the Agricultural Marketing Service, which helps producers of food, fiber and specialty crop growers market their goods. O’Hagan graduated in 2016 from the University of Scranton with a major in history and a minor in economics. But his résumé lists only one example of work experience prior to joining the Trump campaign in January 2016 — employment as a cabana attendant at the Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York, while in school.

    ……………………………………

    Brusky, O’Hagan and Page are three of 10 confidential assistants whose résumés were among those obtained by American Oversight, along with the résumés of some career staff who are acting in leadership roles. All but one of the 10 touted their work to get the president elected, and most do not have agricultural experience. All of the appointees with this title are ranked as GS-11, GS-12 or GS-13, positions with annual salaries ranging from $60,210 to $85,816 at Step 1 of each grade. Two of the 10 didn’t list college degrees on their résumés, despite guidelines that call for anyone at GS-7 or higher to have completed a four-year degree.

    Further, none of the confidential assistants indicated they had earned a master’s. Employees at the GS-9 level or higher are required by Office of Personnel Management guidelines to have obtained that level of education or equivalent experience.

  48. 48.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Barbara: Sure, even lobster was a famine food, in some places.

    I don’t think that fermented shark, stinky whales (with which you do the best that you can, I guess), and whey-preserved horse meat are particularly good though. YMMV. I forgot about skyr.

  50. 50.

    Citizen_X

    I hate to be a downer, but: I expect the GOP to meet mass migration from PR with redoubled efforts at stricter voter ID laws. You think these people will have all their original documents preserved? Hah. Half of theses docs just got swept out to sea.

    We’ll have to meet the Repubs with redoubled efforts to protect voting rights.

  53. 53.

    Major Major Major Major

    @MomSense: I guess if you count their breed of lamb as a kind of cuisine then I’m terribly wrong and they have delicious cuisine. I was thinking of the stuff you hear about when you meet old Icelandic folks and they tell you “oh, Hákarl, now that’s TRUE Icelandic cuisine, none of this tourist crap!”

    ETA yes I am aware they are trolling you when they say that, but they’re the ones who get to define ‘true’ icelandic cuisine, not me ;)

  54. 54.

    gene108

    @Barbara:

    Congress should use it as a way to expand the size of the House, which has been at 435 for something like 100 years.

    The size of the House was set at 435, in 1911, after the 1910 census. The existing 46 states got 433 seats, while a total of 2 seats were reserved for the Arizona and New Mexico territories to each get one 1 seat, when they became states later in the decade.

    Yeah, our size of the House predates the “lower 48”, because there were only 46 states.

    Increasing the size of the House would solve a huge problem with the oversized representation rural areas get. You’d see a lot more districts in heavily populated areas, so instead of figuring out how to win in rural areas, the new equation for control of the House would be how to win in urban areas.

    And in all honesty, the House is supposed to reflect the make up of the country. Small states and rural states get their outsized representation in the Senate. The House is supposed to reflect the population distribution of the country.

    Edit: Would also change the dynamic of Presidential elections, even with the EC, because big states like Texas, Florida, CA and NY would get many more EC votes, so hopefully the outcomes would better reflect popular vote totals.

  55. 55.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Do Puerto Ricans get along with later Cuban immigrants?

    If they do, they have a ready home here in the People’s Democratic Socialist Kenyan Atheist Shariah Republic of Louisville. Large Hispanic immigrant community, Spanish language newspapers, very blue, and decent bodegas abound.

    Plus, a large enough influx can fuck with Kentucky’s conservative political establishment numbers in a huge way.

  56. 56.

    Jeffro

    @rikyrah:

    “There is a clear prioritization of one attribute, and that is loyalty,” said Austin Evers, American Oversight’s executive director, who provided the documents after his organization received them in response to a Freedom of Information Act request…“The theme that emerges is pretty clear: What do you have to do to get an administration job? Work on the campaign,” he added.

    Pick a standard, any standard, GOP, and let’s make sure we hold to that standard during the next Democratic administration. You want to put in unqualified Trumpov loyalists without the proper training, experience, or degrees? Oooo-kay…

    Oh who am I kidding? Democrats couldn’t live with themselves putting in the kinds of mouth-breathing morons and jackasses that are the norm in this maladministration…

  57. 57.

    Mary G

    My mom was born in Austin, Texas, on what they called “Swedish Hill.” There was a bakery where you could get limpa bread. There was a church where all the services were conducted in Swedish, etc. So immigrants wind up everywhere.

  59. 59.

    MoxieM

    @Elizabelle: My issue with Amish (to generalize broadly) is that as a group, they run a great many of the wretched puppy mills in the US. Just horrendous. Factory farming of dogs. (edited to say: OT! )

  60. 60.

    JanieM

    @Mary G:

    My mom was born in Austin, Texas, on what they called “Swedish Hill.”

    I grew up in a small town in Ohio (on Lake Erie, so people came with the railroads and the shipping industries) where there were, when I was a kid in the 50s and 60s, two main “Italian” neighborhoods, i.e. places where Italian immigrants and their descendants lived. Those two neighborhoods were (and are to this day) called “Forty Acres” and “Swedetown.”

    Swedetown was, of course, where an earlier generation of immigrants had first settled, but by the time I was growing up they were mostly dispersed. Today, “Forty Acres” and “Swedetown” are still among the poorest neighborhoods in town, and you can guess who mostly lives there. (Italians too are assimilated and dispersed by this time; my great-nieces are the sixth generation of our family in town.)

    When I was a kid most of the festivals were either generic or Italian. Now there’s also a Finnish one, and I don’t know what else. Times change….

  61. 61.

    NotMax

    @gene108

    The House did temporarily have 437 members, from 1959 – 1963, after Alaska and Hawaii became states and before reapportionment based on the 1960 census was completed.

  62. 62.

    TenguPhule

    @feebog:

    Given we have to invest billions in Texas, Florida, the Virgin Islands and now Puerto Rico, maybe building a wall on our southern border will be put on permanent hold.

    Requires sane Republicans not in evidence.

  63. 63.

    TenguPhule

    @Elizabelle:

    They may not like it, but how cool would it be to resettle Puerto Ricans in South Dakota, and Nebraska, and other midwest states. (Indiana. Wisconsin.) And have them vote.

    What kind of grudge do you have against the poor Puerto Ricans?

  64. 64.

    Kelly

    I have read there is a slow steady migration from PR to Florida driven by people seeking education and/or jobs. Florida is close enough to visit relatives and friends in PR. Seems like Florida is already too beat up to support any immediate refugee flow. However if it takes months longer to fix PR then this migration might speed up perhaps adding a bit more blue to Florida.
    I spent a week in PR back in the 1990’s. When the stewardess announced our landing in San Juan applause and cheering broke out. The the crowd was more than half returning locals and they clearly loved their home.

  66. 66.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Major Major Major Major: Right. These are US citizens. If they come to the mainland they’ll go where they want to go, and probably follow existing family and other connections.

    However, I think it is significant that some places in the US with large Puerto Rican populations are in swing states. Most notably Florida and Pennsylvania. Though, when it comes to people displaced by a hurricane, Florida might be unattractive at the moment.

  68. 68.

    No Drought No More

    Should the 50 states in congress assemble fail today sustain the people of Puerto Rico and later completely rehabilitate the island’s infrastructure, we will have irredeemably descended to the status of a banana republic.

  70. 70.

    Immanentize

    @Barbara: I recently wondered what a State might look like if it was composed on P.R. and the US Virgin Island (St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix). Another Island collection State like Hawaii. Would the tourist incomes of the USVI help stabilize the economy of P.R.? I have no clue, but it might be an interesting proposal….

  71. 71.

    NotMax

    @satby

    Just paused, halfway through, a French romcom on Netflix which it occurred to me you might like, “Blind Date.” Haven’t yet seen it all so don’t have a fully informed opinion but so far cute and endearing enough without being sappy.

  72. 72.

    Sergio Lopez-Luna

    @Kelly: The pro-commonwealth Party and the Independence Party boycotted the election. Normally elections in Puerto Rico get 65% or more voter turnout. This election got less than 25%. It was not a mandate.

  73. 73.

    TenguPhule

    @satby:

    I take it neither of you has enjoyed haggis.

    Only by reputation. Scotland is supposed to have other regional cuisine besides that anyway.

  74. 74.

    woodrowfan

    I’ve been giving to Second Chance Rescue which helps the many street dogs in PR. They rescue them and send them to rescue groups on the mainland to find homes. We got out little sweetpea, Sonia, that way. (She’s on the old Pets of Balloon Juice calendars)

  77. 77.

    satby

    Annoyed because I just came home from the market to discover that the shipment of soap dishes I ordered that was supposed to have been delivered (according to the notification I received) is nowhere to be found. And my front gate was left wide open for the easy escape of the dogs. At least I saw that before I let them out.

  79. 79.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    They were saying Puerto Rico has a migration problem because of economics and I was thinking it’s a pity the government is controlled by small minded idiots because rebuilding would be the perfect opportunity to revitalized the Puerto Rican economy and give young Puerto Ricans a future in their own birth place. Instead the racists blue hairs will ignore Puerto Ricco’s plight because they aren’t fish belly white, the Puerto Ricans will be forced to flee to the mainland thus contributing to the demographic shift the Blue Hairs are so scared of.

    But I am sure Sessions, Miller and Apario can just deport the Puerto Ricans all back to their country of orgin and solve the problem that way.

  80. 80.

    J R in WV

    @NotMax:

    Our last big flight the “stewardess” had a great looking goatee beard, and did a great job of managing the flight crew AND serving dinner/drinks to his passengers. Built like an athlete, too, in case of needing to deploy life-rafts over Alabama. ;-)

  81. 81.

    Origuy

    @satby: I like haggis. It’s just loose sausage, basically. Blood pudding, on the other hand, holds no appeal.

    There’s a large Tibetan community in Bloomington, Indiana. A professor of Tibet started a cultural center south of town. The Dalai Lama has visited several times. His nephew owned a restaurant in town. It’s closed now, but there’s another one.

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