Puerto Rico's Economic Crisis with Rafael Bernabe, 2012 Candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico - 27:39

Puerto Rico's Economic Crisis:
Analysis, Alternatives and Solutions
withRafael Bernabe, candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico for the Partido del Pueblo Trabajador (PPT) 2012; professor and director of the Federico de Onís Hispanic Studies Center at the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras; economist; and 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’ll speak about the history of Puerto Rico’s 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 and Puerto Rico
makes it all the more urgent that those seeking to build them join
forces and collaborate.” 

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