Puerto Rico “A commonwealth without any wealth”

On Eve of Default, Puerto Ricans Are Broke and Feel Out of Luck

Puerto Rico’s desperate search for revenue has seen it raise sales taxes to 11.5 percent, the highest in the U.S. Other charges have been imposed too, prompting a lawsuit from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which called its overall tax burden “astonishing and unsustainable.” Prepa, the electricity company where Jimenez was selling his lottery tickets, is set to levy extra fees from customers as part of a deal with creditors to stay current on its $9 billion of debt.

READ MORE HERE:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-29/on-eve-of-default-puerto-ricans-are-broke-and-feel-out-of-luck

I was stationed in Puerto Rico, at Ramey Air Force Base for three years, 1960, 61, and 62.  It is a beautiful island with a lot of really nice beaches.

I sort of feel like they brought the current financial crises on themselves.  They enjoyed a great economy for many years thanks to tourism and most importantly to several U.S. military bases there.  Tourism cannot bring in anywhere near the revenue the Military bases did.  The bases provided full time, year around employment for many of their citizens, and there is no way to really know how much money Military personnel spent off base, but it was a lot...

They pretty much forced all of the Military installations to leave the island, and they are now suffering the consequences of their actions.