Population of about 3.4 million, roughly just under that of Berlin, Sydney, Toronto or Atlanta. But young workers/families that can were leaving - you either work for the government in PR, slave-labor job (or test subject) in Big Pharma or you're a pensioner or on disability. PR's population keeps declining and they will lose another hundred thousand or two of their prime workforce after this. The PR governor is discouraging people from leaving and (rumor) has a hand in restricting flights out. Commercial jet pilots are perfectly capable of landing/taking off passenger jets without navigation aids. The runway is clear. Why no passenger service for over a week? The rich are able to come and go as they please on their private jets.
Puerto Rico is basically a failed state. Nothing against Puerto Ricans, but their government is about as functional as Ukraine, Afghanistan or Iraq. Nobody can explain the finances. Corruption, graft and bribery are accepted as normal by those within the government, and outside the government nobody really knows - it's all secret. No auditing, no accountability and no incentive for either.
As JaimeInTexas mentioned, the bankrupt power company is state-owned as well as the bankrupt water and sewer authority. They have done virtually no capital improvements in years - they only had enough (through debt issuance) to fund ongoing operations. Over half of the water supply disappears to leakage or theft. The utility's bonds are rated 'junk' and nobody will buy any new bonds they issue. In other words, they have NO money to fix anything and can't borrow more from anyone. The reason the Cuban lineworkers were not needed is because the electric company can't even afford replacement transmission towers, insulators, wire or power poles. The wire from downed lines is being stripped today for copper. A conservative estimate for restoring the power to the major urban areas of PR is nine months *if* they had the money to do so. San Juan maybe three or four months. Imagine Berlin or Atlanta residents being told they won't have electricity for the next six months or so.
The government itself is broke. They were liquidating state pension funds at the rate of $1 billion/yr for years to pay government pensions - that's after spending all the contributions of current government workers. PR would have run out of legal authority to do that anymore next year. Not only are current workers throwing their money into a pension they'll never see, but ALL government pensions will probably just end next year. So your 80-year-old grandpa that uses a walker and lives off his government pension will just have to accept the fact that he needs to get back to work or starve, and there is not work.
The well-censored news is that PR is starting to turn into a Mad Max post-Apocalyptic hell-hole. This is Christmas for the many small criminal gangs there and the police are mostly useless against them (even if you could call them). When the gang's families run out of food, they are not going to beg FEMA for any. They're going to start kicking in their neighbor's door and taking what they need. So-called US Department of Homeland Security might send a few investigators down to help with drug arrests - like the did in the Virgin Islands. Martial law should have been declared and FEMA should have sent thousands of law enforcement or military there by now just to protect the little people from crime and looting (but DHS is for the protection of the state, not the little people). The Puerto Rican governor and local media censors all this and US media won't report it. FEMA is doing a great job! Everyone in PR is happy! Look - helicopters with a few cases of bottled water. Yay!
You can't possibly ship enough bottled water for 3.5 million people and damn sure are not going to get enough of it where it's needed most. Water-borne diseases will be a threat until they get the water distribution networks fixed. Same for food. ATMs are out of cash, store shelves are mostly empty (in the few stores remaining open). Gas (petrol) lines were six hours long in places after the storm, but most stations in rural areas ran out and don't know when they'll be getting any more. Credit/debit cards don't work because of the power/phone issues. Cooking gas isn't available any more in many places. Basic medical care is useless except for something that requires a bandage or splint. The pharmacies are either not open or empty, so it's pointless going to a doctor if you will need a prescription filled. Dairy farmers are dumping fresh milk into sewers because they can't process it, nobody will pick it up and nobody is distributing any to the stores. FEMA can't unload aid because the ports are filled with shipping containers of stuff that retailer's either can't (no drivers or trucks) or will not (store closed) pick up. If they hauled every container out to sea and dumped them, the port would STILL be unable to handle the food and water needed for 3.4 million people - it's just not physically possible.
As usual with any disaster, the poor, the real (vs. scammer) disabled, the elderly or anyone in a rural area will be the most vulnerable. People figure individual households have maybe a week or two of food, so that will be gone in a few days. Incompetent, slow-moving FEMA knows this is going to be a humanitarian disaster and is trying to limit the damage TO THEIR IMAGE. They bragged about shipping satellite phones to the head of each Puerto Rican municipality, but were kind of quiet about the number that didn't even work when they arrived. The US MSM is glad to help cover up for PR government and US federal agencies incompetence and stupidity, and are doing an outstanding job so far. When enough cell phone service is restored and the little people start reporting about the conditions there, Twitter/Facebook will probably censor PR accounts to 'help' FEMA/DHS 'manage' public perceptions of their effectiveness.
And all this is happening when the US has 40 thousand of its soldiers in Germany protecting us from Russia, and 35 thousand in Japan protecting us from the red menace - China! Or North Korea - I forget. We just shipped an entire armored brigade to Poland from Kansas. The US government is claiming 4,500 US military are now supporting the PR relief effort, but hide the fact that 3,000 of them are PR National Guard stationed there and either didn't show up for work, or have no fuel/trucks/equipment to do much of anything. We are sending down a three-star general to handle the effort (and take the blame). That poor guy's career is officially over.
Posted by: PavewayIV
Originally Posted by Tellenta
Wait what? It's Puerto Rico that is standing in the way of Puerto Rico becoming a state.
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