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I think the Puerto Rico Debt Crisis section dealing with the causes needs a POV check. Some of the sections (such as the Jones Act) seem ok, although the title “Suzerainty to the United States” seems not to be very neutral. The “Disparity in federal social funding” and “Costs of importing fossil fuels” also seem fine. Further on in this section, subsections on the “Economic depression,” and “Population decline” seem to have neutral POVs.
But “Labor costs,” “Mismanagement and disparity” and “Political stubbornness” seem to not be objective in terms of neutral point of view. Terms are used such as “political class,” stating that officials “lack competency,” etc. One sentence reads: “As with other scenarios, the political class opted to issue bonds rather than make adjustments and transform its society and economy.” Sources that have been cited are also controversial and not objective, and are not balanced by citations to sources that read the other way.
One sentence reads: “The cost of doing business in Puerto Rico is further increased by complex labor laws that force employers to pay for several employee benefits from their own pockets.” Of course, most companies pay employee benefits of some type, so this seems to be a politically-motivated sentence. The section does not say which benefits, or why this is different from elsewhere. And the sources cited support only one side of the argument, saying that businesses shouldn’t pay any benefits. No counter-arguments are given or cited.
I think these represent one viewpoint that is not universally shared. It seems to me that the section needs to be worked on. As a lawyer, my interest is in the sovereignty relationship, and this is outside of my expertise. Hopefully someone with a background in this area will re-write these sections. Bmcarson ( talk) 15:28, 14 May 2016 (UTC)
I need a POV check on the causes section. I don't know how to rephrase such statements. Regardless of who is in power, it is the people of Puerto Rico that elected them, and, therefore, it is the people of Puerto Rico the ones responsible for all this (by electing incompetent officials, by maintaining the status quo and its implications, and by being apathetic). Any help? — Ahnoneemoos ( talk) 16:54, 2 March 2014 (UTC)
I don't see anything particularly troubling. Stiglitz did weight in on several of the causes, and he would be a premier source if a transcript could be found. With that said, the notion that "the island also lacks natural resources used to produce raw materials" has been contested quite frequently, I have seen several so-called experts use metallogenic maps and other sources to argue that it is not really a lack of materials, but actually mismanagement of resources. Apparently, the fact that several houses were allowed in areas adjacent to large copper deposits throughout the island prevents their use due to contamination concerns. One of them argued that the Luquillo arboretum was a failure, since the data collected from it has not been truly exploited (lumber is a raw material).
Blaming the hurricane season for the utter disappearance of agricultural economy seems a bit contradictory, given its historical track record. Hurricanes do indeed cause a major loss, but only when they make landfall. It is known that Manos a la Obra failed to keep a proper balance when the economy was moved towards industrialization, a condition that lingered well into the 21st century. The lack of willing employees can't be understated, see the coffee industry for example. There are also sources ( [1], [2], et al.) arguing that conflicting politics, the repurposing of viable terrains and the lack of widespread hydroponic crops (there were only ten circa 2010) keep the issue in stasis, preventing a functional agricultural economy.
Finally, a second reference could be used along El Vocero in "Mismanagement and disparity", given that newspaper's reputation. we want to avoid any edit war because someone feels that the references are biased. - Caribbean~H.Q. 04:22, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
Can you guys help me reference and rephrase this section? Someone removed it claiming it was WP:OR since it is unsourced although we all know it to be true. Here's the excerpt:
Puerto Rico is relatively small, an island, and geologically uneven; characteristics that put it at a disadvantage as it is more difficult to transport and provide materials, products, and services from, to, and within the island. The island also lacks some of the natural resources used to produce raw materials, and, consequently, is highly dependent on imports. Its geographical location within the Caribbean makes it difficult to harvest crops and possess a thriving agricultural economy as the island is propense to the devastating effects of atlantic hurricanes.
Socioculturally, Puerto Rico's relatively small size and lack of bordering neighbors ultimately creates an isolated and egocentric culture (colloquially known as "insularism") where Puerto Ricans do not see themselves as part of the global economy and become xenophobic, believing the island is capable of satisfying each and every need and desire of its residents. [a] [b] [3] Products and services exported by companies based in Puerto Rico and owned by Puerto Ricans are rare, with most exports being performed by U.S.-based companies, primarily pharmaceuticals, or foreign companies whose profits escape the island and are, therefore, not reinvested on its local economy.
At a global scale, Puerto Rico's dependency on oil for transportation and electricity generation, as well as its dependency on food imports and raw materials, makes Puerto Rico volatile and highly reactive to changes in the world economy and climate. The prevalent monolingualism on the island based on the Spanish language —where less than 0.5% of the population speaks some other language— further erodes Puerto Rico's ability to compete at a global scale where English is used as the de facto business language. [4] Furthermore, Puerto Rico's highly conservative cultural values, based predominantly on the Roman Catholic Church, decelerate Puerto Rico's incursion into liberal markets that profit from LGBT rights and the decriminalization and medical use of marihuana.
References
- ^ Goitía Vázquez, Gabriela (August 7, 2012). "El insularismo en nuestra juventud" (in Spanish). Retrieved March 2, 2014.
- ^ Ortiz Berríos, Marielisa. "El racismo puede ser combatido desde el corazón del hombre". El Visitante (in Spanish). Retrieved March 2, 2014.
- ^ Pachecho, Istra (July 16, 2013). "Ahora a bregar con la xenofobia que afloró". Primera Hora (in Spanish). Retrieved March 2, 2014.
- ^ "2005–2009 Population and Housing Narrative Profile for Puerto Rico". U.S. Census Narrative Profile. U.S. Census. 2005–2009. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
Any help?
— Ahnoneemoos ( talk) 21:12, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
See note at Talk:Puerto Rico#Bankruptcy?. Shenme ( talk) 05:00, 29 June 2015 (UTC)
May I add Greece's debt crisis page form the See Also section? Puerto Rico isn't the only territory suffering from debt, as Greece is suffering an ongoing debt simultaneously. CrowdingShark19 ( talk) 02:48, 30 June 2015 (UTC)
I think the Greece crisis is relevant to the Puerto Rican crisis because both are contemporary and involve questions of government borrowing costs through a shared bond market for quasi-states within a currency union. Salahmaker ( talk) 08:53, 3 July 2015 (UTC)
The corresponding edit claims that the term is "politically charged", that doesn't seem like a good reason to remove it. There seem to be credible scholarly references that use the term clearly. Maneesh ( talk) 03:08, 9 June 2016 (UTC)
What am I missing there? Why is that article quoting $164.7 billion USD?
The distribution of Puerto Rico's outstanding debt.
The public debt of Puerto Rico is the money borrowed by the government of Puerto Rico through the issue of securities by the Government Development Bank and other government agencies. The actual[clarify] debt is about $164.7 billion USD or about 150% of Puerto Rico's gross domestic product (GDP).[1][2][3][4][5][6] By October 2013 the debt had ballooned to $191 billion not including pensions.[7] Peter K Burian ( talk) 20:53, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
PR is seeking de-facto bankruptcy protection under Title III of the US Code, likely representing the, by far, largest government default in US History. I'd like to see this article nominated for ITN on the main page but there are some significant issues with orange tags that would have to be dealt with. - Ad Orientem ( talk) 19:06, 3 May 2017 (UTC)
Note that I've removed maintenance tags for original research and neutrality. These tags must be accompanied by a talk page section so that editors can understand what content is contentious. If these issues from May, 2016 are still present, feel free to add back the tags with a new section on this talk page. Mamyles ( talk) 16:26, 4 May 2017 (UTC)
For some reason, the interwiki link to the Spanish Wikipedia takes one to an article about the periodical El Nuevo Día, which has surely covered this topic but is not about this topic. Not knowing what the corresponding eswiki article's title is (or even if there really is one) I can't just correct it. -- Haruo ( talk) 13:29, 5 May 2017 (UTC)
I believe the title of the section "more autonomy" should be altered, as two opposite solutions were proposed concerning Puerto Rico's autonomy. The section states that one solution would be to increase autonomy, and another would be to treat Puerto Rico as more like a state, increasing its rights and, presumably, putting it under more federal control. If the second solution proposed is actually another way of increasing autonomy, then the body of the section should be changed to reflect that. Jionunez ( talk) 15:33, 5 May 2017 (UTC)
In the "2017 debt restructuring ... " section, there is a figure of $12,000 per capita debt as of January 2017. This figure comes from a Debtwire article (via Forbes). It's a curious figure, because a $70 billion debt for a population of 3.4 million gives a per capita debt of $21,000. Perhaps Debtwire simply reversed the digits (in error). But the situation seems more curious than that, because the Debtwire article puts the "tax supported" debt at $53 billion and nowhere mentions a $70 billion figure. And starting with a debt of $53 billion, one doesn't get to a per capita debt of $12,000 unless one erroneously assumes that the population of Puerto Rico is 4.4 million (or, perhaps, by reversing the digits, 4.3 million). Can anyone here shed some light on this confusion? NewYorkActuary ( talk) 20:11, 5 May 2017 (UTC)
I've removed this image. I am unconvinced of its reliability. The source website states that it is a "guesstimate" and the compiler is not a journalist, economist, or other authority, but this guy, whose website gives this disclaimer: "WE make no respresentation about the accuracy of the data presented in these websites. Nor does Christopher Chantrill represent himself to possess any formal qualifications to select, evaluate or present the information. Users are urged to check all data against the published data sources and to report any errors or inconsistencies."
--
Neutrality
talk
23:44, 5 May 2017 (UTC)
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