Make Puerto Rico Rico again! Or a State.

Was there a misunderstanding?

That joke about Puerto Rico being a floating island of garbage? And Trump donning a vest and jumping in a garbage truck? Perhaps Puerto Ricans believed Trump was going to take out their garbage. The island indeed has an accumulation of garbage, with hurricane after hurricane, an earthquake, a decrepit electrical grid that is mostly down, and shipping costs that make it difficult, if not impossible, to get fuel for energy or get rid of garbage, short of dumping it in the ocean. Because they elected a governor who is not only a Republican but a Trump ally.

In 1976, the federal government passed legislation that allowed federal corporate tax breaks for companies producing in US territories. One of the great beneficiaries of this was Puerto Rico. And one of the industries that exploited the situation was the maligned Big Pharma, which began locating a lot of production in Puerto Rico. That produced a significant boost to the prosperity of the island. In 1996, Clinton signed legislation produced by New Gingrich's House, and of course, the Senate that phased out those tax breaks. The result has been a decline in Puerto Rican prosperity, to the point at which their electricity is about (but maybe not quite) as reliable as Cuba's. It is the most impoverished region of the United States.

Apparently, Puerto Rico can't afford the shipping costs for fossil fuels, thanks to the Jones Act. So they are chronically short of energy.

For this, Teddy Roosevelt led the charge up San Juan Hill? So America could abuse the island?

Maybe a Republican Congress and a Republican President can end the Jones Act and legislate a Marshall Plan for Puerto Rico. And reinstate those tax breaks for corporations in territories. Or, maybe, just maybe, vote to allow statehood for Puerto Rico.

Anathema to Republicans? Mitch McConnell just said it ain't gonna happen. Perhaps that is short-sighted. Puerto Ricans have voted, to the tune of about 60%, for statehood in nonbinding referenda in the past. Should they be denied self-governance? They have a pseudo form of self-governance. Why not make it legitimate? Would that produce 2 more Democrat Senators? Not clear.

If Puerto Rico were to be allowed to become a state, I would suggest that they be made a fully legitimate state. Not like Nevada, or Arizona, or Wyoming, or Montana, or Utah, etc., etc., as all of those western states were allowed to join the Union under the proviso that the federal government would own the land not otherwise owned. For example, 86% of the land in Nevada is owned by the federal government. If that were not the case, Cliven Bundy would not have ever been arrested. And I would not have grown up downwind from the Nevada test site during the 1950s with atmospheric atomic weapons testing.

Just a bit of advice. Be cautious, Puerto Rico. Demand full actual statehood. Like Texas.

If the federal government under a Republican administration were to vote for Puerto Rican statehood, support that, and aid Puerto Rico to recover, I suggest it would have an effect like Lyndon Johnson passing the Voting Rights Act.

If the Republicans advocate for Puerto Rican statehood, Democrats would likely fight it tooth and nail. It would make for interesting political dynamics, at the least.

Just a thought.

Puerto Ricans certainly deserve better than they have now. And it is embarrassing, at least to me, that an American territory would be so impoverished. Maybe they would spend themselves into insolvency as a state, like California or Illinois. But maybe not.

how naive am I? What am I missing?