Stormsmith wrote:Crantag
It depends. Look at Puerto Rico. They've been without power for some time and won't be energised tomorrow. They haven't got the power poles they require. They could import wooden ones, or they could wait and grow them. If they opt for growing them, they'll have to settle on what their natural environment supports, for good or bad. Or they could opt for underground wiring, but they don't seem to be talking about that option.
Stormsmith, you don't understand how bad it is with Puerto Rico. Colonialism is a cancer of the worst sort for a society. You can't make any decisions locally, it is paralyzing in the extreme. The Governor of the island (the highest office you may hold locally in Puerto Rico) has to run everything by the Panel they have now who oversees every move Puerto Rico makes. It favors bankers and corporations exclusively. PREPPA...is the electricity authority there. They have known for decades that the grid was horrible, in bad shape, run down, and had running brown outs. They charged a lot more for electricity in Puerto Rico than the most consumeristic New York power user. In a population that makes half of what the poorest average wage earner makes in Mississippi (the poorest state of the union in the USA). Imagine paying 3 times what a New Yorker pays for electricity making super poverty wages, for a service that is horrifically maintained, unreliable and bad and not up to date or modern or eco-friendly? It is corruption. Plain and simple. All of our public utilities have been sold off piece by piece to private investors from all over the world. None of them reinvest their profits in serving the Puerto Rican worker. None. For years we were not allowed to tax any private corporations in Puerto Rico. At all. So there was no revenue to be had taxing large banks, business and corporations. How does one fund things like teacher pensions, construction and maintaining of roads, etc? You can't Stormsmith.
You have to rely on federal fund transfers from the USA government. That is the only way to survive. If that goes down or is cut off? You got to borrow from private investors like hedge fund managers and wall street speculators and venture capitalists. You have to. But you won't have bankruptcy relief if you can't get enough economic growth. So? You have a catch 22. Puerto Rico doesn't have political power in Washington DC. None. Pierluisi and now Jennifer Gonzalez can't vote on the floor on any legislation or bills. It is a very powerless, no vote, total dependent relationship in which very wealthy and powerful people make all the decisions in Puerto Rico without living there, without having any emotional. social or true investment there in terms of personal relationships. It is not their society but they want to profit from the society without any give or take. Give or take is about trade between sovereign nations and equal players to a certain degree. If you can't have that? You are at the mercy of the ones who call the shots. And they are not Puerto Ricans Stormsmith. They don't care about us. Never have.
That is colonialism. Being at the mercy of people who don't give a damn, and having no control over your own society. Your own nation. You have nothing. No real nation, no real power, no say so, no voice, and no hope. And you are going to have to accept it. Because the threat is if you don't? You will be shot, jailed, harassed, unemployed, marginalized, tagged as a terrorist, Anti-American under the influence of the Castro government, a leftist agitator who isn't grateful for the GREATNESS of speaking English and being privileged in the sense of how great it is to go to the USA and not be English speaking, and get a low paying job in the cold. You got to be damn grateful for that. Leave your native society and everything you know....and be damn grateful for that!
That is colonialism Stormsmith. Few people understand that unless you are a Syrian refugee or some kind of devastated economy or natural disaster. Few understand how bad that stuff is Stormsmith.
Let me get you some sources for you to comprehend how horrible it is:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/16/busi ... icane.htmlhttps://www.investors.com/politics/comm ... erto-rico/There are a lot of links @Stormsmith dealing with the lack of democracy in that situation. But that is colonialism. The USA allows that to happen in not only Puerto Rico (we are the largest place in terms of population with that political and economic status but also the US Virgin Islands, Solomon Islands, Guam, Marianas Islands, American Samoa, etc. It is a pattern the USA gov't has Stormsmith in trying to secure their geopolitical and military positions in South America, Asia, and the Pacific. It is the need to build Empire. Something a democratic and representative democracy and with a republican based governmental system is supposed to refrain from doing. They are in contradiction to their stated mission in politics. Once that happens Stormsmith with a society? You got internal rot. You can't remain true to your stated principles and adopt the principles of the ex Empires you fought against (England and the old Monarchies and oligarchies of that nation) and you act the same as they do to smaller places? Less powerful nations? You become like they do.
Actions speak a lot louder than rhetoric. And don't think others don't notice these 'moves' they do.