Puerto Rico Statehood: Yay or Nay ?

Statehood for Puerto Rico

  • Yay

    Votes: 10 18.9%

  • Nay

    Votes: 21 39.6%

  • Gay

    Votes: 22 41.5%
  • Total voters
    53


Thanks for the in-depth answer. I haven't visited PR yet myself but I've got a 20-year friend who was from San Juan and I always found the culture interesting as he described it... Especially how much you guys hate Mexicans... :thumbsup:
dabreadman said:
...1998, and the majority of people selected the option "None of the above" (50.3%).

Above being:
Statehood (42.6%)
Independence (2.5%)
"Free Association" and Commonwelth (current status) (0.03%)
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LOL! That's hilarious. I'm racking my brains trying to think of another status other than state, independence, and no change... Mass suicide perhaps? ;)

dabreadman said:
  • Puerto Rico imports 85% of the products we consume. 22 billion worth of products each year, 55% of those are from the USA.
  • We also have to bring all that stuff with US ships (by law), giving you guys over 1.5 billion a year in duties, etc.
  • Make no mistake about this, we DO pay social security, medicare, veteran pension funds, unemployment, etc. This means PR pays out 8.9 billion each year in the above taxes.
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Wow, sounds like we made you our little bitch down there! Ouch.

...But you mentioned unemployment... So should I assume then that you guys get welfare and food stamps the same way we do up here?

I never thought that PR survives on federal aid; in fact I did always assume that you weren't getting much... In my head (I can only assume our crappy public schools put this idea there) the fact that you're not a state meant that we don't have to pay for your unemployment, welfare, medicare, or any other entitlements. From what I'm hearing here, it sounds like we've been paying those all along but don't get to tax you fully? Is that about right?
 
Vadym said:
no srsly. make it a state. then America would have one state where the chicks aren't over 400 pounds.

SUDDENLY A WILD PUERTO RICAN GIRL APPEARS

puerto-rican-glamour-model-bianca-holland-2.jpg
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who looks like a horse. sorry, no statehood for you.
 
I'd take a horse over a cow any day.

I can brownbag her face, but no amounts of layers, hoodies or sweat pants will cover up the muffin tops on the American woman.
 
Puerto Rico makes more sense as a state than Hawaii. Hawaiians, native and imported, are douchebags.

The thing about Puerto Rico is that locally the board of agriculture has sway over use of the land.

Statehood would totally divest that board (and other local interests) of their power and influence.

So the topic comes up every so often but never comes to fruition because the people who matter don't want it. And won't.
 
super said:
Lol at this post. When integrating a country its usually about economic numbers and not crime rate. After economics then you talk about culture. PR is spanish/latin country which has nothing to do with US culture.
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Puerto Rico is not a country. Puerto Ricans have U.S. Passports.
 
You guys realize that they are put up for statehood every year, and they've denied for a long time now. They just don't want to become a state.
 
What kind of pharmaceuticals does PR make?

dabreadman said:
  • Puerto Rico does not pay federal tax in the sense that we do not pay the the federal income or corporate tax. Make no mistake about this, we DO pay social security, medicare, veteran pension funds, unemployment, etc. This means PR pays out 8.9 billion each year in the above taxes.
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Interesting. Do you get any of the benefits from those?

And if you became a state, would PR then have a state income tax? I can't imagine the local government being happy to "lose" up to 30% of business income. AFAIK no state taxes that high.

Minus the duty fees and the like you listed, it sounds like it would be a gain for PR, except the government which would suffer a loss of clout. As for the rest of the US I'm not sure if it would cost the federal taxpayer more or less.

I'm going to PR in a few months for a brief vacation so this is all interesting to me.
 
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