Study on Puerto Rico's Economy Making Headlines Elsewhere

A few days ago I commented on Puerto Rico's  precarious economic condition based on  a joint report published by  the Center for the New Economy in Puerto Rico and The Brookings Institution. The voluminous book has made its presence felt more heavily outside the Island. Yesterday, both, the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune (owned by the Times) published the same editorial comments on the economy of Puerto Rico.

Under the heading "Puerto Rico in Distress" the newspapers commented that "[a]fter decades of economic progress, Puerto Rico is struggling, and the mainland has both missed this horrific economic slide and contributed to it through benign neglect".

The Herald and Times concur with the conclusion that the U.S. has a lot to do with the current situation:

Much of the blame can be put on Washington, which has been tone deaf to the island's needs and has miscalculated where help was needed. Even a good idea, like the Section 936 program of tax incentives, was mismanaged. Before it was phased out last year, it had succeeded in bringing many pharmaceutical concerns to the island, but produced relatively few jobs and at so high a cost that a $40,000 position cost the government $70,000.

Political parties have tied the Island's economic woes to the political situation.  For the status quo -now in power- it's a matter of gaining additional autonomy;  for statehooders it's the lack of real congressional representation; and with the independentistas its all about  the 'evil empire'.  The non partisan report offers us an excellent opportunity to engage in candid debate and get going with what needs to be done; this without the usual ideological low-blows.