The GOP’s undemocratic recipe for Puerto Rico

In recent days, two proposals concerning Puerto Rico’s delicate fiscal situation have been presented in the U.S. Congress. These bills, spearheaded by Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) and Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) respond to recent hearings concerning the matter in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Nevertheless, said bills propose undemocratic methods to handle the matter and fail to cure the root of the problem.

Both projects propose the creation of a federal oversight body that would have the ability to decide the Commonwealth government’s annual budgets and would be composed of members selected by the president. To alleviate Puerto Rico’s situation, Duffy’s proposal includes Puerto Rico in the Bankruptcy Code’s Chapter 9 protections. Meanwhile, the Senate proposal excludes Chapter 9 inclusion but offers $3 billion to assist Puerto Rico with its cash liquidity woes and a five-year, 50 percent reduction in Social Security taxes. Despite the incentives, these projects effectively knock back the administration of Puerto Rico’s finances to the days of U.S. military occupation.  

{mosads}According to economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin in a recent testimony before a senatorial hearing, “Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection for Puerto Rican governmental entities, would not improve economic growth, would not change the budget trajectory. Nevertheless, Puerto Rico once enjoyed Chapter 9 protections up until 1984 when the island was quietly squeezed out of the Bankruptcy Code with the approval of unrelated amendments. Congressional records are mute on the reasons why the island was specifically excluded, and said amendments passed with no reaction or protest from Puerto Rico’s non-voting member of the House of Representative at the time.

Congress wants to assure that federal assistance will not be in vain, and many legislators have clamored for long-term solutions to prevent further crisis. Despite this, the problem has less to do with the lack of federal oversight and more with the lack of citizen oversight. Politicians are free to borrow and spend as they wish, as citizens do not vote for bond proposals — a mechanism present in local and state governments throughout the U.S., as well as the world. This lack of citizen participation is worsened by the fact that all elected positions are up for grabs simultaneously each four years. There is no city council district; council members are handpicked by mayoral candidates. Victorious mayors are awarded almost four-fifths of council seats, effectively making municipal legislatures a rubber stamp for mayoral borrowing and spending.

The alienation of voters from Puerto Rico’s political system has resulted in an unstable, back-and-forth exchange of power between the two principal political parties. Though the Commonwealth’s bureaucracy and partisan politics have failed to steer the island clear of financial chaos, basic civil checks and balances should be considered before handing over Puerto Rico’s finances to a federal control board.

From Luis Gallardo, Puerto Rico

Sanders wants to put price on carbon pollution

Leave it to socialist Bernie Sanders to propose the smartest free-market solution to runaway climate change: a carbon tax. He has my admiration and my vote.

Right now the prices of dirty fossil fuels don’t come close to reflecting their true cost to society — and that puts efficiency and renewables at a huge disadvantage. Sanders supports a price on carbon emissions that would send a crucial price signal to investors and also put money in our pockets in the form of a carbon dividend.

Here’s how a revenue-neutral tax would work to stimulate the economy: the money collected as a tax on carbon pollution at the source would be returned to every American in the form of regular rebate checks. A gradually increasing carbon tax would reduce carbon emissions 50 percent in 20 years and add 2.8 million jobs to the economy without adding regulations, according to a recent REMI study.

Irreversible climate disaster and clean tech solutions are both closer than most people realize. Let’s vote for a carbon tax to spur innovation. If we vote for continued climate change denial, we won’t be able to tell our kids we chose a better world rather than climate disaster.

From Carrie Scherpelz Madison, Wis.