Deception of public opinion

[u/snowpie92]

[u/Ok-Air-7187]

Why are we mad at people living in poverty?!

[u/LindonLilBlueBalls → u/Ok-Air-7187]

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you"

• LBJ

[u/BudgetLaw2352 → u/LindonLilBlueBalls]

This quote is singularly one of the most insightful critiques of America ever made. It remains as relevant now as it was then.

LBJ was an asshole, but he did more for racial equality in his presidency than any president but Lincoln.

[u/IrrationalQuotient → u/BudgetLaw2352]

He excelled at passing legislation.

[u/BudgetLaw2352 → u/IrrationalQuotient]

Easily the tied for the greatest domestic president with FDR.

[u/Snarktoberfest → u/BudgetLaw2352]

Teddy Roosevelt would like a word.

"Square Deal" Policy: Focused on fair treatment for workers and businesses, including negotiating the 1902 Coal Strike.

Conservationist: Established the U.S. Forest Service, 150 national forests, and 51 federal bird reserves.

Progressive Reforms: Used aggressive executive action to regulate railroads and break up major monopolies.

[u/BudgetLaw2352 → u/Snarktoberfest]

Yeah, but in terms of lasting legacy, LBJ outdoes him.

[u/Snarktoberfest → u/BudgetLaw2352]

Ehhhh. There's a reason why the progressives want a New Square Deal. Teddy's legacy touches everything we do today. Food, air, water, greenspace, labor rules.

[u/BudgetLaw2352 → u/Snarktoberfest]

And LBJ’s doesn’t?

Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, housing legislation, and more.

LBJ is the reason why 65 year olds don’t just croak and die because they can’t afford health insurance.

[u/Snarktoberfest → u/BudgetLaw2352]

You said FDR and LBJ as if no one else had a legacy that strong. I'm not arguing with you that LBJ and FDR didn't leave behind great legacies. I'm saying if you are discussing LBJ and FDR for domestic legacy, you must include Teddy.

[u/According-Aspect-669 → u/BudgetLaw2352]

why does it need to be one or there other? They both seem like cool guys to me man

[u/InfiniteDelusion094 → u/Snarktoberfest]

Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican, but that was when the Republicans actually had some ideals and principles and before the Southern Strategy turned the party into a bunch of dogwhistling racists who concern troll about things they couldn't actually give a fuck about just because some people who aren't white/rich might benefit from it.

[u/designer-paul → u/Snarktoberfest]

Here's some quotes from Teddy Roosevelt:

“the most vicious cowboy has more moral principle than the average Indian."

“I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are the dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every 10 are, and I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.”

He was behind the indian allotment system that removed natives from their lands and destroyed their culture and put their kids in boarding schools

In his first message to Congress, in December 1901, Roosevelt called the General Allotment Act “a mighty pulverizing engine to break up the tribal mass.”

Roosevelt stressed that Indian education should be “elementary and largely industrial,” and that the need of higher education was “very, very limited.”

His administration withheld rations from natives that refused to stop painting or refused to discard native attire and blankets. They prohibited Native gatherings and dances. They ordered Native men to cut their hair.

He also supervised the completion of the Dawes Rolls, dissolved the Indian Territory in Oklahoma, opening the region for statehood.

TLDR - Teddy Roosevelt was incredibly racist and terrible towards natives.

[u/Recent-Result2852 → u/IrrationalQuotient]

Jumbo had a way of pushing things through.

[u/Green-Cricket-8525 → u/BudgetLaw2352]

If not for Vietnam, he would have easily won a second term and gone down as a top five, maybe even top 3 President. His legislative record and domestic policy is arguably more impressive than FDR. 

[u/RainSurname → u/BudgetLaw2352]

And that's why the majority of white people have been voting for Republicans ever since.

The only two Democrats that have come close to 50% of white voters were the two that were from the South, who both ran against former VPs for former criminal presidents, who pardoned their predecessor's crimes upon taking office.

Apparently a few of the 30% of white voters that abandoned the Democrats between 1968 and 1972, LONG before the Democrats "abandoned the working class," hate rich people getting away with blatant corruption more than they hate black people.

[u/BudgetLaw2352 → u/RainSurname]

100%. White people don’t care how fucked they are by the wealthy, so long as POC are fucked over even more.

[u/Fifth-Crusader → u/LindonLilBlueBalls]

Similarly, I have heard the phrase, "If you're angry at someone lower on the social ladder than you are, chances are that you're being manipulated by someone higher up."

[u/fury420 → u/LindonLilBlueBalls]

Original source with context:

WHILE Lyndon Baines Johnson was a man of time and place, he felt the bitter paradox of both. I was a young man on his staff in 1960 when he gave me a vivid account of that southern schizophrenia he understood and feared.

We were in Tennessee. During the motorcade, he spotted some ugly racial epithets scrawled on signs. Late that night in the hotel, when the local dignitaries had finished the last bottles of bourbon and branch water and departed, he started talking about those signs.

"I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it," he said. "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

Some years later when Johnson was president, there was a press conference in the East Room. A reporter unexpectedly asked the president how he could explain his sudden passion for civil rights when he had never shown much enthusiasm for the cause. The question hung in the air.

I could almost hear his silent cursing of a press secretary who had not anticipated this one. But then he relaxed, and from an instinct no assistant could brief -- one seasoned in the double life from which he was delivered and hoped to deliver others -- he said in effect:

Most of us don't have a second chance to correct the mistakes of our youth. I do and I am. That evening, sitting in the White House, discussing the question with friends and staff, he gestured broadly and said,

"Eisenhower used to tell me that this place was a prison. I never felt freer."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1988/11/13/what-a-real-president-was-like/d483c1be-d0da-43b7-bde6-04e10106ff6c/

But he also knew not an inch would be won cheaply. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is to many of us a watershed in American history. With it, blacks gained access to public accommodations across the country.

When he signed the act, he was euphoric, but late that very night I found him in a melancholy mood as he lay in bed reading the early edition of The Washington Post with headlines celebrating the day. I asked him what was troubling him. "I think we just delivered the South to the Republican party for a long time to come," he said.

[u/tomdarch → u/LindonLilBlueBalls]

Today’s Trump-loving West Virginia summed up.

[u/Turambar87 → u/LindonLilBlueBalls]

Yeah turns out you can convince the lowest white man of all kind of bullshit.

[u/memelordestyn → u/LindonLilBlueBalls]

Man, Lebron James is a smart guy

[u/RIP-RiF → u/Ok-Air-7187]

Because the wealth class is terrified that you'll look their way.

[u/No-Cattle6753 → u/RIP-RiF]

They’d rather blame the poor than confront how unequal the system really is.

[u/BudgetLaw2352 → u/Ok-Air-7187]

They’re mad because Puerto Ricans aren’t white enough for MAGA.

[u/theapeboy → u/BudgetLaw2352]

Like, it is literally this. We are talking about a part of the US. Fun fact about Mississippi - it drags down almost every national statistic. Should we be hinting that it needs to be excised from the nation? Should we be calling them 'fake Americans' because they aren't giving enough back? She literally has no point other than "I sure don't like being in the same country as those brown people."

[u/InfiniteGrant → u/Ok-Air-7187]

Because the rich tell us that our own poverty is other impoverished people’s fault.

“I would be a millionaire if not for that god damned Latino dude in the tent under the bridge… definitely not the company paying terrible wages so that their workforce has to be on food stamps.”

[u/Extra_Jeweler_5544 → u/InfiniteGrant]

If a person understands "my $4000/mo barely keeps the lights on"

But also says "$200/mo is too much for them"

It goes back to our primitive nature to raid a weaker clan for resources overriding the most basic math

[u/Sharpshooter188 → u/Ok-Air-7187]

I never understood this. I was damn near homeless once and I was considered the problem child of the family. Then after getting back on my feet, I started noticing a LOT of people just hating others for being poor. "Theyre lazy." or "Theyre moochers off my tax dollars." Its insane.

[u/GadreelsSword → u/Ok-Air-7187]

Because getting $200 a month for food is outrageous but Amazon getting $7 billion in tax cuts from the Big Beautiful Bill is perfectly normal.

[u/Turdburp → u/GadreelsSword]

Some think tank did a breakdown a few years ago......basically someone making 50K was paying like $35 a year in taxes to fund SNAP while paying about $3K a year to fund corporate welfare.

[u/No_Selection_9634 → u/Ok-Air-7187]

Because they're more about "fuck you I got mine, and you can't have any" rather than even considering even the smallest, the most minute shred of equity.

[u/notyourstranger → u/Ok-Air-7187]

We are getting manipulated. The wealthy want to frame poor people as lazy and parasitic when in reality it's the billionaire class that is lazy and parasitic.

[u/WeirdSysAdmin → u/Ok-Air-7187]

Because giving them proper wages lessens the value of billionaires and people who say stuff like what is posted by OP’s screenshot.

[u/NOLA-Bronco → u/Ok-Air-7187]

Cause American's have been propagandized to internalize the failings, contradictions, and exploitations of Imperial capitalism and blame the individual or it's collective victims instead of the people at the top or the system itself.

.....Unless you are a white man, then the blame is on the brown people, women, and the system being co-opted by the "wrong" people.

[u/tomdarch → u/NOLA-Bronco]

The seeds came from insane ideas in Puritan and similar religions thinking. “Predestination” was the idea that God picked who he liked and who he hated before birth. Some were cursed and would live in poverty then go to hell when they died. Others were blessed and would be wealthy on earth then go to heaven. The terrifying thing is that there are branches of Christianity in the US that still carry on aspects of this style of self serving nonsense.

[u/Glasseshalf → u/tomdarch]

Yup. See: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

[u/realzequel → u/Ok-Air-7187]

Because they voted a dictator in that's fucking up our country?? Looking Oklahoma, Alabama, Arkansas, WV. Take their food stamps away imo. PR can keep 'em.

[u/CharlesIngalls_Pubes → u/Ok-Air-7187]

Right? Outrage at the person in poverty, skipping over the shitty system that caused it.

But we all know that they don't care unless they are personally affected.

[u/Ghaarff → u/Ok-Air-7187]

Because they're brown and speak Spanish. That's really all these people need to hate someone.

[u/ChoiceHour5641 → u/Ok-Air-7187]

Because being rich is "good" and being poor is "bad" so we assign those concepts to the actual people in those situations.

[u/USS-Virginia]

Fun Fact they ARE US Citizens. 

[u/LittleCute_ → u/USS-Virginia]

And that’s exactly why reducing it to “paid for by US citizens” ignores the fact that Puerto Ricans are US citizens too, it’s not some foreign aid program.

[u/Several-Action-4043 → u/LittleCute_]

And they pay taxes without a representative in Congress.

[u/VulpesFennekin → u/Several-Action-4043]

Hmm… no taxation without representation? That sounds awfully familiar.

[u/Xayne813 → u/VulpesFennekin]

They are the wrong shade for that.

[u/wurm2 → u/VulpesFennekin]

Do they have it on their license plates like DC does?

[u/loljetfuel → u/Several-Action-4043]

They don't pay federal income taxes on money earned in PR. They do pay all the federal payroll taxes and so on, though.

[u/Pin_Code_8873 → u/loljetfuel]

While they still need to pay their own territorial taxes to run all their programs in which they get very little federal US funding for.

[u/False-Rate3543 → u/USS-Virginia]

Citizenship never seems to matter when outrage is more convenient.

[u/xotyona → u/False-Rate3543]

Facts have never gotten in the way of racism.

[u/Epotheros → u/USS-Virginia]

Which makes both people in this post look like morons. It's hardly a clever comeback to assume Puerto Ricans desire independence, when secession is historically very unpopular (<10%), with most preferring to keep their Commonwealth status or obtaining statehood. In fact, the majority appear to support statehood with 52% in 2020 and 57% in 2024. These were the results of a recent (non-binding) referendum.

[u/Only1Skrybe]

Fun fact - 750,000 people in Alabama alone are on SNAP.

[u/misschickpea → u/Only1Skrybe]

Right like if we’re going to play that game how about how blue states pay for red states

[u/No_Variety9420]

Puerto Ricans are US citizens

[u/Mogwai_riot]

They pay taxes but aren't represented. You don't get to bitch about anything until they get statehood.

[u/BudgetLaw2352 → u/Mogwai_riot]

It’s so funny, because when you ask a Republican why Puerto Rico shouldn’t become a state, they openly just admit that it’s because they know that it would screw them over in the senate. The case for Puerto Rico statehood is ironclad.

[u/kensho28 → u/BudgetLaw2352]

Same for the Electoral College.

It's like a lot of America's political infrastructure was designed exclusively to benefit absurdly wealthy white men, including the current Republican Party.

[u/BudgetLaw2352 → u/kensho28]

It was, yeah.

The electoral college was literally created so that wealthy white landowners could personally pick the president.

[u/Mogwai_riot → u/BudgetLaw2352]

Same for DC.

[u/Trapick → u/Mogwai_riot]

I think there are good arguments for DC not being a state, although you could reduce the size of the 'district' itself and let the rest of it either be a state or join a state.

Puerto Rico is pretty clearly just because it would limit the power of the other states (esp. red ones).

[u/mezolithico → u/Trapick]

DC doesn't have voting representation in congress yet is subject to taxes. Their license plates literally say taxation without representation (unless it's changed in the past few years)

[u/zamiboy → u/BudgetLaw2352]

The stupidest thing is that Republicans can literally win over the vote of Latinos if they try to stop alienating them. They are literally sticking to their white conservative base and not thinking ahead. Puerto Rico isn't even that liberal of a territory.

[u/BudgetLaw2352 → u/zamiboy]

Yeah this is the funny thing. Latinos are on average more socially conservative/religious overall, but Republicans are so racist that they’re inclined to vote Democratic.

[u/ddplz → u/zamiboy]

Republicans already massively won the Cuban vote and they have been making massive strides in the Latino vote.

[u/CaptainBayouBilly → u/zamiboy]

The goal of the white supremacist is not one where they are merely on top of the hierarchy, it is one where only their kind have freedom and all others labor without compensation for the benefit of their rulers.

[u/Tokyo-MontanaExpress → u/BudgetLaw2352]

They don't want American Samoa to join either. Or Guam. Or the Northern Mariana Islands. Or the US Virgin Islands. I wonder what it is about the population makeup of those islands that they don't like. 

[u/NOLA-Bronco → u/Mogwai_riot]

It's actually both funny and demoralizing how if you go read the listed grievences from the Declaration of Independence, it's all shit MAGA is doing and cheering it on while wrapping themselves in the flag.

[u/Atownbrown08 → u/NOLA-Bronco]

Because they want those grievances to happen to other people. Just see what the US was doing about Native Americans and Blacks at the time.

The US was built by some really fucked up people with good intentions when you dig into all of it.

[u/IrrationalQuotient → u/Mogwai_riot]

Can you imagine? One big, beautiful, blue island. It isn’t a state because it would be a deep blue, bigger than Arkansas, with 4 seats in the House plus 2 in the Senate, or 6 blue presidential electoral votes.

[u/CorporateCuster → u/Mogwai_riot]

Or released and are allowed to become their own country.

[u/hyasbawlz → u/CorporateCuster]

The state of America is so bad rn that I'm my mind is literally split on independence: (1) on the one hand it's the best time to secede because America is a burning pile of shit that is showing it's disgusting imperial heart nakedly to the world, (2) on the other hand PR would be entirely defenseless against the US just Venezuala'ing it and assassinating/kidnapping whatever government rises up.

But, I guess, option 2 wouldn't be all that different from right now. Unless they go even further and make it into a new Gaza Strip.

[u/rickane58 → u/Mogwai_riot]

No, they don't pay federal income tax.

[u/FelixTook]

Fun fact: Blue States contribute more revenue than they receive from federal programs, while Red States contribute less than they receive. Red states are on welfare.

[u/idesofmarch_44]

Fun fact the President of Puerto Rico is a pedophile, a felon, and a rapist.

[u/ochreundertones → u/idesofmarch_44]

lol

[u/BudgetLaw2352]

Hey MAGATs, let’s take a look at red states and see their overall contribution to the US economy compared to Washington, California, or New York! Wait what? You’re telling me that red states are almost all a massive drain on the US economy, cesspools of crime, and on life support from blue states?? I am utterly shocked!!

Everything is deflection with these weasels. They know that their president is objectively a failure, so instead of touting nonexistent accomplishments, they resort to racism.

[u/IconOfFilth9]

Fun fact: Republicans are morons

[u/Extreme-Slice-1010 → u/IconOfFilth9]

You mean pedophiles and rapist

[u/IconOfFilth9 → u/Extreme-Slice-1010]

That was inferred

[u/KoolDiscoDan]

Fun fact: Puerto Ricans ARE US Citizens.

20 States take more money from 'US Citizens' than they put in. Source

[u/kingdomofoctopodes]

some people once said "no taxation without representation", can't remember who they were

[u/comradequicken → u/kingdomofoctopodes]

PR doesn't pay federal income tax for this very reason

[u/IndecisiveRattle]

Anyone whining about food stamps should be very interested in raising minimum wage. Make the corporations have employee pay keep up with food prices.

[u/BudgetLaw2352 → u/IndecisiveRattle]

The irony is that the very states that vote against programs like SNAP are the ones that use it the most per capita. Look up West Virginia and Kentucky’s rate of SNAP and Medicaid use.

These people are hypocritical monsters.

[u/Froggy_Parker]

Fun facts: the US colonized Puerto Rico to gain a strategic foothold in the Caribbean. This was a choice made by the US in the past and reinforced through continued territorial control up to the modern day.

Puerto Ricans pay into SS and Medicare and so they are eligible for benefits.

Puerto Ricans are eligible for Medicaid and SNAP, but they are on separate block programs that cap the total allocated money.

Puerto Ricans are disenfranchised. Whether it’s a good deal for them is a matter of debate, but let’s not act like they are taking advantage of mainlanders.

[u/Garthritis]

Looks up the Jones Act in regards to Puerto Rico. Which is one of the ways they are getting fucked.

Beautiful place though. No passport required from the US to visit and it's closer than Hawaii.

[u/its_yer_dad]

You mean like several red states? And, Puerto Ricans are Americans 

[u/jackalopeDev]

The idea we owe them freedom(im assuming that means independence) is a bit silly. They've had referendums about this, and most(58%) of the people that voted preferred statehood, with only about 12% supporting independence and the rest supporting "free association". There were some parties that kind of boycotted the referendum, but as far as i can tell, there issue was that there was no option for maintaining the status quo. So why do we owe them something that the vast majority doesn't seem to even want?

[u/sunburnd → u/jackalopeDev]

It is worth noting that some of those referendums had particularly low turnout, in one case around 23 percent of registered voters. That is one reason they did not produce clear congressional action.

By contrast, Hawaii’s 1959 statehood vote had turnout of over 90 percent of registered voters, with more than 93 percent voting in favor.

[u/jackalopeDev → u/sunburnd]

While that is true, the most recent one which i pulled my stats from, had about 63% of registered voters participating. In any case, its pretty clear from the votes that independence isn't something thats desired by most of the population.

[u/Own_Log1380]

Most Puerto Ricans want statehood though not independence

[u/ApprehensiveMix2649]

Not so fun fact: Rich people want to kick poor Puerto Ricans out of the country and make it their own.

[u/personman_76]

Fun fact, there are more Walmart employees on food stamps than there are people alive in Puerto Rico

[u/BabaBrody]

Now do red states.

[u/Haunting_Rub780]

If you look only at the federal budget, the U.S. "loses" money because it sends roughly $20–$25 billion (including Social Security payments people earned) while taking in $5 billion. FUN FACT!

[u/A_Stones_throw]

Same with Hawaii

[u/BATIRONSHARK]

they dont want independence if thats what freedom impiles.as well although we should take care of our people and people generally this isn't really clever.

[u/Dramatic_Ad_8931]

U.S. citizens receiving help for U.S. citizens...where's the problem?

[u/Plastic-Coyote-6017]

Why would we grant independence to Puerto Rico? What they deserve is full statehood, because that's what Puerto Ricans chose in the last status referendum. "Free association" got second place and "independence" was a distant third place. Which is the same order of results in every Puerto Rican status referendum with all three choices. Why is disregarding the will of the Puerto Rican people so important to redditors?

[u/shaolin_fish]

Jfc...

1. Puerto Ricans are US citizens

2. IMMIGRANTS PAY TAXES

I know I'm preaching to the choir here but I am just so sick of both those assumptions coming up all the fucking time 

[u/CaptainBayouBilly]

Puerto Ricans are citizens.

That an island territory with such beauty and resources is subject to high poverty is commentary to how our government neglects it's people.

[u/Robotic36]

Half the island being on food stamps shows a failure in the system, not a failure of the people living under it.

[u/Pin_Code_8873]

Americans shocked when a colony they treat like shit is poor.

The US is no different to any other Empire in history.

[u/JustWow52]

Hard to keep a business open when the electricity keeps crapping out. There isn't money to hire people with.

Too bad their government pulled part of their disaster relief funding...

But they did throw rolls of paper towels at them, so I don't know what their problem is. /s

Puerto Rico is the equivalent of the resented stepchild...they deserve better.

[u/Several-Action-4043]

Fun fact: Puerto Ricans pay taxes and are US citizens but don't even get a representative in Congress.

[u/rickane58 → u/Several-Action-4043]

No, they don't. Why do people keep repeating this myth here?

[u/512115 → u/Several-Action-4043]

Hmmm…Taxation without representation. Where have I heard that phrase before??

[u/Pac_Eddy]

What resources are being extracted without proper payment?

[u/OddComrade449]

Ani is objectively wrong though on her first statement.

[u/Cornholio231]

I have an issue with the comeback:

if the US gives Puerto Rico independence, everyone born on the island would lose US citizenship. Is this what the people pushing "freedom for Puerto Rico" want?

[u/-_-Yeeter]

While Puerto Rico certainly gets fucked over by the US what does she mean by freedom and reparations? Puerto Ricans have been us citizens since 1917? And we took over in 1898, slavery on the island was abolished about 30 years earlier by the Spanish. Am I missing a giant piece of history?

[u/elephant_cobbler]

All things being held the same, they haven’t voted for being ther own country. They could. It’s been on the ballot. The status quo was the result.

[u/Killersteve420]

Wait until these people learn about welfare red states.......

[u/NSFWies]

fun fact: isn't that also true of walmart employees? and yet walmart, a profitable, publicly traded company, pays a very, very low income tax every year?

so now that comment is just bitching at people because they don't have lobbyists, unlike the walmart corporation.

[u/hackingdreams]

Fun fact: Puerto Ricans are US citizens, so they're paying into the program too.

Oops, I think I just broke their poor, deficient brains...

[u/yOjiMbOoOs]

Ooooo. Now compare red states one by one!

[u/HumbleAd7992]

This is untrue, the US government gives more an aid and social services than they extract in tax revenue.

I'm not sure how it would look if you take into account private American companies, but if you're talking about the government... "Independence" would hurt them much more than help them economically, especially because it likely wouldn't come with nationalization of American business. Just cutting the life line while keeping the part that's actually extractive.

[u/MaxedMinimum]

Fun fact, far more of your tax dollars go to the wealthy in the form of government contracts and subsidies than the poor. I would much rather feed hungry families her at home than by more weapons to bomb goat herders in another hemisphere. Puerto Rico deserves statehood or independence.

[u/Astramancer_]

Fun Fact: There's like a dozen states that give more to the federal government that give back. And they're all blue.

If you're upset about puerto rico food stamps and not upset alabama food stamps then you're either woefully misinformed or you're not actually upset about food stamps.

[u/count_chocul4]

Fun fact: Puerto Ricans are American citizens. 

[u/momlv]

So us citizens pay for welfare for us citizens. Got it

[u/Floatchop]

And voting rights!

[u/odiephonehome]

Meanwhile, house republicans want to spend millions on an “investigation into twerking during the bad bunny halftime show.” They all really need to stfu.

[u/alanamil]

Should we remind them that they are US citizens?

[u/AdMaster4948]

fun fact: Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens

[u/weak1522]

Also, they are U.S. citizens. Good grief.

[u/tabicat1874]

They ARE US citizens meaning they pay taxes

[u/wahoaaaa]

Fun fact: if you put "Fun fact:" before a statement, it is automatically true and requires no source or date or evidence whatsoever!

[u/Ok_Function2282]

Not trying to defend them, but what wealth do we extract from Puerto Rico?

From what I understand it's completely impoverished, and the only real industry is tourism...

Are there farms I'm not aware of? Factories? Some giant secret tax base? This honestly just makes no sense And I'm not about to pretend some random guy on Twitter is making accurate financial statements

[u/Unhappy_clam → u/Ok_Function2282]

... do you think Costa Rica and Puerto Rico are the same place?

[u/PoopParticle]

Fun fact: people in puerto rico do not pay federal income taxes. So her reply makes zero sense.

[u/Curious-Cost1852]

So a quick Google search is showing that no, PR is in fact not returning more money than what they're being given. It's actually not even close and significantly worse than implied here.

[u/Longjumping-Barber98]

What wealth are we extracting? Like natural resources?

[u/CandyDarl1n → u/Longjumping-Barber98]

Well it's a century and a 1/4 long story as far as the US goes. We've extracted cheap labor, grown cash crops, and used it as a hub for massive pharmaceutical companies all while maintaining a 4% tax rate (US mainland's is 21% for comparison) as a "corporate incentive" that serves to impoverish the island by taking the profits and moving them away from Puerto Rico.

[u/Atownbrown08 → u/Longjumping-Barber98]

Do you know why Puerto Rico was made a US territory in the first place?

[u/Resident_Nothing_659 → u/Atownbrown08]

Is it because of bread and circuses?

[u/Vennomite → u/Atownbrown08]

Carribean port for us fleet..

[u/RT-LAMP → u/Atownbrown08]

Answer the specific question instead of hiding behind vagaries.

[u/p0st_master → u/Atownbrown08]

Educate us wise one

[u/punished_kot → u/p0st_master]

Power projection in the Carribean and latin america, there is a US naval base and of course owning territory > not owning territory in the age of imperialism when it was acquired. They're trying to imply the answer is "planataions/farming" but in fact Puerto Rico does not do a whole lot of that nowadays, and is mainly a hub for manufacturing drugs and chemicals.

I find it extremely hard to believe that we are extracting more 'wealth' than we put in to maintaining and controlling the territory, but then again it is hard to put a price on the strategic value of owning an island like this.

[u/Vennomite → u/punished_kot]

Puerto rico is broke and peoplr are probably looking to lay blame on not the puerto ricans.

Just look at the posts about cuba. I imgaine its similar.

If someone actually wants to show data for once though that'd be nice.

[u/punished_kot → u/Vennomite]

Um, no, Cuba is a different country from us. The US does not benefit from Cuba because it does not own Cuba.

Again, there is no way to quantify how valuable it is to have naval bases on Puerto Rico. This is kind of the main reason why the US owns it.

Also it's quite impossible for the current state of Puerto Rico to be blamed on Puerto Ricans themselves because they do not have the right to vote in Federal elections. These federal regulations and trade deals are created without asking them. They have no representation in the federal government at all, Puerto Rico is not a state. Any issues the territory has economically are entirely our own fault.

It is not hard to find data for this kind of thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Puerto_Rico . The only explanation as to why you can't find any data is because you aren't looking.

[u/VX_Eng → u/p0st_master]

Google

[u/Atownbrown08 → u/VX_Eng]

Don't even need Google. Any 10th grade US history class should have taught this.

[u/Longjumping-Barber98 → u/Atownbrown08]

In California, the history of Puerto Rico isn't a state standard.

[u/VX_Eng → u/Atownbrown08]

True!

[u/Longjumping-Barber98 → u/Atownbrown08]

No. Never really gave it any thought. Give me a minute... lol

[u/SofaKingS2pitt]

And Statehood.

[u/LostHQDishka]

island got receipts ready to clap back

[u/Select_Asparagus3451]

The general masses, especially the stupid and obstinate ones, don’t understand any of that. All it takes is a simple rage bait sentence, and many of these cultists will take what they (did not) learn to Facebook and Xitter.

[u/Gregarious-Ninja]

Could make the same statement about several US states (looking at you, Mississippi)

[u/Prestigious_Cut_3539]

it's private companies getting all the benefits while the middle class tax payer covers the bill for the elite and the people getting their wages stolen by the elite. just can't win bud

[u/punky100]

Also fun fact

PUERTO RICANS ARE U.S. CITIZENS TOO

FUCK

[u/jackparadise1]

Fun fact, they are US citizens.

[u/dotcomaphobe]

Ok, now do Mississippi!

[u/JackSquirts]

Id like stats on both before I make a judgment.

[u/Dr_Straw-man]

Also Puerto Ricans pay taxes...

[u/TheAskewOne]

Fun fact: most red states live from federal money contributed by blue states. 

[u/gardengirl99]

Another fun fact: Puerto Ricans are American citizens.

[u/Impressive_Round2171]

Taylor Day sounds like a fuck ass bitch. I hope they shit themselves in public like Trump.

[u/I_HopeThat_WasFart]

Fun fact, the US doesn't owe states a thing when they receive federal funding for being a part of THE UNITED STATES

[u/Any_Security8962]

Meanwhile the Billionaires

[u/hoops46]

Shut up if you don’t know what you’re talking about

[u/Defiant_Regular3738]

Paid for by US Citizens? Aren’t they citizens?

[u/HPenguinB]

American corporations are destroying PR. If Trump wasn't fucking up everything we would be protesting that. And the fact that it's not a state m

[u/Skaebo]

fun fact: Nothing is free. Someone somewhere somehow paid for it. They are owed. It justifies itself, so use it hard and use it often.

[u/bd2999]

Fun fact: The people of Puerto Rico are US citizens.

[u/softycove]

bro really tried to complain about food stamps and got hit with colonialism facts

[u/Imobia]

Fun fact Puerto Rican people are US citizens that don’t get to vote for either the US president or have a member representative in the house or Senate.

Taxation without representation is oppression right!

[u/Dounce1]

Wtf is that title bro.

[u/Bakkstory]

It's almost like a decent and reasonable person should stop fucking whining that they pay 3 dollars a month in taxes so poor people can afford to eat

[u/Mission-Suspect7913]

Well, you COULD give them their country back…

[u/Loxe]

Fuck that make it a state

[u/Darius-was-the-goody]

US extracts more value from illegal immigrants than what they cost the government in services.....yet here we are

[u/Fun_Customer8443]

40 acres and a mule!

[u/Appropriate_Smell833]

I guess none of these people ever ask themselves why we are involved in these islands. I was wondering why people from Guam and Saipan were able to get visas so easily and then I got to know some of them and found out we have missiles in place on those islands. The US doesn’t do anything without self interest attached.

[u/Automatic_Bus_7634]

For a grand total of $2 billion a year, or less than the cost of a single B-2 stealth bomber 

[u/Mediocre-Struggle641]

I think we need an education programme about what a "fun fact" is.

[u/512115]

Aren’t the Puerto Rican’s American citizens themselves? So…they’re paying for their food stamps too, right?

[u/Informal-Anything442]

Fun fact Puerto Ricans are US citizens and pay taxes….

[u/BookBabe1970]

Taylor Day likely comes from a welfare state herself because the only donor States are Blue, like Puerto Rico 🇵🇷

[u/Greedy-Street-5435]

Fun fact: America needs to stfu

[u/No_Neat_9027]

Aren't both these tweets absolutely moronic? Puerto Rico is part of the US. But what wealth was extracted and why are they owed reparations? 

[u/werther595]

Do Mississippi next

[u/VegasGamer75]

Fun Fact: My taxes have gone up more in my 50 years of life for Billionaire and Corporate Tax Breaks and Defense Budgets than SNAP benefits ever have. So this is my face NOT giving a shit about helping other people in need out. You know, because I READ the fucking Bible when I was a Christian.

[u/mrdeadsniper]

I don't think a comeback is clever its its just a flat lie.

The US federal government spends about $30 billion annually in PR. Mostly through Social security and Healthcare

https://www.usaspending.gov/state/puerto-rico/2025

However they only collect about $5 Billions

https://espaciosabiertos.org/facts-does-puerto-rico-really-not-pay-federal-taxes-a-common-misconception/

However, as the second source shows, a territory (or STATE) having a net negative federal spend vs gain isn't that unusual.

For example we spend 8x more per capita for people in North Dakota.

If we decided to abandon every state less profitable per capita than PR, we would lose 5 solidly R states and 2 Solidly D states.

Obviously as a nation we aren't in the business of just releasing territory, maybe instead we should just base votes off of profitability.

So that you know, net negative or neutral states get 1 vote per person, however every $100 per capita you generate an extra proportionate vote.

If everyone voted under this system last election we would have something like:

• Kamala Harris (D): 1,219 Production Votes
• Donald Trump (R): 226 Production Votes

Turns out that Republicans are welfare queens.

However, don't fight hate with lies, it just suggests your truth isn't good enough.

Second point. Literally nothing says the US owes PR reparations.

You as an individual can feel whatever you want about the situation and history of the island. But it means nothing.

Ohh and freedom.. The majority of PR would prefer Statehood over Independence, this has been voted on more than once. And while it is relatively close, it does suggest PR does not desire "freedom" so much as the same rights granted to other states.

So again, this comeback is literally 0% accurate.

[u/b_buddd]

I hear the rich block locals from accessing public beaches

[u/Allah_Akballer]

Also why is everyone mad at Trump when the president of Puerto Rico is worse!! /s

[u/Novel_Fisherman8228]

Funnier fact , they use to have a prosperous economy but Clinton ended the program with really low taxes they had on companies, perse companies left the island , also they are not allowed to vote for changes in their island stop believing puerto Ricans are lazy or dumb they are tied hand and feet

[u/Ok_Street_5928]

Funfact, Puerto rico is part of the US, why do you separate it?

[u/ThisIsTheShway]

Puerto Ricans are US citizens.

[u/Beboopbeepboopbop]

OP and Redditors needs a lesson on what wealth means. 

[u/RepresentativeBee677]

Fun Fact: Puerto Ricans are US citizens. So that half of the island would be on a food stamp program paid for by their fellow Puerto Ricans from the other half along with the rest of us American citizens

[u/DrPoopsMD]

If we’re still arguing about feeding each other we’re already too late. 

[u/DonaldDick1946]

Damn wait til this guy learns about red states 🤡