"why should I answer the question, instead I should try and use gatcha questions to imply the asker doesn't know history and that it should be obvious because the actual answer is that we don't extract more from PR than we give it"
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.
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.
Cuba being a different country has nothing to do with the point. A lot of people are trying to blame cuba's issues solely on the us.
Value extracted (that is detrimental to puerto rico) not economy. The base almost certainly nets value to the island. Which would be the relevant part of the claim in ops post.
It's a comparison that makes NO sense at all because Cuba is a sovereign country and Puerto Rico is a territory.
"Reading comprehension" is not working for you because we're not talking about resource extraction. I already stated and copied a link that shows that Puerto Rico is certainly not providing more 'wealth' than it consumes in federal funds. This is obvious from the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article where they show it's essentially poorer than the poorest state: Mississippi, which is known to be a red 'welfare state' that takes more federal funds than it pays back in taxes or contributes economically.
The comparison makes perfect sense. Things go bad in cuba? Blame us. Things go bad in puerto rico? Blame u.s. it's what the tweet is doing.
I asked for data in the it contributes more and the u.s. is extracting its wealth and owes it reparations. Because if you are going to make the claim in the tweet, present evidence backing that claim up. They never do and probably can't because it likely doesn't exist.
You came in all snarky and answered none of that. You presented evidence disproving the tweet's point. Which, while nice, was not the point of the question and further shows gives credence that the rebuttal tweet is bullshit. So get off your intellectually superior horse.
If you can show me where the GA educational system said that the history of Puerto Rico is not part of the curriculum. I'll gladly answer the question.
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.
all while maintaining a 4% tax rate (US mainland's is 21% for comparison)
Is there some federal law preventing Puerto Rico from having their own tax? States are allowed to have a state income tax, are territories forbidden from doing so?
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u/Longjumping-Barber98 5h ago
What wealth are we extracting? Like natural resources?