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Puerto Rico And The United States

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White sandy sun kissed beaches, ice cold piña coladas with little umbrellas poking out the top, mingling with locals, waves crashing, and the sound of Bomba through the rows of palm trees surrounding the shorelines. This is the image that most people have of Puerto Rico and they would be right, for the most part, about this beautiful island. However, Puerto Rico which translate to “rich port” is far from the name it inhabits. The commonwealth has a $72 billion dollar debt which is causing the residents to live in poverty and the United States government is partially to blame. In addition, even through Puerto Rico has it 's own government the United States Congress has the final ruling. This is making it difficult for Puerto Rico to resolve this issue. The island and its residents that call it home are treated unfairly and the only resolution to help aid in their struggling economy and politics is to grant Puerto Rico statehood, making the island the 51st state of America.
Their declining economy was caused by the government and other agencies issuing municipal bonds. These bonds are used to build schools, highways, roads, sewer projects and among other things. Then the state (Puerto Rico) pays back a specified amount of interest and the return principal on a maturity date (“The Basics of Municioal Bonds”). Because Puerto Rico was spending more then what the island was taking in caused the island to default on an almost four-hundred million dollar payment in May, 2016

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