US Political Action Alert: Puerto Rico's Debt Crisis

[beatrice_otter]

As you may know, Puerto Rico is facing a huge debt crisis that has triggered an even bigger humanitarian crisis.  This crisis has come from two parts: first, the US's really screwy laws about Puerto Rico, with all kinds of weird and arcane loopholes just begging for exploitation by the unscrupulous, and second, Puerto Rico's government's own mismanagement, taking advantage of parts of those loopholes without looking at the longterm costs.  These two factors have left Puerto Rico in a really terrible situation, deep in debt with vulture funds demanding payment before social services like schools and hospitals are paid for.

Here's what you can do:
Congress votes tomorrow on legislation that will close some of the loopholes so that basic services like schools and hospitals get covered before debt payments, and also add some protection for children living in poverty.  It's not a perfect bill, but it is vastly better than the current situation.  You can email your representative asking them to vote for it, and Jubilee USA Network has a handy-dandy widget to help you do just that.

Archbishop Nieves (the Roman Catholic archbishop of Puerto Rico) weighs in on the issue, if you would like to know more.

Comments

[saturnofthemoon]

Would it be okay if I linked to this?

[beatrice_otter]

You can link to anything that isn't locked.