Teacher absenteeism is in the order of 3,000 per day in a given school year. The culture among the Puerto Rican government employees is that if you do not take your 30 sick days off within a year you will lose them. So they take them and get paid for them. There are hundreds of schools with just a handful of students but they are not closed so as not to fire teachers. I mean, how heartless could you be??Also, Atilano Cordero Badillo a well known entrepeneur in Puerto Rico and owner of a large supermarket chain was asked to study the school lunch program in Puerto Rico's public school in 1988. He stated that he could serve lobster everyday to every kid with the amount of money that was being spent on that program. The government spreads the wealth among thousands of idle employees that feel compelled to vote for the politician that got them employed. I personaly know people that have waited years to open a business waiting for a government issued permit. Something that takes weeks in some other places. I could continue but it is too depressing for me given how personal this is. After all it is my home island. Puerto Rico's political culture is one where the government is the center of the economy and the one responsible for everyones well being. Whether it can pay for it, is not relevant. The argument behind those that push for statehood is that Puerto Rico will receive billions more in federal money. Again the idea that the government is the center of the economy. The same idea is pushed by the other major party that pushes for the status quo. Puerto Rico receives billions in federal aid; why independence? The party that pushes for independence has always been a marxist one, again the idea that the government is the savior of the people. All the new parties that have cropped up in the latest round of election are controlled by openly marxists activists. There is not a single party that pushes the idea that development comes at the hand of private industry and entrepeneurs with little government intervention. Puerto Ricans would vote overwhelmingly for the Democratic Party if they could vote. Again the idea that the central government has a huge role in the well being of a country.

Hundred of thousands of Puerto Ricans have moved in the last 5 years to Florida, a swing state that could easily move Democrat because of this influx. Isn't this depressing?

Luis Perez
A born and raised Puerto Rican that just moved to Louisiana fleeing that madness; to only find it here with Bernie Sanders. This is scary!!!!

Replies: @Rafernandez