Economist Joseph Stiglitz, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001, was the keynote speaker at the Public Growth Policy Summit convened by the Center for a New Economy in San Juan on December 3. In his remarks, Stiglitz expressed concern that the actions of the PROMESA Fiscal Oversight and Management Board were not… Read more »

A PBS program for children, Alma’s Way, represents the Puerto Rican community of the Bronx. Natalia Quintana-Feliciano of PBS says, “There’s so much power in children seeing themselves on-screen. In celebrating what makes them unique, they have the opportunity to think of themselves as the main character of their own story. Not as a background… Read more »

Many U.S.corporations, and wealthy individuals as well, see Puerto Rico as a tax haven.  In 2019, the IRS reported to Congress on 166 individuals who had moved to Puerto Rico and once there, paid no income tax. Five years before relocation, these individuals had paid a total of $252,300,000 in income taxes. A resident of… Read more »

The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Steny Hoyer (D-MD), said that he hopes Congress will produce a decision on Puerto Rico’s political status in the new year. “I think we should have a relationship with Puerto Rico that makes them equal citizens, with equal status,” he told El Nuevo Dia, reiterating that he wanted… Read more »

Governor Pierluisi announced that the Puerto Rico Convention Center District Authority would be working with private companies to develop Bahia Urbana, a dockyard in Old San Juan. With $118 million in private funding, the project would create a new entertainment district with an amphitheater, bars, restaurants, a market targeted towards tourists, an urban forest (a… Read more »

In 2012, President Obama initiated the DACA program to shield people brought to the United States unlawfully as children from deportation. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act providing a path to citizenship for these people had failed in Congress. Obama used an executive order to bypass Congress. In 2017, President Trump… Read more »

Puerto Rico voters have rejected the current territorial status and voted in favor of statehood. Congress is expected to consider the question of Puerto Rico’s status soon. However, there is still an anti-statehood faction not only in Puerto Rico, but also in Congress. Anti-statehood activists often claim that U.S. citizenship will be “permanent and irreversible”… Read more »

The Office of Nuclear Energy’s US Industry Opportunities for Advanced Nuclear Technology Development project has awarded $1,628,285 for nuclear energy development in Puerto Rico. The funds will go toward a site suitability study examining the prospect of two possible locations for small nuclear reactors in Puerto Rico. The Nuclear Alternative Project has identified two locations that… Read more »

The Build Back Better Act has passed the House and gone to the Senate, where negotiations will continue for a possible vote before Christmas. In an explainer at Medium.com, the House Natural Resources Committee Democrats said, “The much-needed investments we’re making as part of the Build Back Better Act will create a stronger, more sustainable… Read more »