Can the United States Afford Statehood for Puerto Rico?
“Here, you would never suspect that this island receives 72 times more food stamps than Mississippi, eight times more than New York.” Pete Hamill, New York Post, July 16, 1989 Puerto Rico is a land of beautiful beaches and dire poverty. Puerto Rico’s former Governor, Rafael Hernandez Colon, reminded readers of the New York Times in 1990 that many Puerto Ricans are quite poor, despite being exempt from all federal income taxes: This has enabled Puerto Rico to undertake a highly successful economic development program, which has raised its per capita income from $342 in 1950 to $5,574 in 1989. Still that is less than half that of Mississippi, the poorest state. Our unemployment rate is now about 14%. [Emphasis added.] Put another way by the Washington Post on December 27, 1990, fully 60% of the residents in the proposed state of Puerto Rico live “in what the federal government classifies as poverty.” Columnist Patrick Buchanan noted in February, 1990, that “40% of the people on the islan
