[–] kaarno [S] 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago (edited ago)
I was thinking the same thing!
This could be a major money laundering operation being shut down. How much money through the government, aid organization, and personal aid groups (Jay-Z, Beyonce) have funneled Millions of dollars (J-LO donated 1 million herself) through PR. Where did it go?
[–] Slimpickens1 0 points 4 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago
Cut PR loose!
[–] fuckmyreddit 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago (edited ago)
Oh, I thought it was the IRS. Thanks, I'll check to see if it's both or I'll change my comment. WWG1WGA
Edit: IRS is an arm of the FED. Thank you for the info. It's hard to keep up.
Update https://theintercept.com/2018/01/10/puerto-rico-electricity-prepa-hurricane-maria/ Warehouse of hoarded electrical equipment in a warehouse. Items seized and then distributed by the Army Corp of engineers. A win for the People of PR they may get their lights back on!!
[–] pppkkppp 0 points 19 points 19 points (+19|-0) ago
This is something I actually know a little about...
The place had always been corrupt. It was so bad that all the smart young people would leave because there was no way to get ahead in life. They actually started letting young people stay there tax free because the people that stuck around just kept on average getting dumber and less motivated.
For them, hurricane clean up is business. They don't want the place to be clean because when its clean then they will stop being paid to clean it up. This attitude is top down. From the local business owners involved in cleanup to the lowest employee working for them. They passed laws that made it so hard to get ahead in life that they ran all the businesses off the island. They don't have any source of income other than to have some other country pay them to clean up their mess.
At first, almost everybody involved in the cleanup was corrupt. If you were not corrupt then you went bankrupt. nobody was paid to do actual work, but some guys were being paid to keep the scam going. Things change slowly. The US only moves on this when they can to it in a legally watertight way.
[–] kaarno [S] 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago
Thank you for the insight. It is really sad for such a beautiful place.
[–] pppkkppp 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Yeah. Quite the history too.
The original goal was to try to use the cleanup money to boost the economy. But the Local prime contractor just vacuumed up all the money he could and laundered it. That guy got the boot and now the prime contractor is an off island outfit. They still make sure all the people doing the actual work are locals though because they still want the money to go to the local economy. It's just that the local business owners couldn't manage it without being greedy. They wern't trying to build a future. They were just taking what they could while they could. Now there are a handful of sub contractors that have a reputation for treating their employees with respect and expecting actual work from them.