Puerto Rico is not a country, and it is not the United States. It is an American economic colony, one of the last remaining bastions of US economic imperialism.

To understand PR you have to keep a few geographical realities in mind. First, it is small, about 30x100 miles, and most of its terrain (although breathtakingly beautiful) is covered by steep hills and scrubland, unsuitable for settlement or agriculture. It is a countryside of small isolated towns and villages, barely connected by a network of bad roads through rough country, and a few sprawling, overcrowded cities where most of the population lives.

Second, it is highly overpopulated. In spite of substantial emigration over the last century, over 3 1/2 million people live there. Third, the country has not been blessed with too many natural resources and what little agriculture is possible has been taken over by export cash crops (pineapples, sugar cane, coffee) owned by foreign landlords. The country cannot feed itself, much less support an economy capable of growth and development.

The only true sources of income available to the island are its natural beauty, which supports a tourist trade (also mostly owned and controlled by foreign interests) and an abundance of cheap labor, which is exploited by American labor-intensive industries (such as Big Pharma). The American taxpayer makes up the difference, by pouring in millions of dollars every day to maintain the population with welfare payments, Medicaid and food stamps.

The people, in return, spend these dollars by buying from US companies everything they need to live, not to mention all the consumer goods that modern marketing can convince them they can't live without. And do not forget, PR is an island, so all goods coming in must be carried on American flag ships (by law), the most expensive shippers in the world.

In essence, Puerto Rico is an immense machine for converting taxpayer dollars into corporate profits. American tax money going into the island provides just enough infrastructure to keep our companies in business and just enough welfare for the labor force to
hang on until they can score the next underpaid job at some US company.

I'm no Eric Blair, but I lived in PR for a year, working in what I now see as part of America's once-vast Colonial Administration. It was long enough to complete my political education.