Rather than pass a bill that bears directly on ongoing negotiations between Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and its bondholders, Congress should use this opportunity to reconsider every aspect of the U.S. relationship with Puerto Rico, according to a Forbes.com commentary today. Maybe Puerto Rico should be a state, or maybe it should be completely independent of the U.S., according to the commentary, which went on to say, “They’ve sort of been in limbo for quite some time now, so let’s figure it out once and for all.” According to Carlos Colón de Armas, acting dean of the School of Business Administration at the University of Puerto Rico, “A Puerto Rican default should not surprise anyone. For eight years, from 2005 through 2012, government expenses exceeded revenues on average by approximately $1 billion annually.” As of 2014, virtually all of the Puerto Rico Government Development Bank’s (GDB) $9 billion in loans were to government enterprises, according to the commentary.
