In their rush to paint President Trump in the worst possible light, the mainstream media cabal conveniently forgot to mention that when the hurricane made landfall on September 20th, Puerto Rico was already an accident waiting to happen. Unfortunately, like so many of our ailing cities – run by Democrats for decades – it was a victim of irresponsible progressive policies long before it was a victim of Maria.
 

As I blogged about two years ago, the island’s economy was in dire straits then ~

With the financial world transfixed by Greece’s debt-driven meltdown, Puerto Rico announces it can’t pay its $73 billion in debt. Once again, we’re learning that welfare statism is no replacement for fiscal responsibility […]
 
… a report on Monday, co-authored by former International Monetary Fund No. 2 Anne Krueger, revealed the island’s finances are a shambles.
 
The devastating analysis noted that some 150 agencies ran up deficits that couldn’t even be accurately counted, so the true indebtedness might be even higher — as much as $100 billion by some estimates.
 
The government has funneled public money to state-owned enterprises that are supposed to be financially independent. Worse, the report said, many workers no longer even look for jobs, since welfare benefits pay more than actual work.

 
A year and a half ago, even the New York Times had to admit ~ How Free Electricity Helped Dig $9 Billion Hole in Puerto Rico ~

In fact, the (island’s power authority, Prepa) has been giving free power to all 78 of Puerto Rico’s municipalities, to many of its government-owned enterprises, even to some for-profit businesses — although not to its citizens. It has done so for decades, even as it has sunk deeper and deeper in debt, borrowing billions just to stay afloat.
 
Now, however, the island’s government is running out of cash, facing a total debt of $72 billion and already defaulting on some bonds — and an effort is underway to limit the free electricity, which is estimated to cost the power authority hundreds of millions of dollars […]
 
In 2014 a consulting firm found the cities had received $420 million worth of free electricity that they should have paid for […]
 
Nor was it just towns and cities. The consulting firm FTI Capital Advisors found that 288 governmental bodies on the island were delinquent in their power payments by $300 million. Among them were public schools, hospitals, low-income housing projects, a commuter train, the island’s water and sewerage system, and its highway authority, which operates traffic signals, toll plazas and highway lighting.
 
If the power authority were to demand immediate payment from them, it could set off a domino effect of defaults and insolvencies.

 
Yet another progressive utopian idea gone awry ~

The free power dates from 1941, when the utility was established by Rexford Tugwell, a member of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s brain trust and the last American governor of Puerto Rico to be appointed by the president of the United States. He contended that for electricity to benefit the people, it had to be owned by the people, and he created Prepa by nationalizing the handful of private electric companies then on the island.

 
 
And we can see how well that’s worked out. The NYT piece barely touches on another consequence of this misguided policy, the island’s antiquated electrical grid. Pretty much broke, Prepa certainly hasn’t been able to afford necessary updates over the last several decades ~

Puerto Rico’s ancient and inefficient power plants, (are) among the last in North America to burn oil.

 
Furthermore, as Jorge Rodriguez, the CEO of PACIV, a Puerto Rico-based engineering firm, explained in a New York Post editorial ~

(F)or the last 30 years, the Puerto Rican government has been completely inept at handling regular societal needs, so I just don’t see it functioning in a crisis like this one.”
 
“Even before the hurricane hit, water and power systems were already broken. And our $118 billion debt crisis is a result of government corruption and mismanagement.”

 
Fox News continues ~

Rodriguez’s criticism follows that of many experts and members of Congress, who note that Puerto Rico was mired in financial chaos well before Hurricane Maria. Puerto Rico was facing a $74 billion public debt load and a decade-old economic recession – sending hundreds of thousands of islanders fleeing to the U.S. mainland.

I stayed in San Juan. I also spent days with the most powerful attorney on the island. The corruption is why there is no infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/7mUr4pZZqp

— Brenden Dilley (@Hublife) September 30, 2017

So take an island of 3.6 million, with its economy in a shambles, its infrastructure crumbling, its people conditioned to dependence on the government, and a massive hurricane named Maria headed directly for it… disaster was inevitable ~

General overseeing Puerto Rico relief: ‘This is the worst I’ve ever seen’ ~
 
“Sometimes we don’t know what’s going to happen until the storm actually hits,” Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan said in an interview published on Saturday with PBS NewsHour’s Monica Villamizar. “And this is the worst I’ve ever seen.”[…]
 
Now, he said, Puerto Rico is having the biggest problems in the interior of the island […]
 
“But we obviously need to get all the roads cleared so we can get supplies to people who desperately need them.”

But of course the mainstreams ignore the extent of the damage and the preexisting issues when spinning their Puerto Rican narratives. Even worse, they accuse the Trump administration abandoning the beleaguered island. More fake news.
 
 
Why has San Juan’s mayor, Carmen Yulín Cruz, almost exclusively been the anti-Trump media’s go-to source for up-dates? Because she’s a far-left politician, and one the few people on the island who’s in denial about the relief aid that been delivered ~

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló Praises Trump’s Swift Hurricane Response ~
 
“The president and the administration, every time we’ve asked them to execute, they’ve executed quickly,” Rosselló told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo in an interview on Friday morning.
 
The governor said that aid was currently being distributed around the island and that it would be more effective as more personnel arrived.

 
More truth emerges ~ San Juan Mayor Admits She Hasn’t Met With Federal Officials At Joint Field Office Over Hurricane Relief Efforts ~

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, a Democrat, went on a tirade on Saturday, accusing President Trump of allowing Puerto Ricans to die because he just doesn’t care.
 
But now it turns out Cruz is not in the loop and hasn’t even bothered to participate in meetings with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or other federal agencies.

Oh. That kind of changes the picture doesn’t it? But don’t hold your breath waiting for the media to retract any of their slanted coverage. They don’t want the sheeple to catch on to the repetitive, unavoidable failures of progressive policies. Too much truth and we might figure out that any government entity run by leftists will inevitably be run into the ground. Disaster will strike. And then, sure as day follows night, their incompetent leaders will start blaming the nearest conservative while at the same time screeching at them for help.
 

It’s the same old story, the Grasshopper and the Ants.

 
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Related:
Praying for Puerto Rico

CNN Caught Using Fake News to Turn Puerto Rico into Trump’s ‘Katrina’
Puerto Rico’s Governor Dismantles Media Attacks on Trump’s Response to Hurricane Irma
Media creates a storm over Puerto Rico recovery
Trump: Say, that San Juan mayor has “come back a long way,” huh?
Puerto Rican CEO: Local government ‘corrupt’ and ‘totally inexperienced’ in Maria cleanup ~

Rodriguez also had a word of caution for the U.S. Congress: “Watch out what relief funds you approve and let our local government handle. Don’t let the Puerto Rican government play the victim and fool you. They have no clue what they are doing, and I worry that they will mishandle anything that comes their way.”
 
“They don’t need another aircraft carrier. They need experienced people to run a proper disaster command center.”