"STATEHOOD ALONE OFFERS PUERTO RICO THE ECONOMIC MIRACLE COMMONWEALTH HAS FAILED TO DELIVER"

Ivar Pietri makes a compelling case for the economic benefits of statehood on the hearings for H.R. 856

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STATEMENT OF MR IVAR A. PIETRI

PRIVATE CITIZEN, BEFORE THE

COMMITEE ON RESOURCES

U S HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 19, 1997

 

Chairman Young, Members of the Committee, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Ivar Pietri. I appear before you as a private citizen that has for twenty-five years been a close analyst of the economy of Puerto Rico. For fifteen years I served as an investment banker based in San Juan with a major international firm, and I helped raise over twenty billion dollars in bond issues for borrowers in Puerto Rico. I am here to share with the Committee my insights into the economy of Puerto Rico as it relates to the political status issue. I am submitting for the record a more detailed presentation with economic charts.

 

I want to preface my comments by stating for the record that I am proud to be a U.S. citizen and that I believe that the United States of America, our country, is the greatest in the history of mankind. I want to insure that U.S. citizenship for myself and for my four children. I want full rights as a citizen, and I am most willing to assume all the responsibilities. I believe firmly that the only way to attain that goal is for Puerto Rico to be admitted as the fifty-first state.

 

Mr. Chairman, Puerto Rico is not and has never been an economic miracle. The economy of Puerto Rico has completely stagnated for twenty-five years. For decades, the local administrations led by Commonwealth advocates purposely and irresponsibly pursued a one-dimensional development strategy, neglecting other initiatives and policies in order to foster dependency on Section 936 to sustain their political goals.

 

As we know, there are many conflicting views about the economic impact of statehood: 936 and U.S. taxes have been the center of the economic arguments against statehood. There have been several studies that supposedly analyze the economic viability of statehood for Puerto Rico. However, they all share the same critical flaw: they are static analyses that superimpose the U.S. tax system on our economy and remove section 936, and assume that nothing else changes. That is not statehood. That is Commonwealth with U.S. taxes and without 936. Obviously, that would be negative. But these studies completely ignore the most important benefits of statehood: full integration into the U.S. economy, political power, credibility, permanence and broad comprehension around the world of what it is.

 

The benefits of statehood are definitely tangible and concrete, and they will have an extremely positive economic impact. Historically, territories have had a lower economic level than the states. Upon admission into the Union and full integration into the U.S. economy, they experienced accelerated growth that allowed them to converge with the national economy. Mr. Chairman, statehood is a pre-condition to Puerto Rico's economic growth, not vice versa. The opponents of statehood have used the notion that pre-development must come before Puerto Rico is ready for statehood to distort the historical fact that statehood leads to dramatic growth. It is easy to use faulty analysis to pretend that you can prove that statehood would ruin our economy and would be more costly to the U.S than tile other options.

 

To believe such flawed analysis defies logic and turns a blind eye to certain key facts:

 

  • Why have the other 50 states been so successful, especially Alaska and Hawaii, the most recent states? And why can#t Puerto Rico also enjoy such success as part of the greatest and most prosperous on Earth? After all, let us not forget that at the turn of the century the U.S. had five great off shore territories. Alaska and Hawaii became states and have prospered. Cuba and the Philippines chose independence and we all know how much they have prospered. Puerto Rico is still a territory, and has mucked along this entire century, showing potential that will never be fulfilled until we become a state.

 

  • To believe that we cannot achieve more progress as a full partner in the nation is to have a very cynical view of what it means to be part of this great nation. It also takes a dim view of our capabilities as Puerto Ricans to compete in the global economy and contribute to our Nation. This is the same view that held that the People of Puerto Rico are welfare basket cases and would all migrate to the mainland to go on welfare if the Congress made changes to section 936. The enemies of statehood put our own people down to confuse us, to confuse the Congress and the Nation about the potential of Puerto Rico as a state. I say unequivocally to this Committee, if the People of Puerto Rico were welfare hounds, we would have moved to the mainland a long time ago. Those of us that moved in the past did so in search of opportunity, not welfare. Mr. Chairman, the People of Puerto Rico are industrious, hard working and devoted to family. Those that rely on welfare do so only because fire present political status has not provided them the opportunities they aspire to.

 

Puerto Rico has many competitive advantages. Only as a state can the potential of these advantages be maximized. As a state we can truly become the Economic Crossroads of fire Americas.

 

Before I close, I would like to urge the Committee not to listen to the siren calls of those who insist on a level playing field between the alternative forms of status. The playing field can never be level. Each status alternative is inherently different. What the advocates of the level playing field want is to confuse the people of Puerto Rico into believing that the benefits of statehood are available under the other status options. Mr. Chairman as we all know, this is not the case. There is no subset for statehood. The opponents of statehood have used the level playing field concept to confuse our People. To have the benefits of statehood without the responsibilities would not only be unfair to all the other citizens of the Nation, but in some aspects may be unconstitutional. No matter how many of those benefits Congress would concede them, no one could ever provide them with the most important ones of all: full integration into the U.S. economy stability, permanence and the political power of statehood. I urge the Committee not to accept definition changes to the status alternatives that could lead to re-creating the fiasco of the 1993 plebiscite.

 

I strongly urge Congress to pass H.R. 856. Thank you very much.

 

See Related Articles:

H.R. 856 Hearing, April 19, 1997, San Juan, PR

Mr. Ivar Pietri, Full Testimony

Mr. Ivar Pietri, Oral Summary of Testimony

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