Comments on: Fortuño Appears on FOX’s STOSSEL and Presents a Bizarro Puerto Rico Full of Public Relations Fluff

By: VitaminSea

VitaminSea — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 14:52:25 +0000

Hi. The convo with Bruce and Julito is pretty funny. I was looking for information about Luis Fortuno. I just wanted unbiased, unemotional info on the man and his performance as governor. Anyway, that’s how I came across this thread.

Bruce, I don’t think you are going to get the answer you are looking for from Julito. I think he just throws out vague comments, hoping someone will just agree with him and not question him. Haha.

I hate to say Puerto Rico is a lost cause but ignorance is so rampant. It is very hard to get through to a bulk of Puerto Ricans (like your average Julito’s), ya know? I think making education “bi lingual” is a good step toward shrinking the ignorance. Languages are a wonderful tool for learning and education. Maybe if instead of making people learn just English, the school system could offer lots of languages and let kids choose, since they are so “scared” that learning just English is going to ruin their culture. Having the choice among several languages to choose from could be less intimidating for the public, maybe even more interesting and perhaps could even lead to opportunities to introduce on the island a more international market. Languages and logic. That’s all schools should teach because that is what is really lacking. I just don’t see the possibility for improvement unless people become educated. Too many Julito’s in Puerto Rico.

This hesitance and fear about ruining the “culture” is keeping the “culture” brain dead…holding on to dear life to something that sucks. Whenever I go to Puerto Rico I feel like I hopped on a time machine back to the Jurassic Period. It is so backwards over there. It’s really fun to visit but it’s definitely not for me. I need intellectuality, integrity and I need to feel safe in the society I live in. You seem like a reasonable man Bruce…how can you take it?

By: Bruce R. Harris

Bruce R. Harris — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:29:14 +0000

This coming from a guy who lives in Boston. Put your money where your mouth is and move down here and see just how far your career goes. I experienced first hand how limited Puerto Rico is on tech savy people. I lost a good job here because the company could find enough qualified aircraft mechanics here on the island so they shut down operations prematurely and left the island.

And I’m still waiting on an answer regarding your “new political system”. I’m beginning to think you are all fluff and no stuff Julito. You are just a dreamer with no substance just like so many politicians you complain about.

By: Julito Varela

Julito Varela — Mon, 21 May 2012 20:08:38 +0000

Your pessimism is unbecoming, my friend.

And Puerto Rico has more tech talent on the island right now that you think. Their creativity needs to be developed.

By: Bruce R. Harris

Bruce R. Harris — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:34:07 +0000

A new political system? Some specifics would be nice. Do you think you might be biting off a bit more than Puerto Rico can chew? To get to running we must first start to crawl, then walk and then run. Right now Puerto Rico is in the crawl phase. There is a ways to go before PR becomes a Silicon Valley. I know you are proud of your island but let’s face it, there aren’t a whole lot of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs here. Your ideas need a serious plan. Pride and bravado just isn’t enough.

By: Julito Varela

Julito Varela — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:01:14 +0000

I am for transparency and for truth in politics. I want a new political system in Puerto Rico that goes beyond the failed policies of the last 60 years. Fortuño should be credited for more rigorous English instruction in public schools, and the PPD and PIP are out of touch with this reality, but at the same time, Fortuño is at fault for biting more off than he can chew. As for Puerto Rico become a bilingual and bicultural Silcon Valley, that is what we should be doing. Creating an environment for tech companies to see Puerto Rica as an option, but when you labor force is shrinking, talent flees the island, and island politicians play the partisan game, I doubt it will ever happen.

By: Bruce R. Harris

Bruce R. Harris — Sun, 20 May 2012 23:42:44 +0000

Initially the Governor cut 30,000 jobs when he took office. I have a friend who’s girlfriend lost her job. So now he has to hire back some employees because his attempt to expand private industry did not go as planned. I’m sure it killed him to admit his planned failed, but hiring government employees was necessary to keep money flowing into the economy.

As for a partisan thing Julito, I am only trying to figure out what exactly it is you stand for. Fortuno recently said he would like to see English pushed hard in schools. I think that is a positive step forward to help companies bring technically challenged, good paying jobs to PR instead of fast food chains, clothing stores like Victoria’s Secrets among a few unskilled occupations.

What I don’t fully understand “is a technological bilingual and bicultural hub
for the world”. Maybe you can explain this a bit more.

Hey, I’m not lookng for a fight here Julito, just trying to better understand my environment. I hear a lot of confusing and conflicting beliefs here. I hear a Republican mayor (PR) tell me personally that congress does not understand the Puerto Rican culture. To hear a statehooder make this statement truly baffles me. I expect to hear this from a commonwealther or and independenitista. Now I hear the Governor pushing for bilingualism. Not just having a strong English course taught in schools but have all courses taught in English. Sounds like one extreme to the other. If Puerto Ricans can’t decide on where they stand then how is congress suppose to know?! If it is so much more complex than I can imagine, it is only because the politicians and the people make it so.

By: Julito Varela

Julito Varela — Sun, 20 May 2012 21:53:53 +0000

Bruce, you miss the whole point and that is okay. I “whine” because the Governor is not being honest, simple as that. He is manipulating message to win an election. You can’t have it both ways: you can’t say, LONG LIVE SMALL GOV’T IN ONE BREATH and then hire more public employees to look better this year. He is being anointed as the “small gov’t” wonder boy when in fact he bit off more than he can chew. Your mistake, Bruce, my friend, is that you try to make this a partisan thing, when in fact, it is so much more complex. The biggest problem with Puerto Rico is its current political system. It plays off status and US dependency to keep the island from prospering. The current system does not work and the Governor has done nothing to improve upon this system. What Puerto Rico can become is a technological bilingual and bicultural hub for the world, with its talent and its people, but we don’t do anything. I still have hope and I still believe the right votes will happen in November, but while my hope says one thing, political reality says another.

By: Bruce R. Harris

Bruce R. Harris — Sun, 20 May 2012 21:31:37 +0000

You say I am defending politicians? I just told you why politicians are not taking the hard road. They want to keep their jobs like everyone else. If the voters are pressuring them to do the right thing then they will not. I hear you whine when Fortuno cuts government jobs, then you whine when you find out he is now hiring more government employees. So tell me, what is it you want from him? If his attempts to cut government spending create more private industry did not go as planned, then he would need to backtrack and hire government employees to get more money into the economy before it completely shuts down.

As for specifics, what exactly to you mean when you say:
1. Don’t lie. Don’t lie about what?
2. Exactly what games have politicians been playing for the past 50 years?
3. Help out a bit here! Provide some ideas. You’re a Harvard grad. Use your noodle.
4. Now this one surprised me coming from you. What happened to “not our culture”?
5. What do you mean by “pharma”?

What else do I want to know? How’s the explanation of “Enhanced Commonwealth” coming along? Only 6 months left to vote.

By: Julito Varela

Julito Varela — Sun, 20 May 2012 17:44:10 +0000

You want specifics?

1. Don’t lie.
2. Don’t play the same game every politician in PR has been playing for 50 years.
3. Foster new industries besides tourism.
4. Push the bilingual-ness of the island.
5. Move beyond pharma.

What else do you want to know?

By: Julito Varela

Julito Varela — Sun, 20 May 2012 17:41:51 +0000

That is a weak answer. Don’t defend politicians. They can do better. This is all a game, in the end. Fortuño can do better, be more humble, less concerned about his personal gain.