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Millennials returning to Puerto Rico, launching startups

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Re: Millennials returning to Puerto Rico, launching startups

#61

Post by pryelluw »

yardie wrote: post #35
huac wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is healthcare in PR now?

PR is a developed country in a developing country neighbourhood. Healthcare is cheaper than the US but some specialties are hard to get an appointment. The neighbours, DR Cuba, FWI, are a cheap ferry or puddle jump away. So for the common ailments, you have neighbouring islands keeping prices in check. That's a sailor's perspective on PR healthcare. Since I'm not part of their health care system I looked at it as is…

We have a type of universal healthcare but its so mismanaged that its going to blow into pieces sooner or later. Most have private insurance that is on the expensive side of things given the local economy. For example, I pay $700 a month for 3 people and its not even that great.

Re: Millennials returning to Puerto Rico, launching startups

#62

Post by bobbyi_settv »

yardie wrote: post #42
freehunter wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PR isn’t a country. It’s part of the US.

It's a territory. It has an independent government, constitution, country code, Olympic team, and elections. Functionally, it is a country.

Each of the 50 states also has a government, constitution and elections.

Re: Millennials returning to Puerto Rico, launching startups

#63

Post by skinnymuch »

0xbear wrote: post #16
nowarninglabel wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How's the internet there? I'd imagine that would be a significant barrier to productivity.

To boost productivity, wouldn't you want the internet to be really bad most of the time? Like "only good enough to read textual docs and ssh into AWS" bad.

People do different work and different things. Some people probably also get reinvogorated after watching HD video streams as a break.

Personally, I prefer fast internet and blocking sites via hosts file, extension, or an app. But I lack a certain amount of self discipline. I doubt being without fast internet for long periods of times and not wasting because of that outweighs having slow internet after the initial change of pace.

Re: Millennials returning to Puerto Rico, launching startups

#64

Post by bobbyi_settv »

booleandilemma wrote: post #53
yardie wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a territory. It has an independent government, constitution, country code, Olympic team, and elections. Functionally, it is a country.

According to Wikipedia, Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States. Also, it does not appear on Wikipedia's list of sovereign states. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states

It's not a sovereign state. If you're an American, you don't need a passport to fly there.

Re: Millennials returning to Puerto Rico, launching startups

#65

Post by EduardoBautista »

denom wrote: post #48
freehunter wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PR isn’t a country. It’s part of the US.

For that to be completely true Puerto Rico would have representation in the federal legislature. Puerto Rico has it's own Olympic team. Which is sort of a basis for considering PR as a country.

Does Puerto Rico have its own passport? Also, the UK plays as Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland in the World Cup but they aren't sovereign. So that Olympic argument doesn't mean anything.

Re: Millennials returning to Puerto Rico, launching startups

#66

Post by JBReefer »

ranrotx wrote: post #54
pavlov wrote: post #41

I'm not American, so would someone knowledgeable indulge me the obvious question: Why is Puerto Rico not a state while e.g. Hawaii is? Is it the language -- a Spanish-majority state would not get the approval from other states to join the union? Or something less obvious?

One of the things preventing Puerto Rico from becoming a state is the balance of power in the US Congress. The thinking is that a majority of the Puerto Ricans will align themselves with the Democratic Party. That would result in 2 new Democrat Senators which would upset the balance and possibly swing the senate in favor of the Democrats. There have been similar concerns going back to the 1800s as well with the Unite…

You're thinking of DC. Puerto Ricans are actually pretty conservative, there's a chance that DC will finally become a state now that PR has voted to join.

https://rightedition.com/2016/03/11/puerto-rico-rejects-gay-...

Re: Millennials returning to Puerto Rico, launching startups

#67

Post by kasey_junk »

bobbyi_settv wrote: post #64
booleandilemma wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to Wikipedia, Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States. Also, it does not appear on Wikipedia's list of sovereign states. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states

It's not a sovereign state. If you're an American, you don't need a passport to fly there.

You didn't need a passport to go to Canada until relatively recently. That's fairly orthogonal to sovereignty.

Re: Millennials returning to Puerto Rico, launching startups

#68

Post by jameslk »

javiramos wrote: post #28
jameslk wrote: post #5

> They are motivated both by an urge to help lift Puerto Rico out of its quagmire, but also by a profound attachment to the island — its beaches and countryside, its friendliness, its intimacy and the tug of family. They're probably more motivated by the complete lack of federal income tax[0]. Funny that this wasn't mentioned once in the entire article. 0. https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/07/04/hate-taxe.…

Eric and Bryan, the two founders of Lunchera featured in the article, are good friends of mine from MIT. They definitely didn't return to the island for tax reasons. Puerto Ricans are passionate about their "isla" - hard to explain to people expecting rational reasons.

That's cool for Eric and Bryan, but I was more making a point about the subject of the article: millennials who are launching startups in Puerto Rico.

The narrative that the article paints about this cohort moving to Puerto Rico just out of pure love of the island sounds starry-eyed and naive. Businesses make business decisions, and incredible tax breaks need to be factored into that rational.

At the very least, the article could have examined this point and dismissed it if it's mostly untrue. But tax incentives (not including the one I mentioned) were barely discussed.

Re: Millennials returning to Puerto Rico, launching startups

#69

Post by _mhyx »

albertogui wrote: post #50
pavlov wrote: post #41

I'm not American, so would someone knowledgeable indulge me the obvious question: Why is Puerto Rico not a state while e.g. Hawaii is? Is it the language -- a Spanish-majority state would not get the approval from other states to join the union? Or something less obvious?

It's hard to become a state when the majority of the population only speaks Spanish and the island has its own constitution.

Probably not a huge issue - look up first home language in Texas or Arizona. Texas is also like 50%+ Hispanic, and I can't imagine the modern GOP being anti-Texas.

Re: Millennials returning to Puerto Rico, launching startups

#70

Post by bane »

Puerto Rico has such tremendous potential, it's kind of a shame it's not further along than it is. For people who've never been to it, the "feel" of it wouldn't surprise most Americans who've spent time outside of rich major metro areas. Lots of the really bad crime tends to be isolated to certain areas and groups.

There's also a huge mountainous interior that's a world away from the tropical beaches and Spanish colonial towns. Mostly that's the source of the absolutely incredible coffee that comes from the Island.

Why it isn't more like Hawaii isn't entirely clear, but I suspect not being fully integrated into the U.S. Federal system is part of it. The local governance of the Island hasn't been fantastic and most of the Puerto Ricans I know who lived there have long ago since moved to the mainland U.S. to find a better life (many of them also then turn around and buy investment vacation property back on the Island they spend time in every summer).

Still, if you know where to go, and where not to go, and learn some of the local ways of doing things, it can be a very lovely place, great history, good food, right in the Caribbean so other islands are close by...

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