John Stossel‘s latest column offers some interesting information about efforts Puerto Rico has taken to address its budget woes:
We need to make cuts now.
Some governors have shown the way. You know about Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Rick Scott, John Kasich, etc. But you probably don’t know about Luis Fortuno.
Fortuno is governor of Puerto Rico. Two years ago, he fired 17,000 government workers. No state governor did anything like that. He cut spending much more than Walker did in Wisconsin. In return, thousands of union members demonstrated against Fortuno for days. They clashed with police. They called him a fascist
Fortuno said he had to make the cuts because Puerto Rico’s economy was a mess.
“Not just a mess. We didn’t have enough money to meet our first payroll.”
Fortuno’s predecessors had grown Puerto Rico’s government to the point that the state employed one out of every three workers. By the time he was elected, Puerto Rico was broke. So the new conservative majority, the first in Puerto Rico in 40 years, shrank the government.
What was cut?
“Everything. I started with my own salary.”
The protesters said he should raise taxes instead of cutting spending.
“Our taxes were as high as they could be, actually much higher than most of the country. So what we’ve done is the opposite.” Fortuno reduced corporate taxes from 35 percent to 25 percent. He reduced individual income taxes. He privatized entire government agencies.
“Bring in the private sector,” Fortuno said. “They will do a better job. They will do it cheaper.”
Fortuno’s advice for leaders who want to shrink the state: “Do what you need to do quickly, swiftly, like when you take off a Band-Aid. Just do it. And move on to better things.”
