Our New Economic Miracle

The 1940s: A World War ends, the U.S. reigns supreme as economic and military power and in a tiny corner of its nascent empire lies a veritable cul-de-sac of misery. And they have to look up the spelling to correctly write "Puerto Rico."

Too harsh? Go back and check to see how We were described and you will quickly encounter comparisons to "the Black Hole of Calcutta" and "lice-infested villages of Africa." It’s how We were perceived, rightly or wrongly and totally indifferent to Our current “politically-correct” (addle-brained) mentality.

We were dirt-poor. And yet, within one generation, Puerto Rico went from Calcutta to Cadillac, an economic miracle so successful and startling that it became an industrial, commercial and academic cul-de-sac, a dead-end just large enough for studious idiots of all stripes to get lost in because the “miracle” was nothing more than the application of money to exploit an opportunity. Nothing more, nothing less.

That Puerto Rico’s economic transformation was historic is without question. That what made the transformation a reality should remain as it was 40 years ago is—amazingly—still being debated. (The answer is, of course, no. Now stop debating it, Fools.) That successful models based on Our experience have been designed, implemented and gained great success is also without question, but We refuse to properly emulate any of them.

We persist in seeing Our new economic miracle as being based on “Someone else’s money to exploit what We have,” when We should see it as “Our money to develop what We want.”

What a quantum leap for Our poor, oh-woe-is-me, welfare-for-everyone-but-especially-me mentality! Let’s break down how big a leap this is for Our p.o.w.i.m.w.f.e.b.e.m.m.:

Our money? Huh? We have money? Yes, We do. We have plenty of money. More than enough to place Our own bets on Ourselves. Do We have enough to do everything? Of course not. That’s why it’s called economic development and not spending (a vital distinction the Fools need to have hammered into their vacuous skulls. Hammered. Hard.)

Develop? Uh-huh. From the French développer, meaning to bring from latency to or toward fulfillment; to expand or enlarge; to aid in the growth of and/or to improve the quality of. You got a problem with that?

What We want? "Ay-ay-ay! Make it difficult, willya, Jenius? We never know what We want!" Wrong: We do. We know what We want; We’re just not willing to work for it. Once We’re shown how We can get what We want, though, We work very hard to achieve it. So the trick is to start the changes We know can work best to develop a new economic miracle, such as changes in education, business laws, investment scenarios and infrastructure and let the process organically reveal the opportunities created.

Our New Economic Miracle isn’t going to be an “outside-in” thing: It will be “inside” job first. No other starting point exists. There is no other initial tool than “Our money.” And there is no other path except that which We walk Ourselves.


The Jenius Has Spoken.