The Colonial Mentality in Puerto Rico's Economic Development Schemes

    Local government leaders treat autonomous economic development as if it were a bad word.  In today's discussion of the closing of US pharmaceutical in the island, Deepak Lamba-Nieves (CNE) again alluded to the 'incentives' being requested by that industry from the government.  As previously mentioned, it is particularly odd that industries with multi-billion dollar profits should be asking an island for 'economic incentives', an effort to externalize all costs of production so that even higher profit margins can be reached.  Whatever state the industry might be in--loss of patents, shift to biotech (a most unclear word)--such comments reveal little faith in the local innovation and autonomous economic development.  The only local industry trusted is the cushy financial sector, which ironically now wants to be bailed out of mistaken their mistaken policies of issuing too many mortgages.  This in itself is most ironic given the persistent neoliberal claims of the 'free market' made during the decade of the 1990s.  The financial sector in Puerto Rico does not seem to notice the blatant contradiction in requesting a 'free market' at one moment (1990s privatization) an 'protectionism' at another (2007 bail out).   The sad fact is that this financial sector, like the lawyers of Singapore, thwart economic development by failing to lend sums to tecno-scientific enterprises.   The ones who can most bear risk are the ones who most shy away from it.  The same is true of the local government.  When founders of the firm BioDeisel requested government assistance to start an innovative new company, despite all promises by the local government, they were given no help whatsoever.  As a result, its founders  were forced to mortgage their houses (rather than receive venture capital) into what has become a very successful venture.  It is time to free the economic policy of the island from its 1950s standards.  Teodoro Moscoso might have done a lot for local economic development, but current conditions are very different from what they were half a century ago.