[Editor’s Note: This article was written by Sovereign Man team member Joe Jarvis, who lives in Puerto Rico.]
Puerto Rico lost power last week as Hurricane Fiona struck the island.
Nearly 25% of the island is still without power more than a week later, including numerous neighborhood hospitals.
The electrical grid in Puerto Rico has a long history of being unreliable; in fact, after Hurricane Maria hit the island in 2017, it was offline for months.
Due to this, the US federal government gave Puerto Rico more than $30 billion in help, which is a huge amount for an island with only 3 million inhabitants. This equates to $10,000 for every man, woman, and kid in Puerto Rico.
And out of that $30 billion, $12.8 billion was specifically set aside to fix the electrical infrastructure.
In light of that sum, $12.8 billion ought to have been sufficient to fund the construction of brand-new power plants with the capacity to supply the entire island with electricity.
Five years later, the electrical grid is still unstable and unreliable due to a never-ending lack of competency on the part of the administration and extensive corruption.
Speaking of corruption and ineptitude in Puerto Rico is not exaggerated nor in the least bit debatable. It’s widely known.
For instance, the former governor of Puerto Rico was detained and charged with bribery just last month, along with a former FBI agent who assisted in the bribes’ facilitation. Additionally, the previous governor had to retire in disgrace due to a string of serious ethical transgressions.
And with respect to the electrical grid, the president of the former state power company was arrested in 2019, along with a US federal government official, in connection with a $1.8 billion bribery scheme.
Everybody in Puerto Rico knows their government is rotten to the core.
Like our founder, I also live in Puerto Rico. Yes, there are problems. But there are also some really great things happening on the island. It’s a wonderful community. And the unparalleled tax incentives are incredible.
I don’t, however, believe that the Puerto Rican government will be able to save me in a time of need.
Last week, when Hurricane Fiona hit, I was prepared with backup solar power so that I could continue to operate the essentials.
I also kept in touch with others through Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite Internet service. In comparison to my local government, he appeared like a lot safer bet.
I also have a propane barbecue, as well as enough food and water to last for several months, if required.
(Extended living without electricity isn’t in the plan, though, so anytime a hurricane threatens, I book a refundable airfare out of town as an extra insurance policy.)
This is but one illustration of the general thesis that governments cannot resolve problems. They often create situations on purpose. But they hardly ever find solutions. Puerto Rico is merely a representative example of a much wider trend.
There are several instances of utter government failure all around the world.
The Federal Reserve in the United States absolutely missed the chance to foresee inflation when it printed unlimited amounts of money over the past ten years (and especially in 2020).
Later, they disputed it when inflation made an appearance in early 2021. The irritating stereotype that inflation is “transitory” was then used.
All along the way they kept insisting that they have everything under control and there’s nothing to worry about.
Today, however, their entire tone has changed. They’re engaging in extremely panicky monetary policy, desperately trying to raise rates as fast as they can and causing all sorts of havoc and destruction along the way.
They caused the inflation problem. They failed to fix it. And at the moment they’re making things worse by spreading fear and paranoia.
Social Security is another obvious example.
In its annual report each year, the Social Security Board of Trustees admits that the program is losing money and its financial reserves will “become fully depleted in 2034”.
In other words, the biggest retirement trust fund in the world, which helps pay benefits to tens of millions of people every month, is going to run out of money in 12 years.
These aren’t fringe economists spreading wild conspiracy theories or disinformation. These statements are published by the Board of Trustees for the Social Security program, which includes the Treasury Secretary of the United States, the Secretary of Labor, and more.
Once again, politicians caused the problem through endless fiscal mismanagement. They failed to do anything to fix it. And they’re making it worse every year.
Despite such utter incompetence, however, government still tends to view its citizens as helpless children.
Bureaucrats and politicians believe we are incapable of taking care of ourselves without their constant direction and meddling in our health, careers, finances, retirement, and even the education of our children.
This is a completely idiotic point of view. An institution with such a horrendous track record should have minimal influence and control over our lives. And we have all the tools we need to solve these problems.
We know, for example, that Social Security’s trust funds will run out of money in the early 2030s. After that, retirement benefits will either be drastically reduced, or may not even be there at all.
But (as we have discussed many times before) there are plenty of ways to solve this problem yourself— you can set aside a lot more money for retirement, invest in a wider range of asset classes, AND slash your taxes at the same time, using a Solo 401(k) structure.
I’m also not waiting for the Federal Reserve to ride to the rescue when it comes to inflation. We all have options to protect our wealth from inflation— even something as simple as “Series I” savings bonds which currently yield 9.62%.”
This is ultimately what a Plan B mentality is all about. You’re in charge of you. Not the government. And there are mountains of resources and solutions at our fingertips to solve the problems that they create.
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Source: The Daily Bell Rephrased By: InfoArmed
