Two lawyers argue that the feds should impose “dictatorships for democracy” on cities and government bodies in fiscal crisis.
This original article by Simon Davis-Cohen appeared in The Nation October 30, 2017.
A nurse dispatched to Puerto Rico by the Registered Nurse Response Network described the island’s dire situation earlier this month. “A line formed outside FEMA in Rio Grande two nights ago,” she wrote in a public letter. “People waited 24 hours only to receive 1 16oz water and one snack size Cheez-it’s. The people of Puerto Rico are starving and have no access to water.… They have turned off the water and we are running out of bottled water.”A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding, and the federal government urgently needs to fund public services, transportation, and basic goods. But, rather than provide the money as aid, Congress approved a $5 billion loan, which will only add to the island’s immense debt. On top of that, Puerto Rico has little say over how it will be rebuilt. MORE…