The Color Scam - For more than seventy years, politics in Puerto Rico has been defined by two limited and short-sighted concepts: statehood and non-statehood. In Puerto Rico this is called colors because each status formula is represented by a particular color. Statehood is blue, commonwealth is red and independence is green. However, neither statehood, nor the commonwealth, nor the republic guarantees us economic freedom. We have to legislate that as a separate issue. Historically, when it comes to governing, the red and blue duoparty governs equally badly no matter which faction wins. We call them a duo party because even though they claim to be different, they both govern using an eclectic vote-buying populism. The reason is that the status debate, what we call colors, is a just a scam that uses cheap nationalism to inflame emotions in order to use them as a smokescreen to cover up the fact that their real goal is to steal our country from us in order to hand over our economy to a few big interests that control the two traditional parties by financing their campaigns. The blues appeal to American nationalism and the reds to Puerto Rican nationalism when in reality we are both. Since they are pilots who do not know how to fly because they are really thieves whose goal is to rob the passengers, they have put our island's aircraft into a tailspin of collapse. Although these parties were founded with noble intentions, things have changed in fifty years and since they have not been able to create general prosperity, a privileged caste has taken control and used them for profit. Our goal is to reverse this grand larceny and return the economy of our country to our people and to those who wish to contribute to our society. A Radical Idea - The solution is a proposal for a government based on values. This proposal is based on a radical idea, the idea that there is a formula for national success. It is a formula that always works when followed and always leads to failure when ignored. Just as there are basic principles that determine the design of an airplane, a computer, or a medication, so there are basic principles that determine the correct design for the structure of a government and for the laws of a country. If someone designs an airplane following the principles of correct airplane design, that airplane will fly, no matter what, without exception. For centuries, human beings have longed to be able to fly through the air. Many different designs were tried and there were many failures, but it was not until the Wright brothers and Alberto Santos Dumont came up with the right formula for airplane design that humans were able to fly. After the formula was discovered, there was a spectacular development of that formula and the airplane displaced other forms of transportation. Likewise, all successful countries in the world have certain things in common. They follow a formula that is fundamentally similar. Therefore, if we follow that formula for national success, we will be a prosperous country in every sense. If we do not follow that formula, we will fail.

Judeo-Christian Values ​​- This formula for success consists of the Judeo-Christian values ​​that are the foundation of Western civilization. These civilizing values ​​are based on the last five of the Ten Commandments which, in their positive form, consist of being pro-life, pro-family, pro-economic freedom, pro-democracy, and pro-personal freedom. In contrast, socialism uses greed and envy among different classes and groups as justification for stealing. That is, they give permission to disobey the command that prohibits coveting, as a cloak to hide the fact that they are breaking the command that prohibits stealing. As it advances, socialism sacrifices obedience to all commandments to make it easier for a few to seize all the wealth of a society.

Private Property - The commandment against stealing is the central command in the list, the one in the middle of the last five commandments. Note that to kill is to steal life, to commit adultery is to steal family integrity, to lie is to steal reputation, and to covet is to steal individuality. This commandment establishes the right to private property. This respect for individual property is the basis of the principle of economic freedom which is the foundation for material prosperity and impacts the other four values.

Economic Opportunity - The lack of economic opportunity is the reason why many young people leave Puerto Rico. This destroys the Puerto Rican family because children grow up without being able to see their grandparents, uncles, and cousins. Part of being pro- family is to strengthen the health of the extended family. Furthermore, economic challenges are one of the reasons why the families who remain have almost no children. Part of being pro-life is wanting to increase the birth rate. Puerto Rico has the eighth lowest birth rate in the world. In other words, our families have decided that we do not deserve to continue as a country. This demographic collapse in turn creates an economic collapse and is part of the tailspin that we face as a country.

Conditions for a Free Market - The most important tool for creating economic freedom is the free market. In order for a free economy to exist, there must exist a free market. When the right conditions exist, the free market is the best tool for allocating resources and for determining the real price of a service or product. A free market occurs when three conditions are met: (1) There is plenty of supply, (2) There are many buyers, (3) It is easy to determine the quality of the product. When these three conditions exist and there is little government intervention, a free market is created. The free market is a way of collecting the decisions of thousands or millions of people to determine how the country's and the world's resources should be allocated and which determines what value or price should be given to different services and products to create enough of everything that society needs. This creates a collective mind that controls what Adam Smith calls the invisible hand.

Natural Monopolies and Fascism - However, sometimes there exists what is called a natural monopoly. This occurs when the first condition does not exist. It occurs in relation to certain nature resources which are both critically important and scarce. Because of the scarcity of these natural resources, it is almost impossible to have more than one way to supply those services or products which depend on them. When a natural monopoly exists, it is impossible for the free market to work. Roads are the best example of a natural monopoly. Highways and expressways are extremely expensive and it is difficult to have two ways to get to the same place. To get to my house there is only one fastest way. Also, to build a road you have to use the government's right to eminent domain. The government has that right for the same reason that a natural monopoly exists, because the market does not work. The government has to control these monopolies because if not, someone can take over and raise the prices for that service to ridiculous levels. That is preety much what is happening with the auto-express fines because our government, foolishly, sold a natural monopoly to a private company. When the government chooses to hand over natural monolopies to private entities it creates an economic system called state capitalism or fascism.

Democratic Vote - When a natural monopoly exists, the government, which is based on the popular vote, has to take control of that monopoly. The democratic vote also creates a collective mind that collects the decisions of thousands or millions of people. It is not as efficient as the free market, but it is much better than putting the control of essential resources in the hands of a few super wealthy individuals.

Infrastructure Development - The infrastructure projects for development in the western area of ​​Puerto Rico fall into the category of natural monopolies and it is important that the government invest responsibly to develop them. One of the most important of these is the construction of the Western Freeway to connect western Puerto Rico to the Metro Area by means of a superhighway.

Dinero al Zafacón - Puerto Rico gasta $22,000 anual por niño en el sistema de educación pública. Esto es el doble por niño que lo que gastan los mejores distritos escolares en los Estado Unidos, como, por ejemplo, el de Broward County, Florida. Aún con esta gigantesca inversión tenemos un sistema educativo fracasado. El problema no es falta de dinero, el problema es una estructura centralizada obsoleta que ningún otro estado tiene. Hay que descentralizar la educación pública en Puerto Rico y crear una separación entre escuela y estado. Hay que derrumbar el sistema actual y crear uno nuevo.

Distritos Escolares - Debemos crear doce distritos escolares con una junta de siete a diez miembros electos por los votantes de cada municipio que lo compone, uno por municipio y algunos por acumulación. La junta seleccionaría un supervisor de distrito y confirmará cada director de escuela en la región. También aprobará el currículo, mejoras a los planteles, apertura de escuelas nuevas y cierre de escuelas con poca matricula y aprobará el presupuesto para el distrito. El tener una junta electa directamente por el pueblo introduciría el principio de la democracia a la educación y el tener varios distritos escolares, en vez de solo uno, introduciría las fuerzas competitivas del mercado al dinosaurio educativo que tenemos actualmente.

Money to the Trash - Puerto Rico spends $22,000 annually per child on the public education system. This is twice as much per child as the best school districts in the United States, such as Broward County, Florida. Even with this huge investment we have a failed educational system. The problem is not a lack of money, the problem is an obsolete centralized structure that no other state has. Public education in Puerto Rico must be decentralized and a separation between school and state must be created. The current system must be torn down and a new one created.

School Districts - We should create twelve school districts with a board of seven to ten members elected by the voters of each municipality, one per municipality and some at-large. The board would select a district supervisor and confirm each school principal in the region. It would also approve curriculum, facility improvements, opening of new schools and closing of low-enrollment schools, and approve the budget for the district. Having a board directly elected by the people would introduce the principle of democracy to education and having multiple school districts, instead of just one, would introduce competitive market forces to the educational dinosaur we have today.

The private educational system is the most efficient one and the only one that can provide a true education, one where knowledge is integrated with values ​​so that the child learns how to use and a pply the knowledge he or she receives. Many states are supporting private education with school vouchers. This should start with a voucher of $1000 per child per year. This should increase each year up to a maximum of $4000 per year. This should be a match that is added to what the family contributes. That is, to receive the full voucher the family would have to contribute at least the same amount. For example, if the family only spends $2000 per year the school would receive an additional voucher of only $2000 per year. This would preserve that essential element of a free market which is having to spend one's own money to acquire a product. This voucher would also be available to home schoolers.

Currently in Puerto Rico there is a law that requires each hospital to have a Certificate of Necessity and Convenience (CNC) that prohibits the opening of new hospitals if one already exists in the area. The original purpose was to prevent waste of federal funds by preventing duplication of health care costs. Studies in the United States have shown this has not worked and has hurt access to health especially in rural areas. The laws have been maintained because it protects the owners and management of incompetent hospitals. This affects the western area of Puerto Rico the most because the population is more spread out and there is less competition between hospitals because of the distances involved. I have several examples of the harmful effect of this unnecessary law. (1) Aguadilla has a mediocre hospital with an administrative structure that does not work, but there is no way to change it and this law makes it impossible to establish a good hospital that competes with that hospital. (2) More than ten years ago, twelve ophthalmologists from the western area tried to open a laser refractive surgery center. We had millions of dollars in financing available. However, we needed a CNC to operate a surgery room in order to open the center. Since there were already enough operating rooms in the western area we were never able to get the certificate. Therefore, the center was never opened and the western area lost a multimillion-dollar investment in the health area. (3) Where I currently operate we have two surgery rooms for too many surgeons and not all surgeons can operate every week because there is no CNC available to open the third surgery room. This is a hindering and unnecessary law, and health in Puerto Rico would improve in a matter of weeks after this law was eliminated. The only condition to maintain a free market would be that no health plan could own more than one hospital in all of Puerto Rico, since health plans are so highly regulated that they are similar to a monopoly.

Many people think that the biggest problem with medicine in Puerto Rico is the government health plans. These are Medicaid, which is commonly called "reforma de salud", and Medicare in the form of Advantage plans. However, what these plans pay to doctors in Puerto Rico is comparable to what they pay in the United States. As an ophthalmologist, I have practiced medicine both in the United States and in Puerto Rico. I also have a brother who practiced family medicine for many years in the United States. I can say from experience that the biggest problem with medicine in Puerto Rico is the private health plans. Private plans in the United States pay more than $200 for a first visit to an ophthalmologist. Here they pay about $25. Therefore, many doctors do not accept these plans. Also, this is why many young doctors leave.

I believe the reason this happens is that in Puerto Rico most of the economic production is done by large corporations while small businesses represent only 14% of the gross domestic product (GDP). In the United States, they represent 44% of the GDP. This means that much of the economic control in Puerto Rico is in the hands of a few people, the managers of these large corporations. This includes making the decision of which private health plan their employees have. When they make this decision, they are thinking mostly about which plan will be cheaper for them, not which one would provide the best service to their employees. We propose that corporations decide the amount they will contribute to employees' health plans and that employees be allowed to freely select their health plan. This would integrate the dynamics of free market competition into the formulation of the price structure. I believe this would result in higher fees for doctors and a high quality health system.

There is a law that gives a monopoly to suppliers in Puerto Rico. It is called Law 75, which was passed in 1964, long before the Internet existed and when the use of jet airplanes was just beginning. When you go into a supermarket in the United States you see a wide variety of products. When I lived in the other states my favorite cereal was Crispix. This cereal is like Captain Crunch but has corn on one side, like Corn Flakes and rice on the other side, like Rice Krispies. However, it is not possible to get Crispix in Puerto Rico. I also drank one Pepsi Decaf every night while I studied. Since it did not have caffeine, I could enjoy it just before bed and it did not affect my sleep. Pepsi Decaf is also not available in Puerto Rico. The reason is that Law 75 gives exclusivity to one distributor for the sale of each product on the island. If that supplier does not feel like carrying that product you cannot get it.

There is a medical device that is used to perform cataract surgery in certain situations. Approximately one in ten cataracts requires it. In the United States this device can be ordered online from the manufacturer and arrives the next day by Fed Ex. Not here. In Puerto Rico there is a supplier that receives it by Fed Ex and stores i in his carport, repackages it, and sends it from San Juan to the rest of the island by Fed Ex and resells it at a cost of 50% above the cost in the other states and charges again for shipping by Fed Ex, Fed Ex being perhaps the most expensive carrier of all the options. Unfortunately, those who end up paying this unnecessary price increase are the elderly on our island for whom cataract surgery is more expensive. I have heard of cases where technical equipment and equipment used for manufacturing can cost up to 3 times more because of this law. This law limits the diversity of products available on the island and raises the prices of those that are sold because it creates a government-supported monopoly. It is an obsolete and anti-free market law and it must be eliminated.

Puerto Rico has a highly inefficient and unstable power generation system. A few large generators in the south of the island produce electricity for a population that lives mostly in the north. If one generator goes down, the system collapses and the entire island is left without power. However, there is a way to create an efficient and robust system.

The electrical system has two very different parts. The first is the transmission system that works like roads that transport electricity from the generator to the consumer. This part of the system works like a natural monopoly, like automobile roads, and should be overseen by the government. However, the other part of the system consists of everyone who produces electricity. This part of the system can be completely privatized. However, even the transmission system must be decentralized. First, the super high voltage power line system should remain in the hands of the central government. However, the rest of the transmission system should be divided into twelve regions and management of each regional grid should be handed over to a private company. Every eight years, voters in each region should have the opportunity to vote among several options to decide which company they would like to manage the regional grid for the next eight years. The second part of the system, power generation, would be opened up to free competition. Power generators could connect to the local grid or to the high-voltage grid and could sell their electricity to a new third link in the system, power aggregator companies. Aggregators would buy electricity from the generators, contract with the grids for the transmission of that electricity, and charge residential and commercial buyers for the supply of this electricity.

Part of the government's responsibility is to manage scarce natural resources on which we all depend. Infrastructure projects for the development of the western part of ​​Puerto Rico fall into the category of natural monopolies and it is important that the government invests in developing them.

Western Freeway - This is the most important infrastructure project for the development of the west. The rest is supplementary. The distance between my office in Aguadilla and Plaza las Américas in San Juan is 119 km which is equivalent to 74 miles. If I could get there traveling at 65 miles per hour it would take me one hour and 8 minutes. However, right now Google Maps says it would take me one hour and 47 minutes to get there. That's at 2:30 pm without traffic. It almost always takes two hours. We have to think of Puerto Rico as a city state. We are so small that access to all parts of the island increases the resources accessible to citizens. Currently, for someone living in San Juan, it takes almost the same amount of time to get to the state of Florida by plane as it does to get to the beaches of Aguadilla or Rincon. If we want to stimulate our economy we have to make the island as accessible as possible to all Puerto Ricans.

Western Medical Center - A freeway in the west would also give western residents access to hospitals and sub-specialist doctors in the metro area. Puerto Rico cannot have two good trauma centers. We don't even have one that can be considered excellent. We should focus on having a good trauma center and supra-tertiary center and instead give access to that center to the rest of the island with a good expressway. However, we should have a good medical center for the western area that is as advanced as possible even if it is not a trauma center of the same level as the one in San Juan. In some cases, having something closer is more important than having something better farther away. However, getting from Aguadilla to the medical center in Mayagüez takes an hour even though it is less than 25 miles away. From Isabela, Quebradilla and San Sebastian it takes even longer. Here too an express to Mayagüez is essential for the development of the western part of Puerto Rico.

Develop the Aguadilla Airport - This airport has the largest runway in the Caribbean. It has the same amount of area as the airport in San Juan. It should be expanded and developed into a first class international passenger and cargo airport. A regional authority of municipalities should be created to manage the airport, as it is too much for the municipality of Aguadilla to handle alone. However, it should not be managed by the state government because there is a conflict of interest with the interests of the metro area and the Isla Verde airport. This authority should be formed with a view to regionalizing all of Puerto Rico. We need three levels of government to have better oversight. Instead of municipalities, we need regional governments; these regions could be called cantons. In addition, we need local governments smaller than a municipality. These would be cities with their own government like in many other countries.

Develop the Port of Mayagüez - At one time, the port of Mayagüez was the one that moved the most tons of cargo in Puerto Rico. Since many of the products enter the island by ship, it is essential to have the greatest amount of competition for the entry and exit of products to the island. This should be as little of a monopoly as possible. We must develop four seaports on the island, San Juan, Mayagüez, Ponce and Cieba. Each one should be administered by a regional authority like the one we mentioned above.