by James Wallace Harris, Saturday, September 30, 2017
The disaster in Puerto Rico is truly horrendous. What’s important now is how we respond. I worry this Mag-10 catastrophe will be shoved off the news and be forgotten. I know Republicans are horrified at the cost of helping Puerto Ricans but we should make Puerto Rico our 51st state and divert all that tax-relief for billionaires into rebuilding their country. The scale of such a project would be awe-inspiring like the Apollo moon program.
You have to admit as a taxpayer, making the rich richer has gotten rather boring. I just can’t work up any more sympathy for people with private jets, and I’m tired of them conning us into giving them more money because of their self-serving lies about helping the middle class. Rebuilding our infrastructure will make America great again. Designing a self-sustaining economy for the 21st-century will make America great again. Cleaning up the environment will make America great again. Creating social equality will make us great again. Inequality in all its forms is only flushing us down the toilet.
The intellectual challenge of retrofitting Puerto Rico to survive future super-hurricanes is thrilling. And it will be great practice for when we need to rebuild all the southeastern coastal states. Is it possible to create an island paradise that can withstand rising seas and periodic Cat-5 hurricanes? Could we design homes that can be sealed like submarines from flooding and aerodynamically shaped to withstand 250 mph winds? Can we create a cell phone, power grid, water, and sewer system that can take a beating and keep on ticking (like a Timex watch in those old commercials on Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom)? Is it possible to develop a self-sustaining economy for 3.6 million people that can periodically withstand the worst nature can throw at them?
Since we won’t solve global warming we need to learn to take regular spankings from a pissed off Mother Nature.
After we retrofit Puerto Rico and other Carribean islands, we can work on Florida.
Puerto Rico is the canary in the coal mine. Those folks down there are Americans even though we treat them like red-headed stepchildren. Congress is driven by greed, so I doubt those bastards will change their stripes, but maybe, just maybe, a disaster of this size will crack open their greedy little hearts just enough to let in a ray of compassion. I don’t think our rich folks need tax relief as bad as 3.6 million Americans without power, water, food, internet, and cell phone coverage.
JWH
Auxiliary Memory 
Then you pay for it you old cunt. Their bankruptcy and incompetence isn’t our problem.
So Fred, if Mother Nature slammed your state you wouldn’t want all of us rallying around you?
The major reported issue has been the lack of power because the existing grid was never intended to with stand sustained winds over a certain strength. Combined with the ongoing lack of maintenance due to a bankrupt treasury and you have recipe for disaster. Burying all electrical and cable is prohibitively expensive. This option would certainly make economic sense for high density urban centres, however not the best option for suburban or rural areas.
I think the best way to start the retrofit is to focus on solar power nodes. Solar panels contained in wind proof infrastructure. Panels that can be electrically or mechanically cranked down into a safe bay until the storm has passed. Meanwhile the node is running off of stored energy. These nodes can be set up in the most cost efficient manner that makes sense given existing technology.
Given the potential for being hit by major storm events in future, it only makes sense to invest a portion of recovery dollars into an insurance policy against the next disaster. Surely a cost/benefit strategy that is worth the attention of leadership.
If you believe in Climate Change, then you have to factor in hurricanes like Harvey, Irma, and Maria. They will become regular events. Rebuilding in a hurricane zone requires debate. Real Estate prices in Florida are going to take a hit. Are you still considering moving south after this?