I was unable to come up with any insider contacts for a full fledged story on yesterday’s general strike in Puerto Rico.

The New York Times has a short article on the unrest here and as Gabo commented on my previous post, you can find up to date reports on the troubles here, but only if you speak Spanish.

The NYT article contains an interesting factoid I hadn’t heard before; “On an island with little industry, the public sector plays an especially large role, employing about 25 percent of all workers.”

To make matters worse, conservative Governor Luis Fortuño’s plan to layoff 17,000 employees seems specifically targeted towards lower class Puerto Ricans, leaving the higher echelons of public service relatively untouched.

Fortuño’s plan seems recklessly shortsighted, cutting off many of the island’s poorer families from their only source of income in a bid to remain fiscally solvent. Other options could include laying off higher paid officials (who most likely have diverse sources of income or savings), while cutting hours or pay for the majority of government employees. Some money is better than nothing.

Unemployment already stands at 15 percent. The planned cutbacks will push jobless levels past 17 percent.