Viewers respond to report on Puerto Rico’s debt crisis

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• JOHN LARSON:

  And now, to "Viewers Like You," your chance to comment on our work. Here's what some of you had to say about yesterday's story from Puerto Rico, where crippling debt and increasing healthcare costs have contributed to the island's historic financial crisis.

• JEFF IN MADISON COMMENTED:

  Perhaps nothing can be done but i'm not inclined to give them more money until they show some level of responsibility in handling the extraordinarily generous subsidies they already receive.

• ROB ROCKLIN ADDED:

  Cut them loose and they can become a country just like any other island in the Caribbean.

• BUT THERE WAS THIS FROM JORGE RODRIGUEZ SANABRIA:

  No one in the program called puerto rico as it: is a colony of the usa, period, not a territory . Why the us controls the territorial waters, the customs. The post office, the currency, the expensive merchant system….

• AND CANDID ONE HAD THIS TO SAY:

  The us business world is victimizing a sitting duck… It's no wonder that the detroit-ification on this hapless caribbean territory is still going strong.

• JOHN LARSON:

  Some took a broader view.

• BRUCE MCCOY SAID:

  The "commonwealth's" economic problems stem from massive government overspending' from bonds! A common thread among defaulting countries – is there a message here?

• L. JAMIE CHRISTOPHER COMMENTED:

  Austerity fails and worsens the economy for the benefit of the banks. Such a joke.

• JOHN LARSON:

  And finally, there was this from Malcom: Take heed fellow citizens, the usa also has a debt that very likely can never be paid, but if we started now reducing the size of government at least our grandchildren may have some sort of life left.

  As always we welcome your comments. Visit us at pbs.org/NewsHour, on our Facebook page, or tweet us at NewsHour.