Will Pot And Prostitution Save Puerto Rico?

In Puerto Rico, 45 percent of the population lives in poverty, and the unemployment rate is a solid 15 percent.

Those numbers aren't a good sign for any area of the United States, least of all an island whose name translates to “Rich Port.” But after years of recession, Puerto Rico's debt crisis finally seems to have reached a day of reckoning.

Officials have opened a public campaign to field ideas for how to fix the crisis once and for all.

A government website is accepting suggestions, and close to 400 ideas have been submitted. At least 150 have been accepted by a government committee for consideration. Among the ideas to be considered are calls legalize marijuana and

prostitution, and to drastically cut back the amount of public holidays that workers on the island celebrate.

Others, such as Rep. Ricardo Llerandi Cruz, have suggested doing away with 41 government agencies, some of which he claims are redundant. He stated his proposal would save $160 million just in administrative costs.

The island currently celebrates 20 holidays a year, double those observed in the U.S. Many people have bristled at the proposal to scrap some of the additional extra days off, some of which commemorate various historic Puerto

Rican leaders. But Gonzalez said the excessive number of holidays costs the government about $500 million a year in lost productivity and interruptions in service, among other things.

"Change always brings about inconveniences," she said. "I'm convinced that before we talk about something as dramatic and disastrous as layoffs, we have to consider other ideas."