The economic crisis in Puerto Rico is fast racing towards a depression-era level. The unemployment level is already at 17 percent, and Governor Fortuño's recent pink-slipping of 17,000 government workers to take effect Nov. 6 will only make things worse. If not stopped, Puerto Rico's unemployment rate could easily reach that of New Orleans post-hurricane Katrina.

Gov. Fortuño said the job cuts, expected to save $386 million, are necessary because the government faces a $3.2 billion deficit this year. These numbers are certainly nothing to sniff at---but I can't help but wonder about the money Puerto Rico has received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Thanks to these funds, other states in crisis have already generated thousands of new jobs in green sectors, sustainable energy, information technology, and infrastructure. But according to federal reporting, Puerto Rico has created only 126 jobs after receiving $2.9 BILLION in ARRA funds. Even with my rudimentary accounting knowledge, I'm pretty sure these numbers don't add up.

In a Huffington Post piece today, SEIU Healthcare Chair Dennis Rivera warns that "what started as a march in protest to the impending firings of public sector workers has turned into a movement to hold Governor Fortuño accountable for solving [Puerto Rico's] financial nightmare."

Failing to suppress turnout, the Governor's administration did its best to minimize the event, officially stating that 15,000 people turned out while the media estimates were 150,000 and organizers estimated closer to 300,000. Governor Fortuño and his administration are clearly aware that it's one thing to have a problem contained at home; it's quite another thing to become a problem in the eyes of Congress and the Obama administration.

While President Obama's vision for the U.S. economy is anchored in creating good jobs, affordable healthcare, and increasing accountability in the private sector, Governor Fortuño is clinging desperately to George Bush's failed economic agenda. This agenda protected the private sector and the very wealthy at all costs, decreased government accountability, and basically stacked the deck against the poor and middle class. And here we are one recession, an American Recovery Investment Act and a TARP Act later working our way out of it.

If Governor Fortuño and Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner, Congressman Pierluisi can keep the problem quarantined within Puerto Rico, they too will get a free pass on accountability for their lack of a clear plan to revive the U.S. territory's plummeting economy. They will continue to apply "survival of the fittest" economics to Puerto Rico with no need to account for how America's multi-billion dollar funding to the island is invested.

Read the full piece at Huffington Post here. More on SEIU's blog about today's follow-up actions by Todo Puerto Rico Por Puerto Rico.