As a state Puerto Rico would have 2 senators and 6 representatives in the US congress. Right now Puerto Rico has no senator and 1 representative in the US House of representatives which has NO VOTE.

Under the present relationship, Puerto Rico had 50% the per capita income of the poorest state in 1952, as well as a third the national per capita income. Fifty two years later, we remain dead in our tracks, with exactly the same per capita indices. The per capita gap that has existed for over 50 years between Puerto Rico and the poorest state, between Puerto Rico and the nation as a whole, will begin to close only when we can significantly increase our rate of growth beyond the national growth rate.

How will statehood make that happen?
First of all, after 44 years since the last admission, people seem to have forgotten the enormous impact that such an event has on the nation. Every Star-Spangled-Banner on every flag post in front of every school, post office and public building in America must be replaced. The headlines that admission into the Union generates an unimaginable amount of free, positive publicity for the new member of the family. In 1984, for example, Gov. George Ariyoshi estimated that admission had generated over $1 billion in free publicity for Hawaii during the first 25 years of statehood. That’s the equivalent of all the blockbuster Super Bowl ads, several years in a row!

The arrival of that new child into the family generates an enormous curiosity to meet and know that new family member. In Hawaii, that meant an 800% increase in hotel rooms during the first 25 years of statehood, at a time when non-state Puerto Rico saw its hotel room inventory grow by only 60%.

Suddenly, as a territory is admitted, it ceases to be treated as “foreign”. Major corporations begin to treat it as part of its domestic market and are willing to invest in it as if it finally were part of the United States.

Rather than seek trade agreement negotiation authority, under statehood we could have two US Trade Representatives carrying out language in international trade agreements to boost local industry.

With statehood, Presidential candidates would have to visit Puerto Rico, campaign among us, and make specific promises. Upon election, they would have to visit Puerto Rico, something that essentially has not happened in 42 years, and fulfill their campaign commitments.

Puerto Rico has been fasting on a bacon-free diet for over 104 years and Puerto Rico’s economy has suffered accordingly. But way beyond what Puerto Rico can get is what Puerto Rico could give. Full Medicare reimbursements and full Medicaid funding would turn Puerto Rico into the Medical Center of the Caribbean, attracting tens of thousand of Latin American patients seeking US-quality healthcare in their own language.
The additional Federal funding that Puerto Rico’s institutions of higher learning, especially the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) which is an equivalent to the "state university" and the others private universities, would receive, would attract thousands of well to- do Latin American college students interested in a truly bilingual, bicultural, US-accredited college education. As these graduates return to assume prominent roles in the public and private sectors of their countries, Puerto Rico’s influence as a bridge between United States businesses and government with Latin America’s public and private sector would grow.

The increased perception that Puerto Rico is a permanent part of the US would certainly help local financial institutions capture a larger share of Latin business as economic ties between north and south grow under the free trade agreements.