Puerto Rico means, roughly, Rich Port. Today the name is singularly inappropriate as the island's commonwealth government struggles to meet debt payments and annually spends quite a bit more than it takes in. See an article in The Atlantic which describes the situation.
I can envision a future for the island where many Puerto Ricans have moved to the mainland, and property values decline as inventories of homes for sale exceed demand. Then the island can become a series of retirement villages in the sun, on a grand scale, with services provided for retirees by the remaining residents.
So-called "young retired" would move to Puerto Rico, buy a place, and live there for a decade or two before moving closer to their children as they age into the "old retired." Puerto Ricans could provide services, run restaurants, markets, clinics, casinos, marinas, sell real estate, do maintenance, and otherwise live on the retirees' local spending for necessities and luxuries.
The key is to avoid having the island's government continue as the employer of last resort. In many ways the economy might come to resemble that of Hawaii, they could do much worse.
