CHAPTER 5 ISSUES AFFECTING TERRITORIAL ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT The United States has helped to improve the standard of living and well-being of territorial residents and tried to help them become more economically self-reliant. Tt has provided substantial financial and some technical assistance to each territory as well as numerous incentives to help achieve these broad objectives. Yet, the U.S. goal of establishing greater economic self-reliance has not been achieved, and all of. the territories remain heavily reliant on federal assistance to support their local economies. We found that progress in meeting territorial needs is often tied into federal recognition of the unique circumstances of each territory. Formulating and extending federal laws, programs, and policies without considering unique territorial needs has caused some problems and disenchantment in the territories. Many territory and some federal officials attribute this to lack of a clearly defined and understood set of economic and social objectives with a corresponding means to carry them out, and to unclear federal policy on how the territories should be treated within the federal family. , According to territory officials, the federal government in recent years has improved its efforts to recognize territorial problems and has sought to overcome them. Nevertheless, the : officials identified instances of insensitive, inconsistent, and inappropriate federal policies, laws, and programs which they claim have hampered development. We categorized follows. concerns raised by territorial officials a . ~-Instances when the territories believe their needs were not adequately addressed in the formulation of U.S. foreign and. domestic policies. Examples cited include the effects of the Caribbean Basin Initiative, Department of Treasury rulings against investment bond initiatives, and a congressional proposal to eliminate corporate tax incentives for U.S. firms operating in Puerto Rico. --Instances when federal laws were inconsistently applied or were extended to the territories without adequate consideration of local conditions. Some examples cited include shipping mental laws, laws, such 22 90002249 as the Jones and tax and immigration laws. Act, environ-