Here’s the truth about Puerto Rico

[Bloomberg]( New to Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - A year after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico is [still a disaster](. - Silicon Valley has good reason to be [sheepish about its huge profits](. - The EU is [at risk of falling apart](, with ugly consequences. - Trump’s new [refugee crackdown is a disgrace](. - Pot stocks [sure seem bubbly](, but the market does not. Puerto Rico Revisited It’s hard to imagine millions of American citizens going a year without reliable electricity. Many Puerto Ricans don’t have to imagine it. President Donald Trump has called his administration’s response to Hurricane Maria last year “an unappreciated great job” and [a “10”]( on a scale of, presumably, 10. But Tim O’Brien witnessed a much more desperate situation. Last year, he visited Puerto Rico, [filing several dispatches]( revealing [just how many]( heartbreaking [mistakes were made](. Tim returned to the Caribbean island this week – at a time when [horrific new death-toll numbers]( have [Trump on the defensive]( – and reports [conditions remain dire](. Many homes still have tarps instead of roofs. Roads still need fixing. Schools are still closed. Electricity was finally restored in full just last month, but “the grid itself remains rickety, vulnerable and subject to periodic blackouts,” Tim writes. Again, Puerto Ricans are American citizens (though they lack [full representation](). They are still suffering from a year-old storm, even as a new group of Americans deals with the aftermath of the deadly Hurricane Florence. Meanwhile, hurricane season isn’t over yet, and FEMA head Brock Long is the latest Trump official accused of misusing government resources. Are we prepared to handle another disaster of Maria’s scale? Tim’s report raises serious doubts. Read the [whole thing](. Silicon Valley Profits? Nothing to See Here For a while in the mid-2000s, Big Oil tried to [downplay its record profits](. It wasn’t seemly to brag about making, say, [$12 billion in one quarter]( when drivers were suffering from soaring gasoline prices. It was bad for business, making consumers and politicians look for alternatives. A decade later, it’s Big Tech’s turn to be [sheepish about its earnings](, writes Shira Ovide. Most public companies take the opposite tack; many even pad their earnings. But tech’s timidity is a lot like Big Oil’s a decade ago: Raking in so much cash (Apple Inc. turned [nearly $12 billion]( in profit in its latest quarter) as political scrutiny grows is not a good look. Of course, like Big Oil, Big Tech is still doing all it can to make that cash. Read the [whole thing](. This devil-may-care-about-money attitude does make it easier for Amazon.com Inc. to embark on cash-burning projects, such as launching an armada of robot-run convenience stores, as the online retailer is apparently about to do. In a separate column, Shira warns investors may not be quite ready for just how much [damage this will do to Amazon’s profits](. But who wants profits anyway? The EU Could Be the Next Failed European Empire Since the end of World War II, a mostly unified Europe has paid big benefits in peace and prosperity to the U.S. and the world. The European Union promised to cap this continental kumbaya moment. But the moment of peak harmony seems over: Britain is leaving the EU soon; other members are casting loving looks across the border at Russia; and dreams of binding the EU even more tightly together now seem impossible. James Stavridis writes that, in fact, the EU seems increasingly [at risk of flying apart](, just like Austria-Hungary and other ambitious European unification projects: “The EU is anything but an empire, and this is hardly the chaotic end of World War I. But the cracks in Europe’s structure are becoming evident just as Russia is looking to regain its former glories.” The U.S. can help hold the union together – and it should do everything it can. But current leadership seems less than jazzed about that idea. Read the [whole thing](. Trump’s New Refugee Policy Is a Disgrace Back in 1980, the first year of a new refugee resettlement program, President Ronald Reagan let 207,116 refugees into the country, under a cap set at 231,700. That cap fell in later decades, and last year Trump slashed it to a record-low 45,000. And now he wants to cut it to just 30,000 for fiscal 2019. So far in this fiscal year, the administration has let just 21,000 refugees into the country – at a time when an estimated 25 million people have lost their homes due to war and other disasters. This latest expression of Trump’s nationalism is a [disgraceful abdication of America’s role]( as a beacon of hope for the rest of the world, Bloomberg’s editors write. “The administration should be ashamed – and Congress should be too, if it consents to let this happen.” Read the [whole thing](. Bonus editorial: Trump keeps making it [harder for China]( to cut a trade deal. That Bubbling Sound May Not Just Be Bong Water Are marijuana stocks in a bubble? This became a burning (sorry!) question yesterday, when shares of Canadian cannabis maker Tilray Inc. went from about $150 to $300, then back down to $150, and then back up to more than $200 – in one trading day. This triggered way too many “Up in Smoke” jokes and also questions about whether traders were being completely rational about the whole thing. Robert Burgess ventures to [guess that no, they were not](. It feels to him a bit like the crypto craze that turned into hash (again, so sorry!) this year. With so many bubbles going around, should we maybe be worried about the broader stock market, which hit a new record today? Not yet, writes Stephen Gandel. Chart Attack Trump sure likes to tweet at OPEC about oil prices, but [he doesn’t seem to get how either one]( works, writes Liam Denning. The restaurant business is lousy these days, but Darden Restaurants Inc. has [no reason to be salty about Olive Garden](, writes Sarah Halzack. Quick Hits The Gap Inc. is launching a men’s athleisure line? [Why the heck not](? But it’s a crowded field. – Sarah Halzack We may have Trump to thank for [Putin’s recent dovishness]( on Syria. – Leonid Bershidsky Republicans probably won’t get a second bite at the tax-cut apple, but if they do, here are [three ways to improve it](. – Karl Smith Here are [five key economic indicators]( besides GDP and unemployment. – Noah Smith A gender gap [doesn’t have to spell]( political doom for Republicans. – Ramesh Ponnuru Dems see a surprising chance to [nab a House seat in Ohio]( from the GOP. – Al Hunt Fast-car-driving hedge-fund managers [take bigger, dumber risks](, according to science and common sense. – Matt Levine ICYMI Cantor Fitzgerald 9/11 survivor Howard Lutnick is [now a billionaire](. New Jersey Transit is about to get [even more terrible](, if you can believe it. Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser is in [negotiations to testify]( in Congress next week. Kickers Mysterious thing that died 558 million years ago [was an animal](, it turns out. Octopuses get [annoyingly touchy-feely when they’re on ecstasy](. Octopuses are [really, really smart too](, by the way. Forget rock lobster; this Maine restaurant [serves them stoned](. When will our football mascots [learn proper t-shirt cannon safety?]( Why some U.S. schools are [banning yoga](. A Buddhist temple in Taiwan has been converted to [a shrine to China’s Communist Party](. -- Special thanks to honorary assistant Kickers editor Scott Duke Kominers. Note: Please send stoned lobsters, suggestions and kicker ideas to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. *** New subscribers can [sign up here](. [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]( [Twitter Share]( SEND TO A FRIEND [Share with a friend] You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022 If you believe this has been sent to you in error, please safely [unsubscribe](.