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Treasury Warns Of "Humanitarian Crisis" In Puerto Rico If Congress Does Not Agree To Bailout
"Puerto Rico is not Greece"... but it increasingly looks like it will be in a few weeks, thanks to US taxpayers who are about to foot the bill for yet another creditor bailout.
As we reported last night, creditors of the insolvent commonwealth, hoping to get a bailout and the highest possible return on their bond investment courtesy of the US taxpayer, have been pushing to portray the fiscal situation in Puerto Rico as beyond repair, hoping to force the administration and Congress to act. As The NY Times reported, on Wednesday, Puerto Rico took the unusual step of announcing that talks over restructuring about $750 million of the island’s debt had broken off, a move that some creditors saw as posturing to Washington for help.
Then, all day today, Puerto Rico's leadership, realizing its interests are suddenly alligned with those of its creditors as a bailout is in everyone's best interest, took the rhetoric up a notch when the island’s Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said in written testimony for Senate Energy Committee that Puerto Rico will have negative cash balance of $29.8 million in November 2015, and then added that the Puerto Rico Government Development Bank may be unable to make its $355 million debt service. "These GDB bonds are supported by a guarantee from the Commonwealth, and the GDB, which faces its own liquidity crisis, is not expected to be able to make the payment on its own based on current information."
Others quickly chimed in: Puerto Rico Senate President Eduardo Bhatia said he would be in favor of "including everything" in a broad, comprehensive restructuring of the debt.
In short: bail us out now or face the consequences of a domino effect of defaults which puts not only the creditors, but the island itself, in dire straits.
The gambit is working. As we reported yesterday citing Bloomberg, "Obama is pressing for Congress to give Puerto Rico sweeping powers to reduce its $73 billion debt burden through bankruptcy, escalating administration involvement as the Caribbean island’s access to cash dries up."
Puerto Rico would be provided with a form of bankruptcy protection not now available to American territories. Administration officials also called for lawmakers on Wednesday to increase health-care funding for Puerto Rico, extend tax credits to the poor and put independent oversight in place to monitor the government’s budget.
While Republican opposition to a broad bailout has been the base case, even that has been melting away in recent days: Bloomberg adds that the Republican leadership would be willing to grant Puerto Rico access to the bankruptcy courts only on a limited basis, and only with strings attached like the imposition of a federal “control board” to oversee the island’s finances.
Control boards have been used in cases of severe municipal distress to take the power to spend public money out of the hands of elected officials. They do not generally have the powers that bankruptcy judges do to abrogate contracts, such as labor contracts and promises to repay debt.
Or largely a technicality, one which would make Puerto Rico a comp to Greece, a "sovereign state" which is now de facto controlled out of Frankfurt and Brussels. Only in the case of Puerto Rico it would be the US taxpayers that are on the hook.
So with the framework for the bailout largely in place, there is just one thing missing: the trigger that will push the last holdouts to agree.
Luckily one already exist: the same one used to force the bailout of the banking system in 2008: an appeal to emotions, and a threat of dire consequences, unless a few conflicted parties get their way.
This is precisely what happened today when as Reuters reports Treasury Secretary counselor Antonio Weiss warned that Puerto Rico faces a humanitarian crisis without federal action, as he appealed to Congress to help the debt-ridden U.S. territory, in comments to a Senate committee hearing on Thursday.
In other words, bail out Puerto Rico or watch the island go up in a cloud or violent riots. But please, whatever you do, don't call it a bailout: "Weiss said that without action by Congress, Puerto Rico's crisis would escalate and reiterated that the Obama administration's policies were "not a bailout" for the island."
Which, naturally, is the spin that the holdout Republicans should use to justify their action before their voters: bail Puerto Rico out... just don't call it a bailout.
The rest is already known: he repeated the key points of a plan released by the Treasury on Wednesday, saying Congress should provide tools for Puerto Rico to restructure its liabilities, increase Medicaid support and boost economic growth through tax credits. Again: it's "not a bailout."
A key element of Treasury's proposal is its endorsement of extending bankruptcy protections not only to Puerto Rico's public agencies, but to the island's government itself - a notion championed by some Puerto Rican leaders but seen as too radical to be politically practical.
Cities, towns and municipal agencies can file for under the U.S. Chapter 9 bankruptcy code, while states cannot. Puerto Rico is exempt from Chapter 9 because it is a commonwealth.
And just in case it was lost, here it is again: "Bankruptcy is not a bailout," Weiss said, according to testimony released ahead of his remarks. "Allowing Puerto Rico to resolve its liabilities under the supervision of a bankruptcy court involves no federal financial assistance whatsoever. Instead, bankruptcy requires shared sacrifice from both Puerto Rico and its creditors."
What he forgot to add is that with both Puerto Rico and its creditors being made whole on their bonds, and getting a backstop from the government, nothing will change, and the only sacrifice, very much unshared, will be by the usual patsy - US taxpayers.
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This should be good for Dow +500 at least.
Will Iowa jab hurt Trump?http://tinyurl.com/qg657ve
Yeah, just think of all the fund managers that have been enjoying high PR returns that would be hurt if we don’t make them whole.
They would be humans in crisis.
A banking humanitarian crisis is more like it.
'Treasury Warns Of "Humanitarian Crisis"'
Yeah, its called Amerikkka....
Performing as designed and planned....
52 second state after Guam, Samoa...
Oh, wait.
Puerto Rico: drop dead!
should be the headline... how long have these "creditors" been pocketing the large yield? There is this thing called "risk", st least there used to be...
Sorry, too risky
~"Treasury Warns Of "Humanitarian Crisis" In Puerto Rico If Congress Does Not Agree To Bailout"~
Jack Lew is a lying sockcucker. This is nothing more than an attempt to conflagrate the upcoming budget deadline. His rationale for this little tactic is "We need to raise the debt limit to bail out Puerto Rico". That's it. If PR defaults, do you want to know what will happen?
Since Boriquas are members of the commonwealth, they all have US passports. If things turn shitty on Boriquen, the typical Puerto Rican will do what he/she has always done. They hop a flight to the mainland. I hear Orlando is very popular these days. No haircuts, no hardships, (short of having to move in with family in the States).
The truth of the matter is that the USA needs PR a whole lot more than vice versa. PR is the "forward operating post" for US military might into the Caribean, mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic Oceans. Look, this is simple. America is going to "bail out" Puerto Rico. The question has to be what does she get bang-for-the-buck-wise for it.
I would think that the wisest thing to do is to a) call the bailout what it is and refer to it in the future as a rental fee for use of the military bases there and b) put an end to all Puerto Ricans on the island from all federal government welfare support, (which they get now). Move to the states, get treated like a citizen, stay on the island, swim for yourself. Puerto Rico's biggest problem is that it is too small for the number of people trying to live there. Let's face it, 3.5 million people living in an area of 100 by 35 miles is just too cramped.Personally I would much rather the Feds resettle 200,000 Puerto ricans to places like Idaho and Nebraska than Syrians, but that just me. But seriously, the island has at least one million inhabitants too many.
For years the Puerto Rican people have lived in the best of both worlds. They have steadfastly a) refused to vote for independence or b) for statehood, instead living in this delightful limbo-land of commonwealth, (a remnant of colonial life). It is certainly time for them to fish or cut bait, as the saying goes. I do not see it as inherently a bad thing for Puerto Rico to spend some time arrancao (broke). It needs to wean itself from the federal yankee-dollar.
Lastly, in the interest of full disclosure, let me say that I am biased in favor of Puerto Rico. I grew up there from the time I was two until after my 14th birthday. Puerto Rico shares a common history with the US much akin that of Guam, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands and the Northern Marianas. Their citizens have fought and died in our wars and still do to this day. The ties that hold the US and these far-flung lands are very strong and tight. But the time for colonial welfare has come and gone and both parties, (the US and PR), have to come to terms with that now.
Not sure if Jack Lew is lying about PR. PR isn't a pretty place to visit. Have a co-worker that escaped from PR, vowed never to return. Ever!!
The issue is that once PR gets a gov't bailout, there are probably another 20+ states/terriorities that will be asking "what about me?". PR will open the door to other state-level bankrupcies. The state of IL seems to be at the top, with $8.5 Billion in unpaid bills from 2014 & 2015, and a budget gap of more than $5 Billion for 2016. I think the Fed will probably start buying state\muni debt in the next round of QE.
You're right about all the other broke-dick states and territories, AGuy. It will be interesting, (and I mean that in a bad way), to see if the House raises the debt limit. Your statement about the Fed buying state/muni debt is probably very accurate too. I do not see them sorting this out, just more can kicking. These fuckers can't come to terms with the blood-letting that must occur for the ship to right itself.
Puerto Ricans are all Greeks, now.
All according to the Cloward-Piven strategy.
In this case, the bailout consists of a troika of DC politicos and their Wall Street financial enablers actually taking direct control of PR, just like the ECB, et al, have done to Greece.
Then there'll be Detroit followed by Chicago and Philly, thence on to Illinois and the rest of the states, cities and counties of the US gradually subsumed by the (Borg) Leviathan under the guise of diversity, racial harmony, equity, redistribution, humanitarian relief, equitably, No Political Subdivision Left Behind, common core mongering ..... whatever.
All's going swimmingly... And Paul Ryan will rally the Establishment Republicans behind the Democrats, behind the Bankers, behind the Illuminati ..... etc
It was a great 200 years while it lasted
You can betchur ass
It's gonna be really funny watching this shitcicle melt down from afar, the clawing & begging for scraps from the same SOB's that forced them to be beggars.
At one time I thought I would fight and die here, no more, they're simply not worth it.
They are beggers, 3 million with 72 billion in debt.
Anyone can do the division.
Another fetid phoney debt bill.
OK, First come PR, the IL, CA, MI, NJ, and the rest there after in no particular order. US can change its name to UBA - United Bailouts of America. New National Sloan Land of the Brave^H^H^HBankers and the Free-Loaders!
Make Will Banzai can do a new American Flag. Each Star now has a Logo of the business or state that got bailed out. Use the Strips for US funded terriorist groups to support oversea proxy war.
+100
Dup
Population: 3 million
Debt: 72 B-illion.
Ah, ya think there might be a laundromat there?
Proposed new US debt ceiling: 19.6T
US population: ~320M...
------------------------------------------
Washington douchenozzles working harder to make Puerto Rico look fiscally responsible!
Are we Men? Or Are we Democrats? Future Speaker Ryan, your first bailout if you please.
We are Devo!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JdS-sSKsBc
Let mexico have it
They are in line behind Goldman
Fuck'em. Let Goldman buy the island and deal with it.
Fuck'em. Let Goldman buy the island with equally fake paper and exile the entire fucking company there along with JP Morgan, and Citi Group. Send Congress, the Senate, and SCOTUS there while you are at it. Then, drop a 500 kiloton bomb on it, For The Children.
Lets all work harder so we can bail out moar creditors.
It's the humane thing to do.
Put them on the PR disease research monkey island! These research monkeys are fertile and aggressive.. ( :
"Authorities recently acknowledged that a clan of the moneys, escapees from defunct medical research laboratories on the southern coast, had turned up about 20 miles from metropolitan San Juan -- home to 1.5 million residents and countless hiding places...Primates are not native to Puerto Rico. But the island has been home to one monkey species since the 1950s, when scientists brought them here for medical experiments. The animals -- descendants of the patas and rhesus monkeys that escaped from research labs -- are fertile and aggressive"
http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jul/31/nation/na-monkeys31
Many are being too harsh on PR; after all they are a very patriotic bunch:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/cc/bd/d7/ccbdd70618c109f86444b...
"As long as they got the curves, I got the angles!"
47% of Puerto Rico's GDP is derived from tourism.
You can help a fellow member of the Republic out by planning a vacation there instead of all of this complaining!
Come on gang, do the right thing.
They also have some big pharma there, I drove by a pharmaceutical facility there once and it was surrounded with prison like fences and the barbed wire on top was turned in. They either are very concerned about theft or they have received some government funds for turning their production facility into a potential detention center. I want to say it was Merck but I am not positive, it was on the main drag between San Juan and the Isabella area. That place has always been a tinderbox ready to go, if you are white get out now.
If your not white... sorry guys we are all going down together this time and you can't move here. Even if they bail them out it is coming anyway eventually.
Eli Lilly used to have a sizable operation down there, but my knowledge of this is at least 30 years old.
Yep, the place is loaded with pharma and yet everybody is mostly dirt poor. I am going to guess between them and the banks they will get their bailout and nobody will be talking much about how this cluster came to be.
"Eli Lilly opened its first plant on the island in 1960, and today the majority of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, including Abbott Laboratories, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer and Wyeth operate facilities on Puerto Rico. In fact, the island, which now boasts a staggering $60 billion in pharmaceutical industry infrastructure, including 89 FDA-approved pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical plants, is the world's 5th largest pharmaceutical manufacturing region, after the U.S., the U.K., Japan and France."
http://www.pharmaceuticalonline.com/doc/puerto-ricos-pharmaceutical-industry-40-years-0003
So that's where they make the FDA approved horse spit tablets.
BTW, I ask you all, what Big Money has lots and lots of PR bonds?
Who's your daddy?
IDK you got me knucks. I know UBS is involved in some fraudstering there, Oppenheimer, Blackstone supposedly disinvested (but who knows about that). Pretty sure lots retirement funds are at huge risk. I am going to guess it's a Soros or a Koch..
No shit. So it's alright that these mf'ers can get some slave labor offshore- and then gouge the fuck out of us and try to pass laws to prevent us from engaging in competition of all things- by buying prescriptions beyond these price gouging borders.
Unfuckingbelievable. Big pharma will get their bailout. I'm so sick of seeing the corporate oligarchy sticking a cock in our ass- when do we start stringing these fuckers like xmas lights?
Hey now, whay kind'a 'Merican is you? This country was built on flim, flam and scam!
Keep up that anti-America crap and you might get a visit from Homeland and three years in a for profit Supermax.
Safty-Kleen had a large hazardous waste depot there, but for some fucking reason the Ricans
didn't like contaminated soil and water. Pussys if you ask me, espeacially considering NIMBY.
Research the tax holidays of Pharma there. Start with the IRS 936 Program.
"They either are very concerned about theft or they have received some government funds for turning their production facility into a potential detention center."
The security measures may have been mandated by gov't regulations. It could be producing pain killers or making flu vacines (ie handing contagious diseases). If its Merck, perhaps it not pharma at all since Merck also produces non pharma products (ie works very hazadous chemicals).
All the people who can still afford to have a vacation can afford MUCH nicer places that Puerto Rico.
Sorry to say it, but the place is a shit-hole. (Personal experience and reasonable judgement)
Good to know we won't be seeing you at sunset.
The whole island is crawling with puerto ricans.
I deal with some local PR pharma guys...they say this is true. Most cities are mostly slums with lots of crime (mostly minor like muggins and attacks). They say that even though they are local that they avoid alot of areas...signs of the time I guess. It's the same in Amerika.
Viva Rincon!
Yeah, and the other 52% of GDP is welfare, fedgov disability, fed/local gov "workers"
The 1% of GDP is rum and heroin.
They are not a member of the republic. Besides, for the last 20 plus years they have voted against independence by the slimmest of margins, and now we know why. Had they gone independent, there would have been no one to off load their obligations onto. Screw 'em!
Align that spellchecker...five stars otherwise, though. The Puerto Rican muni debt bomb is the tip of the government debt iceberg.
Bankruptcy is not a bailout. It is the alternative to a bailout. A creditor is responsible for evaluating risk and this should include the risk of bankruptcy. It should not include a bailout and the Founding Generation should have put that into the Constitution.
I fail to see why a government running out of money is a humanitaritan crisis. You say that now the government can't hand out any benefits? With government money always comes government control. Yes, it will be a short term disruption, but in the end Puerto Rico will be better off.
The whole island runs off the Gov't tit. Nothing but a bunch of shitty hotels are left. There will be pain and mass migrations to Miami and N.Y.
Seriously. What is the creditor's justification for confiscatory interest rates if they are completely and always backstopped against loss by the US taxpayer? SHouldn't loans be at, oh, 0.05% ?
The bribes have to come out of the interest.
"It should not include a bailout and the Founding Generation should have put that into the Constitution."
They didn't put it in there because to them it was common sense.....
Sort of like they didn't put in the constitution that men marry women and have kids....that's common sense, why would it need to be in there?
I'll give the left credit, when they couldn't win the arguments, they just debased the Queen's English and it was all down hill from there.
Whether they are bailed out or they default is meanlingless. If they default, the investors take it in the ass....as it should be.
If they are bailed out, the US tax payer takes it in the ass and continues to up to and beyond the revaluation of the FRNs to their intrinsic value.
Squid
send in Hank Tanks in the Streets Paulson ...
The treasury threatens...they don't warn.
Soon coming to NYC: one million more puerto ricans,better start printing those EBT cards and fast!
That, and Orlando Florida.
I get a distinct visual of thousands of them overwhelming the infrastructure of Disney World on EBT all expense paid ....
Then of course, the Propaganda Producer Deluxe, Disney, gets their bailout and funding to build 3 more PR oriented parks ....
Sure, a PR themed Disney Park with a cock fight arena and Fried Plantain on a stick will be the ticket.
All I know is Freakin Reakins drive like shit...
Same with "Costa" Ricans. Must be the Ricans. Hey-- Isn't that Spanish for "rich"? Maybe not.
People might not see this as a signal to great trouble coming. But let's face it, if we don't Bail them out, the social breakdown will be absolute and earth shattering. The USA will have a failed state in it's territory, and mass migration of millions will be certain. US cities will see several millions arrive inside short time frames. Social services will be pressed as never before. Tax payer reamed out big time. Local home owners and local sales taxes will shoot for the moon1
I see this a crisis of epic potential. America seems totally stable and rich. But the illusion can be exposed by a failure of PR and the attendent millions of migrants.
Obama and Congress will be hard pressed to agree, and only massses of money can save this. Note also, under the table, the USA is filtering several billion dollars into Kiev to prevent failure. This is money PR needs, but will not get.
Let the games begin. Watch this story, it could be THE story of 2016.
"USA will have a failed state in it's territory"
I got news for ya. All "57" of those states are gonna fail..
And i'm long ketchup too.
Makes you wonder if commenter Jack Burton doesn't have something to gain in seeing a bailout happen.
And if millions do end up coming over here, the the Rolling Stones prophecy about some Puerto Rican girls just dying to meet you could be on the plus side.
Bring it on.
Let's get this started, so that we can look forward to a new (same as the old).
Edit: RedPill Fail, still stuck in the Matrix.
Niggers get uppity on the regular here, already. Let's add some 'diversity' to the 'uppity' mix, 'cuz diversity is our greatest strength.
I am surprised that they are not threatening to import all of Puerto Rico (along with Syrian war refugees/ ISIS) if they don't get their bailout... maybe that will come later.
This could backfire when the Fee Shit Army State Side realizes that the flood of Foreign Free Shitters will be nawing on their cheese wheel.
Plenty extra room in Sweden.
Give them their independence.
Sure, The Governor of Puerto Rico could declare independence, join the Crimea and offer the Russians a place to put in a naval and missile base. Then wait for all that freshly printed US dollars pour into his state.
Whodathunk the Puerto Ricans, who bring such excellent cultural activities to the USA like the Puerto Rican Day Parade in NYC, would find themselves broke and looking for a handout?
OK, call me an idiot but I was under the assumption that a BK means any creditors/bonds will take a haircut. WTF are some people saying the PTB are planning to pay the bonds @ 100%?? Who is going to pay for this? Us? Lmfao. We can barely afford to pay for the higher food costs, higher medical bills and a good beer!
They'll just take it out in the increased Obamacare premiums.
Prepare to get ass raped again.
And the looting is easy.
https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/complex-systems-and-the-hu...
https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/pan-galactic-buggery-game/
Let's be honest. Hunter S. Thompson knew the AshkeNAZI wanted to make drugs and gambling in the Caribbean, and they did.
Only JFK tried to stop them, and said he would shatter their AshkeNAZI CIA into a thousand pieces.
Then....
Well, we know what happened next.
More war. More drugs. More gambling, and Sheldon Adelson's millions tells him that he will buy the next President, just as he bought Bibi's win in Israhell.
'The love of money is the root of all evil.'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBecM3CQVD8
Sympathy for the devil.
"Pleased to meet you...
What's puzzling you is the nature of my game...stood around St Petersburg when it needed change...
Your kings and queens, and the Kennedys..."
Children: know your enemy. It is the love of money, and the AshkeNAZI.
Drugs, hookers and gambling - what could go wrong?
Antonio Weiss
??? Are you fucking kidding????
LOL!
They are quite powerful that is a certainty:
Dr Kevin MacDonald's chapter on immigration
Where do we apply to be a state of the united states?
I declare the inside of my skin sovereign land, demand to be given state hood, and I demand a bailout.
I have a population of over a billion cells that are all hungry, a dollar each should doit.
We would also like funds to build a few more cell walls, those pesky bird flus flying in from mexico are a real threat.
We would also like a chair at the U.N. and a Nuclear Deal.
^^....
Since 1917 PRs have been US Citizens. Getting all the free $$$ and goodies. There are more PRs in FLORIDA than in PR, they moved to NYC in the 1950s and went right on welfare and all the rest of the goodies. The PRs are a 3rd world people, like Hondurans and Guatemalans, and Zimbabweans, et al.
In fact Florida has had so many recent PR arrivals that the state will most likely go for Hillary in 2016. Hatians there under Temporary status, which means they will never go home, are also firm Demonrat voters.
And guess who foots the bill? YOU GUESSED: Whitey!
Funny how being forced to live within your means is now considered a "humanitarian crisis". So scary. Our ancestors somehow managed live under such circumstances without all the drama. It's called life, deal with it.
Are there even any Puerto Ricans left on the island? I thought 99% of them lived in NY and the tri-state area.
Hmmm... Let me think...
Hey, why don't we try spending less?
:-o :-o :-o :-o :-o :-o :-o :-o :-o :-o :-o :-o
That suggestion must be politically incorrect, cuz I never hear it.
Can't spend less, 'cause every year is an election year now.
That's it! Time to mobilize folks. Get on social media and get the word out that this is nothing but a creditor bailout and we have seen how shitty of a deal that is. They'll laugh in the people's face again right after they get the bailout just like they continue to do today after 2009 fin crisis Get on twitter, Facebook, any type of social media and let them know the scare tactics are bullshit the creditors just don't want to lose.
Listen if an individual invested in high yield bonds and the company went under, no one is going to be there to pay you for your loss. It's a risky investment and if it goes bad you take the loss. There are risks to investing and believe me these creditors know what risk is, they just hate taking a loss so they are going to go cry about it to Congress like a bunch of worthless cronies who without their handouts wouldn't have their nice cars and big houses. Wipe that smile right off their face by making sure they eat this loss. Instead they'll continue laughing at the people while they talk about how great an investor they are and that's why they have more than you.
What if people had access to food and shelter without the Federal Reserve's enslaving currency?
You must mean like food stamps, section 8 housing vouchers and Medicare transportation rides.
There's a whole segment of the population already living 24/7 just like that. In fact, PR is a good example of why this sort of welfare state does not work. Eventually the whole country will be in the same boat as PR if things don't get turned around. Some would argue, we're already there under Obama.
On another more serious note, boy, am I getting sick of this fat broad with her legs spread apart wearing the size 22 two-piece tent, that she's trying to pass off as a bathing suit. If this was a strip joint, I'd get up and walk out before she took something off and made me vomit. She reminds me of the banana swallowing girls in the far east porn carnivals. What the hell is she gonna do next???
I say, let it play out.
"[...] Puerto Rico will have negative cash balance of $29.8 million in November 2015 [...]"
You don't get a negative cash balance unless some dupe tries to cash your worthless checks. So, like I say, let's let it play out, and see who the dupes are that cash the PR checks. We have to stop rewarding what are clearly very bad business decisions, and even criminal fraud.
And let the bond holders bend over real hard, stretch their skinny necks, and kiss themselves whole.
Otherwise, who's gonna bail out Illinois, Indiana, Chicago and many scores of other troubled political entities in North America, including Canada and Mexico?
Politics should not keep bad-check writers out of jail. And the ubiquitous stupid bond investors need to stop thnking they're doing God's work by setting themselves up to collect interest on these bonanza-boob-bonds that cannot possibly be repaid.
After PR collapses, and the place settles down, wiping out the more surly fraction of the PR population, PR might again someday be a decent vacation destination. But right now, PR just sounds like just another one of the many very dangerous places in the world to visit with everyone, including an utterly corrupt government, looking for something for nothing. What's in your wallet, jackass?
I'm not going to Haiti or Jamaica either. And Mexico has no appeal. Cuba? Only time will tell.
Fuck that. I'll stay in northern Maine, thanks.
He that goes bankrupt first wins. (While there is still 'money')
As the poster below said.
"Otherwise, who's gonna bail out Illinois, Indiana, Chicago and many scores of other troubled political entities in North America, including Canada and Mexico?"
Yep ... do an Iceland.
Achieve sustainability before the bubble bursts.
Chattericans. I don't even wish that I could feel sorry for them. Give them their independence that they say they want.
How about "We have heard all of this shit before. Prove it! Let the motherfucker burn!".
Trial ballon for every failed Democratic state and local government that facing the same problem. A bailout will not fix the systemic problems. Just like paying a gamblers debt does not stop the person from gambling. Tough love is what is needed. A federal government can't operate a territory government without screwing things up. Time for major reform not more money!
from the nyt: Antonio Weiss, the former Wall Street banker...
as we all know wall street bankers are VERY concerned with humanitarian causes. lulz /SARCASM (that maggot smells a profit on distressed debt via bailouts. the old tricks are the best tricks)
from wiki:
Around $30 billion or about 42% of Puerto Rico's outstanding debt is owned by residents of Puerto Rico...
Nearly 70% of U.S.-based municipal bond funds own Puerto Rican bonds or have some kind of exposure to Puerto Rico.[az] A notable cause for this tendency is the fact that Puerto Rican bonds are triple tax-exempt in all of the states regardless of where the bond holder resides...
On October 15, 2015, White House spokesman Josh Earnest denied reports that the US Treasury will bail out Puerto Rico...
the hell they won't. if the tribe wants a bailout, a bailout they shall get.
I know and knew a number of the hard working people from the island. Been there three times and enjoyed it greatly. Wonderful place, full of history, steeped in colonialism along the shoreline. Now, I still know PR people. I'm about half and half. It's kinda like the Mexican situation. Many of the PR people I know are hard working stiffs, working here for low wages in doldrum factory jobs that still exist. They "think", and this is from personal perspective, that they are somewhat slaves here, but it's better than chasing chickens in PR; they can get a paycheck and not drink Rum all day.
So many of them are on the Fed dole, and working, and barely making it. (With iPhones, Big TV's, ESPN, and Cable bills that want to make me puke my intestines out.) But this is America!!!
Why? Because small business manufactureres can't stay competative any other way. They simply have to have thier employees subsidized by the Federal Government in order to MAKE A PROFIT!
And so it goes. "Laizzai Faire" is now Government "Faire". And this is where we are at.
Immigrants have a life to lead as well. But first, they are immigrants, and should fend for themselves.
PR is a nice place to visit.
So should America be!
The Old Man
I can't believe Haiti, the DR and half of Central and South America haven't emptied out up here yet. Last I looked Haiti had like 3.8% HIV infection rate which was something like 190,000 people and that is just what they know about. Florida is going to become a complete disaster and it wont be contained there. The only safe place in the US will probably be -30 below zero belt in ND and believe me the cold would be the least of your problems there.
At some point we will probably have a sea of rafts headed this way to join in on the exceptionalism. Of course our authorities are aware of this and they have responded by erasing our border protections.
Actually, you should pull up a Goggle map (yes I know I misspelled it...lol) and look at all those fresh cut roads (that look like subdivisions) with no houses in the DR.
Methinks someone(s) is swapping Detroit for the Caribe ;-)
Someone is drowning .... you offer a hand up .... they grab your leg and pull you in .... you both drown !
Americans are now and always have been The Kings Of Euphemistic Bullshit.
Where do you think our leaders learned how to do that?
Nuclear armageddon is inevitable .... man has never failed to play with his military toys .... so, the only decision .... do we want a helter skelter, senseless, fratricidal Armageddon .... or a planned, designer Armageddon that eliminates problematic people and cultures .... and gives the environment a fresh start .... I call it "The Jew Deal" .... all the responsible nuclear players get together .... and wipe out the Zero Nukes ?
Don't know how many ZH'ers have been to Cuba, but the US is setting itself up to support that island nation also.
Not a penny has been spent on public infastructure since the 1960s.
At this point, an entire overhaul is needed.
Overwelm the system.
Top down, bottom up.
inside out.
The Cloward and Piven plan will result in the greatest mass extermination of people this planet has ever seen.
Smoke-em if you got em. We've got a hundred miles of Bad, Bad road in front of us.
Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.
It is really all holders of the rapidly failing currency and not just 'taxpayers' who will foot the bill.
Here is it again: "blood in the street"-fearmongering, if the 1% don't get a bail out.
Moar 'Humanitarian Crisis'.
When do we get to shaft the elites, and have a Lizardarian Crisis?
Just Default.
Send a message to creditors - know your debtor.
Any bailout should come with a Puerto Rican voter and us citizenship birthrighs exclusion laws, no statehood, no free shit, no vote.
Treasury warns. Government agency issuing a statement by definition it's propaganda meant to induce a response favorable to the select. Act accordingly.
Well Greece can't move en mass to NY or Florida like PR is already doing.i
Next up ... Bailing out Cuba.