"Everyone is in agreement that the federal government needs to address Puerto Rico's insolvency sooner rather than later. What that would entail is where the consensus breaks down." http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-p...n-rhetoric-but-bad-in-reality/article/2001908 "The Heritage Foundation and other limited government advocates have vociferously protested extending bankruptcy of any sort to Puerto Rico, arguing that doing so ex post amounts to an unfair deal for the investors who bought the island's bonds thinking that the island had no recourse to Chapter 9. While that might be a solid conservative precept, the problem is that without some sort of haircut on the island's debt it's going to leave taxpayers on the hook to prop up the island's finances." Bingo. It's the Donald Trump Bankruptcy Scam writ large. An entity that can pay, like Donald Trump, doesn't want to pay, like Donald Trump, so let's make a legal scam so he can keep the money he's borrowed and screw the people who lent him the money or agreed to bill him for their services. Now, Puerto Rico wants the same Trump Bankruptcy Scam deal. "The trouble with allowing such a broad debt restructuring is the fact that there are a few states with their own fiscal problems - most notably Illinois, with a pension plan teetering on insolvency and a completely wrecked state budget - that are looking for a way to continue postponing making any difficult decisions. The prospect of the federal government allowing them to declare bankruptcy and haircut their general obligation debts would take a lot of pressure off, allowing them to postpone reforms and potentially raising the cost of borrowing for all states." I have no doubt they will pursue this, or something similar, to get liberal failures like Illinois off the hook. That will have to be followed by legislation making it possible to the states to force people to buy their bonds at a low rate which they won't be planning on paying anyway. Oh, and the "some sort of haircut on the debt" seems to be a cutesy way of saying, "some way to stiff the suckers who loaned them money".
I have often wondered what the financial markets would look like if there were no public bonds to use as a life raft during hard times. Allowing the public to not pay out bondholders would likewise make it very difficult for the public to finance infrastructure projects at an affordable rate.
Puerto Rico debt news: http://youdontknowfootball.com/2016/05/puerto-rico-government-bank-in-tentative-deal-with-key204985/
The relationship of the U. S. with Puerto Rico is a relic of a bygone era dating back to the Spanish-American War of 1898. Ever since the end of World War II over seventy years ago, PR has been of no real use to the U. S. at all, except as a breeding ground for cheap labor that could be imported without "green cards", etc. Now that we don't even bother to enforce immigration laws for illegal aliens at all, none of that makes any difference anyway. We need to cut Puerto Rico loose and let them go ahead and be independent from us. They are nothing but an unproductive, parasitic drag on the United States. And, above all, we absolutely should NOT "step in" and rescue anybody who invested in the corrupt, criminal pile of crap that PR has been for decades! Let the buyer beware! And that applies to all the "get rich quick" investors who foolishly dumped money into the PR septic tank....
The inevitable obvious result of the welfare state, socialism. Typical, no surprise at all. Pols buying themselves elections with handouts until bankrupt..
Yeah but you know whats going to happen don't you. Theres about 3.5 million people in PR and probably 90% are living off of welfare. Do you really believe for one minute that a bunch of Democrats in Washington DC are going to let a chance slip by to make sure that all these slackers vote for Democrats for the rest of the lives? Plus don't forget that a lot of rich speculators have serious money tied up there and we have already seen how both Repub and Demo slimebags will do anything on earth to save rich gamblers. Too big to fail, remember?
Which is exactly why Democrats are supportive of Puerto Rico becoming a state. Obama expressed interest in Washington DC becoming a state as well. It's amazing how every attempt to expand voting rights just-so-happens to occur amongst groups who vote overwhelmingly for the Democratic Party.
IF it is a scam that Puerto Rico wants, as you claim, then screw them.. I say we arrest PR, blockade all but flower, they have water, and let them find their own way for a few decades.
I lived in PR for 4 years and even took on a local for my first wife. In PR 1 out of every 4 people work for the government, or at least that's the way it was. The corruption/incompetence is so bad down there that locally grown pineapples cost more than those shipped in from Hawaii. The excuse is that PR pineapples have white interiors but people prefer the golden interior of Hawaii's. They taste the same. Anyway, that's how messed up that place is. But a large part of PR's economy is tourism and all anyone has to do it remind the Puerto Ricans that Obama gave them competition when he opened up Cuba - Puerto Ricans hate Cubans and Dominicans - so that reminder should go over quite well. My ex now lives in Kissimmee and she said the place is flooded with unemployed Puerto Ricans who went there when they couldn't find jobs in PR. She said the crime these PRs commit is horrendous and they ruin neighborhoods.
when I went to Puerto Rico about 10 -15 years ago, it was doing bad then too, other then the resort areas, all the houses looked poor and had bars on the windows, doesn't surprise me they are going BK
Bars on the windows are common down there. They're also common in So Cal and El Paso though they are needed in So Cal and NOT El Paso. Believe it or not, I'm told the bars are a cultural thing. I don't know if they are, but that's what I was told.
Porto Pooro is a (*)(*)(*)(*)hole and should be allowed to drown on their own. Just like meheeco and every other lazy non producing leech state.
Village houses in Bali, Indonesia, don't even have windows or doors in the openings. Apparently theft and mosquitos aren't problems.
Funny you should mention El Paso. I lived there a couple of years in the early 80's and there was very little crime at all. The Mexican-American citizens and us Anglos got along very well, and everybody just LIKED each other. It was a wonderful place to work and live, believe it or not. We also used to be able to go across the river to Juarez and have no problems, either. My wife and I used to go shopping over there often, especially for liquor, but for other things, too. And even on a busy day, it didn't take you more than about 20 - 30 minutes to cross back into Texas, especially at a smaller crossing like down at Zaragosa. Now they tell me everything has changed, and that El Paso is riddled with crime and that Juarez is so bad that you don't go over there in anything but a clunker car that you wouldn't mind walking away from if somebody stages an "accident" to shake you, the American, down for money and have you put into a Mexican jail, where you are shaken down for more money. I miss the 80's for a lot of reasons, and I sure miss the El Paso I knew then....
all the best citizens of those countries have already snuck into America, only the dregs are left to pay the bills.
I lived in El Paso for 2 years and now live in Las Cruces which isn't far away. The crime in EP isn't bad and they still bill themselves as the safest city in America, but I don't know what crime was like when you were there so maybe it's worse now by comparison. When I lived there all my neighbors were Mexicans and they were the best neighbors I've ever had. Everyone looked out for each other and I was always welcome in their homes. If anyone ever tried to rob my house when I was working my neighbors would have made sure the criminal never made it to the curb. Going into Juarez? Forget it. Too dangerous and the lines coming back are insanely long. I had techs in EP who had relatives in Juarez and won't go visit them for the reasons I mentioned. As a gringo, I was told to stay the hell out of there and the Fort Bliss soldiers have been ordered to stay out of Mexico. But I heard that back in the day Juarez was party town.
I loved living in El Paso, and my biggest regret is that I couldn't speak Spanish. I loved the Mexican-American people who lived in El Paso, and believe me, there were few places I would have rather lived in the 1980's. The Mexican-American women were absolutely beautiful, and everybody really made an effort to look great and be nice -- sort of the polar-opposite to the slovenly, trashed-out way we live in the U. S. now. Juarez was great to visit also, and nobody had any problems. Back in those days the "Policia Azul" kept air-tight law and order over there... I thought they still did, but maybe that has changed, too. Puerto Rico? I really don't know anything about it except that it is a big drag and drain on the economy, and knowing our slimebag politicians and the power of lobbyist money, we'll end up "subsidizing" their economic crimes there and bailing them out, just like we prop up "subsidies" in everything else in this nauseating, Obamanite, socialistic economy we have today.
Also, not having the backstop of any kind of federal government bailout would mean that the bonds would be priced to included all the risk involved. Profligate cities that are hostile to business, accommodate public employee unions too generously, manage their cities poorly would find it much more difficult to borrow money to finance streets, roads, schools, and public buildings. Public entities that encouraged business growth (thus ensuring expanded tax collections to fund bond payments), controlled public employee expenses and wisely spent and managed their money would find it much easier and would get the best rates and terms.
It is a little funny to me that the democrats who are always trashing red states do not grasp that red states generally have better bond ratings precisely because they spend their borrowed money more wisely and also need to borrow less of it.
Yes, because oddly enough, a less punitive tax environment leads to more business and economic activity and MORE tax revenue for government. Its MAGIC!!!! Although, even here in Texas, government has proven incompetent at managing its money at times. The city just recently discovered that various city accounts held nearly $52 million in unspent bond money. The money was sitting in the accounts because incompetent government had no idea it was there or how it got there. The city had been paying interest on the money and paying down the principle for as long as 12 years, but the streets the money was intended for had not been fixed, bridges repaired, etc. Taxpayers had been (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)ing about why the promises of the bonds they had authorized had not come to fruition. WOW. $52 million just sitting there. Imagine this happening in a private company. How many heads would have rolled. Embarrassing reports to stockholders driving down the stock price. The City, however, is just THRILLED and is patting itself on the back for having found this money to finally start fixing streets that it should have fixed 10 years ago. Champagne all around!!!
Things are a bit different now. My first preference in a woman is a Latina or Italian gal - they're pretty much the same in looks, culture and temperament. But today far too many of the women in El Paso are fighting obesity, far too many. I'm really surprised no one has zoomed in on it to take a look. If you were to come back for a visit and drove down Montana or Mesa you would seen quite a bit of fast food joints including such places as Taco Tote and Taco Cabana. They make pretty good carne asada tacos...but they're not really tacos, the shells are soft tortillas and not the hard crunchy kind.
That happened in my city too but it was not nearly so large an amount, IIRC it was something like $13M. First they said they forgot it and then they said they didn't really forget they had the money, but forgot to include it in the budget. They sure as heck spent it like nothing once they remembered it for the budget though. It was where excess interest from certain economic development loans was being deposited. The city had borrowed some money from the state which it was loaning out for economic development at a slightly higher interest rate and the difference between what was collected and what was paid back to the state ended up in that account.
I've enjoyed the food at a Taco Cabana in Southeast San Antonio. Y'know if you don't have good Mexican food in Texas or New Mexico you just don't stay in biz long at all. The best Mexican food in El Paso, hands down, IMHO, was at Forti's Mexican Elder Restaurant on Chelsea St. Superb food, lots of it, excellent service, and, like all good Mexican restaurants, the food is served really, really, really HOT! Usually, Mexican women stay drop-dead gorgeous until they get married and start having children. Then they become "Mamacitas" and can get to be almost too big to get through a doorway. The debt that Puerto Rico has racked up has gotten too big to get through a "doorway" of common sense. We need to cut them loose and do it fast before some bunch of ******** for-hire politicians come riding to the rescue of this island nest of bums and thieves. There used to be a famous little place in Anthony that served a great menudo, the best remedy of all for a hangover. I can't remember the name of it, but I've been in it a few times. I really miss the El Paso I knew from the early 80's, but maybe not so much any more. Funny how almost everything has gone so badly downhill in the last thirty years....
