An uncle by marriage once told me, its not the hardest worker that survives in Puerto Rico; ‘es el mas listo.’ While ‘listo’ means smart, it is a deviant kind of smart. It refers to street smarts, not college level intelligence.
The unfortunate truth is that he was right. Puerto Rico rarely rewards those who work hard and are honest. Honest people are viewed as useful idiots, decency is shunned; courtesy ridiculed and walked over.
A wealthy family friend, commenting on local politics once said, ‘mejor los pillos mios, que los pillos tuyos.’ (better my thieves, than yours) He was a strong financial supporter of the Popular Democratic Party. While distasteful, his comments were also an accurate description of the way politics in Puerto Rico work. No one denies the corruption in government, in fact in many ways the powers that be embrace it.
Yet there is a fundamental moral question that never gets asked, much less answered: if the people responsible for creating and enforcing the law do not respect it and abide by it themselves, then why should anyone else follow the law? The result you get, is what is seen in the streets of Puerto Rico every single day.
For Puerto Rico to pull itself out of the economic and moral abyss it currently finds itself, it need only apply one simple rule: thou shall not steal. If you’ve read my work for sometime you know I am not a religious person. I do not attend church nor preach submission or conversion. I do, however; believe in a God and a right and wrong.
I also believe in a simple law called, cause and effect. Puerto Rico today is the effect of the cause of years of negligence and theft of a massive scale of people, property, decency, freedom and Liberty.
Any future government of the U.S. commonwealth must find a way to adhere to this very simple rule and apply it universally to create a true voluntary society. The island territory is the effect of of years of socialist indoctrination. That indoctrination legitimizes theft of all things.
Socialism teaches to tolerate the intolerable, forgive the unforgivable, excuse the inexcusable and surrender all attachment to justice and commonsense.
It is long past time that the New Progressive Party begin to live by the fundamental conservative views up which it was founded. Whether for independence or statehood, Puerto Rico will not long survive, nor its people ever thrive under the socialist left ideology of the democratic party.
To further explain how expansive theft is I encourage you to watch this video from Prager University with subtitles in Spanish explaining how ‘thou shalt not steal’ can make the world and Puerto Rico a far, far better place.
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Tue Feb 10, 2015 5:28am IST
(Adds statement from GDB)
By Edward Krudy
SAN JUAN/NEW YORK Feb 9 (Reuters) - Puerto Rico said on Monday it would appeal a U.S. ruling that voided the island's restructuring law, saying it left the U.S. commonwealth in legal limbo and struggling to find a way to manage its debt load.
Late on Friday, a federal judge ruled that Puerto Rico's so-called Recovery Act, which made some of its agencies eligible for court-supervised debt restructuring, violated the U.S. constitution by allowing a state government to modify municipal debt.
"We are left deprived of the only instrument available to manage our debt in an organized form," Puerto Rico Justice Secretary Cesar Miranda said in a statement. "The practical effect of the decision is to allow disorder in collecting of public corporation debt."
Puerto Rico's appeal is expected to kick off lengthy litigation with a hard-to-predict outcome, possibly delaying a final resolution for months.
Puerto Rico-based legal analyst John Mudd said the commonwealth's government would have 28 days to ask for a reconsideration and 30 days to file an appeal, and it would likely take a year for the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston to rule on the case.
Puerto Rico's justice secretary did not provide a timeline for an appeal.
The decision could also encourage the U.S. Congress to adopt a bill allowing Puerto Rico to use Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, some analysts and investors speculated.
The bill was introduced in July by Puerto Rico's representative in Congress, Pedro Pierluisi, who said Puerto Rico should focus on Chapter 9 rather than insisting it has the right to enact a local bankruptcy law.
"I am sure that, if we go to Congress with a single voice to seek the same treatment that the states receive under Chapter 9, we can achieve this objective," Pierluisi said in a statement.
The island, struggling with debts of more than $70 billion, passed its restructuring act in June to give public corporations a framework to restructure debt and ring-fence the government from a potential bankruptcy.
U.S. law forbids Puerto Rico's government and its entities from restructuring debt under Chapter 9, which was used for Detroit last year.
Miranda said the decision to void the act was "incorrect in law," that there were no legal impediments to Puerto Rico approving the law and that its legal remedies remained in force. The decision leaves the island in legal limbo without an organized structure to negotiate existing debt, he said.
The ruling comes as Puerto Rico tries to negotiate a $2 billion bond sale to which hedge funds and other creditors would subscribe before facing large demands for funds in June.
Puerto Rico needs that lifeline to stabilize its finances. Its financing arm, the Government Development Bank (GDB), saw liquidity fall sharply at the end of last year.
The hedge funds still plan to support the deal, said a source familiar with their thinking.
"The Recovery Act was as much a signal as a tool that the public corporations are on their own," said the source, who asked not to be named as details of the deal are not yet public. "For us nothing material has significantly changed."
Robert Donahue, analyst at Municipal Market Advisors, said that without the GDB's ability to subsidize deficits, Puerto Rico "faces threats to public safety and essential services" and would claim emergency powers to protect key assets.
GDB President Melba Acosta Febo said in a statement that the court's decision was a temporary setback. He added that it was important that creditors and other "constituents of political entities" benefit from mechanisms to adjust their debts.
The ruling has implications for debt of around $20 billion in several public corporations covered under the act, including $9 billion at electric power authority PREPA.
General obligation bonds, or GOs, are repaid by tax revenues from the central budget while public corporation bonds are generally repaid by revenues from those corporations.
Puerto Rico's general obligation bonds carrying a coupon of 8 percent and maturing in 2035 traded at an average price of 81.404 cents on the dollar, down from 83.577 cents on Friday.
The island's power authority bonds rallied from distressed levels as the loss of the Recovery Act left officials with less leverage in negotiations with bondholders over a restructuring at PREPA.
Bonds of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority carrying a coupon of 5 percent and maturing in 2018 jumped to 59 cents on the dollar from 50.562 cents when they last traded on Feb. 4. (Reporting by Reuters in San Juan, Edward Krudy in New York, writing by Edward Krudy and Megan Davies; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Meredith Mazzilli and Christian Plumb)
Hedge funds still plan $2 bln financing deal with Puerto Rico -source
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A federal judge has ruled that a Puerto Rico debt-restructuring law that aims to protect the government from bankruptcy and make public corporations self-sufficient is unconstitutional.
Federal judge rules that Puerto Rico debt-restructuring law is unconstitutional
Fox Business SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A federal judge ruled late Friday that a Puerto Rico debt-restructuring law that aims to protect the government from bankruptcy and make public corporations self-sufficient is unconstitutional. The judge's decision comes as the ... |
 Wall Street Journal |
Puerto Rico Restructuring Law Thrown Out in Bondholder Win
Bloomberg Prepa, which used its capital budget to buy fuel within the past year, has $8.6 billion of bonds, with about 70 percent not covered by bond insurance, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.Puerto Rico's economy has struggled to grow since 2006 and ... Ruling Throws Puerto Rico's Effort to Remake Finances Into DoubtWall Street Journal New Incentives in Puerto Rico Brings Rich People as Middle Class FleesLatin Post As middle class flees, Puerto Rico tries luring rich peopleCoos Bay World Orlando Sentinel -Columbus CEO all 175 news articles » |
Judge Strikes Down Puerto Rico's Debt Restructuring Law
New York Times Investors in billions of dollars of Puerto Rico bonds have secured a major legal victory, after a federal judge ruled that the commonwealth's recently enacted debt restructuring law was unconstitutional. In a decision on Friday night, Judge Francisco A ... and more » |
Judge Strikes Down Puerto Rico's Debt Restructuring Law
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Bond Markets Are Watching: Will Puerto Rico Enact Sweeping Tax Reform?
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 MarketWatch |
Power utility bond investors score win against Puerto Rico law
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Bond Buyer |
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It currently holds the status of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in such a way that it is governed by the federal laws and Puerto Ricans have U.S. citizenship, but it is not a full-fledged state, with important economic and political limitations.
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The decision is a victory for hedge funds and other investors in billions of dollars of Puerto Rico bonds.
Puerto Rico produces more than 1.2M pounds of rice
February 10, 2015
Agriculture Secretary Myrna Comas said during a Senate hearing Monday that Puerto Rico produces more than 1.2 million po ...
- Puerto Rico tech sector does poorly in national ranking http://t.co/z7dABy182X
- EDB unveils 2 financing programs for gov’t contractors http://t.co/Lgy7x0TUF3
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Sara Baras’s flamenco performances and Carminho’s new fado will instill passion next month to the Iberian Suite, an unprecedented series of concerts, exhibitions and shows at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
FBI agents took custody of a man who, although in prison, issued death threats against the U.S. Attorney in Puerto Rico, Rosa Emilia Rodriguez.
Puerto Rican authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding two bodies found floating in the sea off the western coast of the island, local police said Monday.
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RadioShack's plans to close about half of its stores in the next six weeks w ...
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