Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Puerto Rican debt crisis forces its way onto presidential political agenda

Puerto Rican debt crisis forces its way onto presidential political agenda

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The Puerto Rican Capitol is seen in this July 1, 2015, photo. Puerto Rico has as many Republican delegates as New Hampshire, plus enough native sons and daughters living in Florida to swing the outcome of that state’s presidential primaries. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Q: Which place has as many Republican delegates as New Hampshire, plus enough native sons and daughters living in Florida to swing the outcome of that state’s presidential primaries or even the general election?
A: Puerto Rico.
That political reality has put the financially ailing U.S. territory on the map of presidential hopefuls, who are being asked what, if anything, the federal government should do to help engineer a rescue plan for the debt-strapped island.
Politically, much is at stake. Puerto Rico has its own voice at nominating conventions, with more delegates at the Democratic National Convention than 21 states. And 1 million Puerto Ricans live in Florida, enough to be the swing vote in one of the nation’s most important swing states.
At the current pace of migration, triple the rate just a few years ago, the number of people of Puerto Rican origin in Florida could soon exceed the number of Cuban Americans in the state. Along Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa in central Florida, Puerto Ricans are everywhere, making up more than a quarter of the population of Florida’s Osceola County.
Will Greece and Puerto Rico hurt your wallet?(1:27)
Greece and Puerto Rico are facing economic disasters. Here’s what you need to know about the defaults and how they will affect the United States. (Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)
As a result, presidential candidates are being pressed to voice support for Puerto Rico in its hour of economic need and back the use of bankruptcy law to help the territory, which is teetering on the edge of default, to reduce and manage its $73 billion in debt. Although the bankruptcy code can be used by states for the orderly court-supervised reorganization of cities, municipalities,municipal utilities or school districts, Congress in 1984 altered the law to bar the commonwealth ofPuerto Rico or any of its utilities, towns or school districts from being able to turn to the bankruptcy code in a crisis.
“Those who want the support of Puerto Ricans must help Puerto Rico now. Not later,” Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla said in an interview Sunday on Telemundo. He added: “They need to act now, not in a few months during the elections.”
García Padilla said “there are some people who have been a little passive, and they are the candidates for president of the United States. Both the Democrats and the Republicans, especially in Florida, because as you know, it’s a battleground state and it’s important.”
And the Puerto Rican vote is up for grabs, both in Florida and the territory. Six Americans of Puerto Rican descent have been elected to the Florida legislature — three Republicans and three Democrats. In Puerto Rico, the current governor, García Padilla, who narrowly won election, calls himself a friend of President Obama’s. The previous governor, Luis G. For­tuño, resembled a Reagan Republican.
“During the last campaign, it was called the swing vote of the swing state,” said Jeffrey Farrow, chairman of the Oliver Group, a public policy communications firm, and a former White House adviser on Puerto Rico under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
A poll by Latino Decisions, a firm that analyzes Latino voters, showed that Puerto Rican voters in Florida went 72 percent to 28 percent for Obama over Mitt Romney in 2012, while Cuban American voters in the state chose Romney over Obama by 64 percent to 35 percent.
Yet Farrow said that although “there is a perception that Puerto Ricans are Democratic voters, that is not necessarily the case in Florida. The more recent poll data shows they identify more with Democrats than Republicans, but they are socially conservative. They voted for Jeb Bush for governor.”
White House not considering Puerto Rico 'bailout'(1:45)
White House press secretary Josh Earnest told members of the media on July 6, 2015, that federal officials would work with Puerto Rican leaders to address financial challenges after the island's governor said the territory could not pay its debt. (AP)
“During my race, I said I would slash government expenses,” said Fortuño, now a partner at Steptoe & Johnson, a Washington-based law firm. “Often on radio talk shows, people would say they have a daughter who needs a job, and I’d say she would not have a job in government, and my advisers would go nuts. And I won. So it’s very doable.”
Jeb Bush has been courting the Puerto Rican vote for a long time. In 1980, he spent more than two months organizing the campaign of his father, George H.W. Bush, who handily won the primary that year. Jeb Bush delivered speeches in Spanish at more than 75 gatherings. When he campaigned to be governor of Florida, he went to Puerto Rican church socials.
“I think statehood is the best path, personally. I’ve believed that for a long, long while,” he said during a visit to the territory in April, recalling his father’s long-ago campaign. “Nothing makes me believe that that position should change. To get the full benefits and responsibilities of citizenship, being a state is the only path to make that happen.” He added, “I think the next president, whoever that person is, should use their influence to make sure Congress acts on this and that this should be a question of self-determination.. . . That’s just a question of principle and, you know, morality, I think. It’s not a question of politics.
Bush, while campaigning in Puerto Rico in April and again in South Carolina last week, came out in support of granting Puerto Rico the option of using Chapter 9 of the bankruptcy code to restructure its debts. “Puerto Rico should be given the same rights as the states,” he said in Spanish before a small crowd at the Universidad Metropolitana in San Juan.
Bush’s Republican rivals have been, by and large, more cautious for fear that extending Chapter 9 protection to Puerto Rico could look like a bailout of the island — even though bankruptcy extracts concessions from bondholders and requires no federal money.
“Senator [Marco] Rubio has been closely watching events in Puerto Rico and is concerned about the economic situation there,” spokeswoman Brooke Sammon told The Washington Post by e-mail over the weekend. “He’s in the process of reviewing the legislation to make sure it is the right approach to begin addressing Puerto Rico’s debt crisis without having any negative impact on American taxpayers.”
Donald Trump — whose heavily indebted corporate affiliates have used bankruptcy to reorganize — has a unique perspective on Puerto Rico. He is a partner with local construction tycoons Arturo and Jorge L. Diaz in the Trump International Golf Club, a resort east of San Juan that boasts two 18-hole courses. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
In a June 30 tweet, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton did not address the bankruptcy issue but said that “Puerto Rico’s debt crisis is not theirs alone. For PR’s economy to grow & their people to thrive, they need real tools & real support.”
But on Tuesday, Clinton said that Puerto Rican municipalities and state-owned enterprises should be allowed to use bankruptcy protections to overhaul their finances. “We’re not talking about a bailout, we’re talking about a fair shot at success,” she said in a statement.
Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley (D), by contrast, jumped on the issue last week. “I am very concerned about the impending financial collapse of Puerto Rico,” said O’Malley, who backed the use of the bankruptcy code and an equalization of Medicaid and Medicare benefits for the island’s residents. “We must help our fellow U.S. citizens, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because our region’s economic stability depends on it,” he said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined in on Tuesday, backing bankruptcy protections to enable Puerto Rico to “restructure its debt in a rational way that does not harm its people, ordinary investors or pension funds in the United States.” He blamed the island’s debt crisis on “the policies of austerity and the greed of large financial institutions.”
The flow of Puerto Ricans to Florida has altered the calculus of politics there. Whereas politicians once catered to the conservative, anti-Castro Cuban opinion that dominated the Latino vote, now the Cuban American consensus on Cuba has fractured and the Puerto Rican population has swelled.
That Puerto Rican electorate has its own concerns.
According to polling data gathered in November by Latino Decisions, Puerto Ricans support expanding Medicaid and raising the minimum wage more strongly than Cuban Americans do, although Cuban Americans also strongly endorse those policy proposals. Education also ranks higher as a concern among Puerto Ricans.
Yet despite Jeb Bush’s efforts, the Latino Decisions poll in November showed that among Puerto Ricans in Florida, he was then getting a 42 percent “very unfavorable” rating and only 10 percent “very favorable.”
Now the territory’s economic plight might become a factor.And people in Florida keep track through readily available media from the island as well as locally.
“The Puerto Ricans living here are very, very strongly connected to the island,” said Betsy Fran­ceschini, who is Florida regional director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, an arm of the Puerto Rican government.“They do care even though they’re here.”
Franceschini operates her agency in a modest house in Kissimmee with two flagpoles, one for the Puerto Rican flag and one for the American flag. The agency provides advice to Puerto Ricans moving from the island to the Orlando-Tampa area.The previous governor, Fortuño, had closed the office. García Padilla, fulfilling a campaign promise he made during a visit to Orlando, reopened it.
Franceschini said the key public-policy issues of concern to people who come to the office for help are the island’s fiscal crisis, its desire to use the bankruptcy code to restructure municipal debts and unequal Medicare payments by the federal government. “Folks here are very upset about that and are organizing and mobilizing,” she said, “and they want to know where the candidates stand.”
Steven Mufson covers the White House. Since joining The Post, he has covered economics, China, foreign policy and energy.

From Comments: Ari Pual what are you talking about ???? ... Sorry but less than 5% of puertorricans have voted for independence. The cure is statehood.

From Comments:

Mike Caster: Ari Pual what are you talking about ????

Jose Figueroa: Sorry but less than 5% of puertorricans have voted for independence. The cure is statehood. We are AMERICAN citizens

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The Cure for Puerto Rico Is Independence | Al Jazeera America - Al Jazeera America

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Al Jazeera America

The Cure for Puerto Rico Is Independence | Al Jazeera America
Al Jazeera America
The last 20 years have seen more manufacturing and tourism diverted from Puerto Rico, which is party to NAFTA and other U.S. free trade agreements, to other Latin American economies, and attempts to stem that flow have been ineffective. The ... 

and more »
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Sunday, July 12, 2015

The Fall of Puerto Rico. Prepare Yourself Accordingly. - Video



The Fall of Puerto Rico. Prepare Yourself Accordingly.


Published on Jul 3, 2015
Puerto Rico’s economy is in a death spiral and it could threaten the entire United States bond market. How did we get to this point and what does this mean in the big picture?

Stefan Molyneux breaks down the unspoken facts about the end of freedom, opportunity, employment and trade in modern Puerto Rico. An in depth explanation about what this means for the average Puerto Rican and Americans overall – spoiler, it’s not good!

“My administration is doing everything not to default,” Governor Alejandro García Padilla said. “But we have to make the economy grow,” he added. “If not, we will be in a death spiral.”

There will be no economic recovery, prepare yourself accordingly.

Sources: http:/www.fdrurl.com/puerto-rico

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House Judiciary Committee Unlikely to Act on Puerto Rico Bankruptcy Bill
Bond Buyer
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee is unlikely to pass legislation that would give Puerto Rican municipalities and utilities the ability to file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 9, committee chair Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., suggested on ...
House Republicans doubt benefits of Chapter 9 for Puerto Rico: statement Yahoo! Maktoob News 
Congress balks at lifeline for Puerto RicoPolitico 
House GOP opposes bankruptcy protections for Puerto RicoWHDH-TV
The Hill-Yahoo News
all 433 news articles »



Friday, July 10, 2015

Puerto Rico: The Other Debt Crisis

Puerto Rico: The Other Debt Crisis

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While Greece has center stage in the arena of on-the-brink finance, the precarious situation in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico may actually take a greater toll on the American economy. Last month, Puerto Rico’s governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, announced that the island’s public debt of $72 billion was not payable. This includes debts owed not just by the central government, but also those of public corporations, like utility companies, and cities. An archipelago of islands that lie off the tip of the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico is the third-largest issuer of state and local debt in the United States, behind California and New York. Much of the island's debt is held by individual U.S. investors in hedge funds, mutual funds or other investment accounts, raising questions about how the U.S. economy might be affected were Puerto Rico to fall behind on its debt payments. That could happen as early as mid-July, which raises the possibility that investors might sue for their funds. Chronic economic woes Yet, Puerto Rico’s plight is lost among the reports of the economic crisis in Greece. In part, this is because economic troubles in Puerto Rico are not new. The territory's economy has been in recession since 2005, when the U.S. Congress ended a tax credit designed to attract businesses to Puerto Rico. Since then, the territory has borrowed to stay afloat. “Puerto Rico’s illness is a chronic condition.” Puerto Rican congressional representative Pedro Pierluishi wrote Friday in The New York Times. “The unemployment rate, poverty rate and median household income have always been far worse than any state’s. The main cause is inequality.” Pierluishi was making the case that Puerto Rico’s status as a territory, rather than a state, has led to second-class treatment. Residents of Puerto Rico cannot vote for the president or senators, and Pierluishi is a nonvoting member of the House of Representatives. “Congress routinely treats Puerto Rico and the other territories worse than it does the states,” said Pierluishi, pointing out that medical and other benefits paid to the territory are considerably less than those provided to states. "It is little wonder then that Puerto Rico is in recession, has excessive debt and is bleeding population. Unequal treatment at the federal level, combined with mismanagement at the local level, has a debilitating effect on the island's economy." No bankruptcy protection Pierluisi has sponsored a bill in the House asking that Puerto Rico be granted bankruptcy protection, the ability to restructure in order to pay off debt. Bankruptcy is open to U.S. municipalities — the city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy in 2013 — but not to territories. “The alternative is a legal no-man’s land that benefits neither Puerto Rico nor those who have loaned the territory money,” Pierluisi said. His bill is still in committee, but bankruptcy protection for Puerto Rico has gained support from some presidential candidates. “We’re not talking about a bailout. We are talking about a fair shot at success,” Democrat Hillary Clinton said in a statement Tuesday. "I think that Puerto Rico ought to be treated as other states are treated as it relates to restructuring," Republican Jeb Bush said during a visit to the island in late April. While Puerto Rico has a population of 3.5 million, almost 5 million Puerto Ricans and their descendants now live in the States, many of them in the swing state of Florida where they are voters to be courted.




Statehood Is the Only Antidote for What Ails Puerto Rico - The New York Times - By PEDRO R. PIERLUISI - JULY 10, 2015

Statehood Is the Only Antidote for What Ails Puerto Rico - The New York Times

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WASHINGTON — PUERTO RICO’S governor recently claimed that the island could not pay all its debts. In the media, comparisons to Greece abound. But if Puerto Rico were a patient, then most commentators would have been misdiagnosing its illness and recommending improper treatment. A dose of reality is in order.
Puerto Rico is a United States territory, home to the 3.5 million people I represent in Congress. Residents have been American citizens since 1917 and have served in the United States military since World War I. There are also five million individuals of Puerto Rican heritage living in the States, and as conditions in Puerto Rico deteriorate, my constituents are now leaving for the mainland at a rate of 50,000 a year.
The analogy to Greece is inapt. Puerto Rico is not a sovereign country in a monetary union with the United States. From a constitutional perspective, Puerto Rico belongs to the United States. The federal government has almost absolute power over Puerto Rico, but has delegated to Puerto Rico about the same authority over local matters that the states possess.
Perhaps in an effort to be polite, certain commentators refer to Puerto Rico as a “commonwealth,” implying that Puerto Rico has a special status. But this word has no practical meaning, as demonstrated by the fact that several states call themselves “commonwealths.”
Puerto Rico’s illness is a chronic condition. The unemployment rate, poverty rate and median household income have always been far worse than any state’s. The main cause is inequality. Residents cannot vote for president or senators, and have one nonvoting delegate in the House. It is disheartening to see many self-styled progressives, who otherwise speak eloquently about the importance of voting rights, go silent on this subject when it comes to Puerto Rico.
Congress routinely treats Puerto Rico and the other territories worse than it does the states. Consider Medicaid, which provides health insurance for the poor. Federal funding for a state Medicaid program is open-ended, but capped for Puerto Rico. The $1 billion in annual Medicaid funding that Puerto Rico receives from Washington is about 20 percent of the $5 billion received by similar-size Oregon. Puerto Rico is also treated unequally under Medicare, even though my constituents pay the same federal payroll taxes that fund much of this program. The Affordable Care Act — Obamacare — has been the subject of partisan debate, but the law’s rarely mentioned defect is that the territories are barred from most of its new programs and protections.
The list goes on. Puerto Rico is excluded from the Supplemental Security Income program that aids the most vulnerable Americans. It does not participate in the federal nutrition program, instead receiving a block grant that shortchanges it by $450 million a year. Puerto Rico is partly excluded from the child tax credit and fully from the earned-income tax credit, which encourages low-income individuals to seek employment. Unlike a state, Puerto Rico cannot authorize its public enterprises to seek relief under Chapter 9 of the federal bankruptcy code, which impedes its recovery.
The argument that such treatment is justified because Congress does not require Puerto Rico residents to pay federal income taxes on local earnings is weak. Nearly half of all stateside households do not earn enough to owe income taxes, but are still treated equally. Moreover, because of federal tax credits, a working-class family of four in the States is likely to have greater take-home pay than an identical family in Puerto Rico.
It is little wonder, then, that Puerto Rico is in recession, has excessive debt and is bleeding population. Unequal treatment at the federal level, combined with mismanagement at the local level, has a debilitating effect on the island’s economy. To compensate for the lack of federal support, the Puerto Rico government has borrowed heavily. And when my constituents move to the States, they are entitled to vote for their national leaders and to equal treatment under federal law. So naturally they leave.
Having misdiagnosed Puerto Rico’s illness, many commentators prescribe the wrong cure, like exempting Puerto Rico from the federal minimum wage. A far wiser proposal would be to grant Puerto Rico more equitable treatment under federal spending and tax credit programs. The goal should be to close the gap with the states, not widen it.
In the near term, Puerto Rico can manage its crisis with smarter policy making, but the only enduring solution is statehood. At a recent congressional hearing, I told my colleagues: If you give us the same rights and responsibilities as our fellow American citizens, and let us rise or fall on our merits, we will rise. But if you continue to treat us like second-class citizens, don’t claim to be surprised when we fall.
In 2012, Puerto Rico voters rejected territorial status and expressed a preference for statehood. Congress responded by authorizing a federally sponsored referendum. I expect this vote will be held in 2017. If voters affirm their desire for admission, Congress must place Puerto Rico on the path to statehood. For Puerto Rico to prosper, it should be treated equally. And to be treated equally, it must become a state.
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Sunday, July 5, 2015

Recent Headlines - 5:33 PM 7/5/2015

Despair and Anger as Puerto Ricans Cope With Debt Crisis - NYTimes.com

The Bonds That Broke Puerto Rico - NYTimes.com
Puerto Rico Debt Crisis Splits Congress on Party Lines and Draws Muted Response From White House - NYTimes.com
Puerto Rico’s Bonds Drop on Governor’s Warning About Debt - The New York Times
Puerto Rico’s Governor Says Island’s Debts Are ‘Not Payable’ - The New York Times
Puerto Rico says its debt is 'not payable.' Is America's? - AEI | Pethokoukis Blog » AEIdeas
Puerto Rico Needs Debt Relief - The New York Times
Puerto Rico Can’t Pay $72 Billion Debt, Governor Warns | TIME
Puerto Rico says it can't pay its debts - Nick Gass - POLITICO
Puerto Rico’s governor: Debts are ‘not payable’ - Fortune
Puerto Rico governor warns public debt not payable | Fox News
​5 things to know about Puerto Rico's debt crisis - CBS News
Puerto Rico faces its own debt crisis | Business | DW.COM | 29.06.2015
Puerto Rico Governor: Creditors Should Help Solve Crisis - ABC News
Puerto Rico to Seek Debt Moratorium From Bondholders - ABC News
Director of Troubled Puerto Rico Public Power Company Quits - ABC News

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Puerto Rico: Another Harsh Lesson About The Consequences of Violating Fiscal Policy’s Golden Rule 

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When I make speeches about fiscal policy, I oftentimes share a table showing the many nations that have made big progress by enforcing spending restraint over multi-year periods.
I then ask audiences a rhetorical question about a possible list of nations that have prospered by going in the opposite direction.
Are there any success stories based on tax hikes or bigger government?
The answer is no, which is why I’ve never received a satisfactory answer to my two-part challenge, even if I limit the focus to fiscal policy.
And nobody will be surprised to learn that the fiscal crisis in Puerto Rico reinforces these lessons.
Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Daniel Hanson explains that the American territory in the Caribbean is on the verge of default.
As Puerto Rico struggles under the weight of more than $70 billion in debt, it has become popular to draw parallels with Greece.
The one theme that is common with the two jurisdictions is that their fiscal crises are the result of too much government spending.
How bad is the problem in Puerto Rico?
It’s hard to answer that question because government budgeting isn’t very transparent and the quality and clarity of the numbers that do exist leaves a lot to be desired.
But I’ve done some digging (along with my colleagues at Cato) and here’s some data that will at least illustrate the scope of the problem.
First, we have numbers from the World Bank showing inflation-adjusted (2005$) government consumption expenditures over the past few decades. As you can see, overall spending in this category increased by 100 percent between 1980 and 2013 (at a time when the population increased only 12 percent).
In other words, Puerto Rico is in trouble because it violated the Golden Rule and let government grow faster than the private sector over a sustained period (just like Greece, just like Alberta, just like the United States, etc, etc).
Here’s another chart and this one purports to show total outlays.
The numbers aren’t adjusted for inflation, so the increase looks more dramatic. But even if you consider the impact of a rising price level (average annual increase ofabout 4 percent since the mid-1980s), it’s obvious that government spending has climbed far too fast.
To be more specific, Puerto Rico has allowed the burden of government to rise much faster than population plus inflation.
A government can get away with that kind of reckless policy for a few years. But when bad policy is maintained for a long period of time,
the end result is never positive.
Now that we’ve established that Puerto Rico got in trouble by violating my Golden Rule, what’s the right way of fixing the mess? Is the government responding to its fiscal crisis in a responsible manner?
Not exactly. Like Greece, it’s too beholden to interest groups, and that’s making (the right kind of) austerity difficult.
Indeed, Mr. Hanson says there haven’t been any cuts in the past few years.
In the past four years, when the fiscal crisis has been most severe, four successively larger budgets have been enacted. The budget proposed for the coming year is $235 million larger than last year’s and $713 million, or 8%, higher than four years ago. Austerity this is not.
What special interest groups standing in the way of reform?
The government workforce would be high on the list. One of the big problems in Puerto Rico is that there are far too many bureaucrats and they get paid far too much (gee, this sounds familiar).
Here are some details from Mr. Hanson’s column.
…more than two-thirds of the territory’s budget is payroll. The proposed budget…contains no plans for head-count reductions. …Median household income in Puerto Rico hovers around $20,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but government workers fare much better. Public agencies pay salaries on average more than twice that amount, a 2014 report from Banco Popular shows. Salaries in the central government in San Juan are more than 90% higher than in the private sector. Even across comparable skill sets, the wage disparity persists.
In other words, life is pretty good for the people riding in the wagon, but Puerto Rico doesn’t have enough productive people to pull the wagon.
So we’re back to where we started. It’s the Greece of the Caribbean.
P.S. This column has focused on fiscal policy, but it’s important to recognize that there are many other bad policies hindering prosperity in Puerto Rico. And some of them are the result of Washington politicians rather than their counterparts in San Juan. Nicole Kaeding and Nick Zaiachave explained that the Jones Act and the minimum wage are particularly destructive to the territory’s economy.
P.P.S. At least Puerto Rico is still a good tax haven for American citizens.


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Clinton Says Puerto Rican Economy Deserves 'Fair Shot'

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Hillary Clinton says Congress, White House should help Puerto Rico restructure