Tuesday, December 15, 2015

M.N.: "Were they not a part of this system of corruption and cozy cronyism themselves?" | NO ROBAR! | "The time for government cronyism that allows some to line their pockets with ill-gotten contracts at the expense of the many, is over. The time for public servants to trade their duty to represent the people of Puerto Rico in exchange for political appointments and gifts, is also over..." - FBI Arrests 10 in Puerto Rico Corruption Case | " It should be noted that, once again, it was the FBI, not the Puerto Rico Justice Department, doing the job... Puerto Rico’s credibility is a far greater threat to the future of the island’s economy and security than its US$73 billion debt. I repeat, the greatest threat to Puerto Rico’s economy is a lack of integrity among far too many ruling class politicians. This needs to stop, and now." - Frank Worley-Lopez | "If Puerto Rico’s fiscal house is to survive and be repaired, ongoing investment will be a key component of any long-term solution. Resolving issues with debtholders in a consensual manner, rather than through a forced Chapter 9 restructuring, will go a long way toward ensuring that funds at reasonable cost will be available to Puerto Rico and its agencies well into the future." - Filing For Bankruptcy Isn't The Right Solution For Puerto Rico - Forbes



"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... 
The island territory is the effect of of years of socialist indoctrination.  That indoctrination legitimizes theft of all things... 
One rule for Puerto Rican prosperity: thou shall not steal: 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... 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."



 García Padilla denies foul play amid ongoing federal investigation - Caribbean Business:
"When asked about how the situation affects his political future and if the allegations are targeted at derailing his intentions to run for a second term, the governor said he hopes that is not the case. “The people who think they may pressure me into making a decision don’t know me,” García Padilla said."

Puerto Rico's economic migrants escape to US mainland in search of stability | World news | The Guardian:

 "Any shifting sands in Washington’s political will to tackle the crisis could also reignite the debate over statehood. Rodriguez Rivera was among the 61% of voters who supported Puerto Rico becoming a state in a 2012 ballot, but Congress has yet to authorise a formal referendum.
He said he would continue to support a move away from Puerto Rico’s status as a dependent US territory as a lasting resolution to the financial crisis.
“Fifty-first state. It’s the only way,” he said."

 FBI Arrests 10 in Puerto Rico Corruption Case | The Bond Buyer:

 "Some United States Senators have already voiced skepticism about the ability of Puerto Rico's government to properly govern the island, said a municipal bond analyst who specializes in the territory. Today's arrests may make the U.S. Congress more likely to approve a control board to run Puerto Rico's affairs, said the analyst, who spoke anonymously, citing his company's policies.
If it turns out some of Puerto Rico's leaders were involved with the corruption, that would limit the leaders' abilities to negotiate on financial issues, the analyst said... 
"For decades now, political cronyism, favoritism, and corruption have robbed the people of Puerto Rico of the right to decent services and unbiased representation, including legally awarded government contracts," said U.S. attorney for the District of Puerto Rico Rosa Emilia Rodríguez Vélez. "The people of Puerto Rico foot the bill for the underhanded dealings detailed in the indictment.
"The time for government cronyism that allows some to line their pockets with ill-gotten contracts at the expense of the many, is over. The time for public servants to trade their duty to represent the people of Puerto Rico in exchange for political appointments and gifts, is also over," Rodríguez Vélez said."

 As Puerto Rico Crisis Worsens, Congress Shows No Rush to Assist - Bloomberg Business: 

"Senator Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the judiciary committee, said the island’s strains are the result of years of fiscal mismanagement that wouldn’t be fixed with bankruptcy. He said no bill is imminent to assist Puerto Rico, which narrowly averted defaulting on bond payments due Tuesday...
“Chapter 9 cannot bring about financial rehabilitation. It does not increase economic growth or alter the fundamental fiscal trajectory,” Grassley said at the hearing. “In short, Chapter 9 cannot address the root causes of fiscal problems, but instead pushes them off to future generations.”"


Gov. García Padilla says he won't seek reelection

In a broadcast announcement Monday, Dec. 14, Gov. Alejandro García Padilla said ...



Puerto Rico U.S. attorney, FBI director crack down on government corruption scheme

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Thursday morning arrested businessm ...


From left, Senators Orrin G. Hatch, Chuck Grassley and Richard Blumenthal at a hearing earlier this month on Puerto Rico's fiscal problems. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press

Senate Republicans Introduce Bill for Puerto Rico Relief - The New York Times:

"Under pressure to help Puerto Rico avoid a bond default on Jan. 1, Senate Republicans introduced a bill on Wednesday to extend several forms of assistance to the island.
But the measure stopped well short of embracing proposals from the Obama administration, which include giving Puerto Rico access to bankruptcy court.
The senators acted as Antonio Weiss, a counselor to Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, warned that without congressional action, Puerto Rico risked “another lost decade.”
The Republicans’ measure would include up to $3 billion in cash relief, a payroll tax break for residents of the island and a new independent authority that could borrow for Puerto Rico — but with no taxpayer guarantee.
“Consistent with the views of Congress and the administration that there will be no ‘bailout’ ” of Puerto Rico, said a bill summary, “the full faith and credit of the United States is not pledged for the payment of debt obligations issued by the authority.”"



What Lawmakers Should Do Before Considering Puerto Rico Bailout:

"With over $42 billion in debt, a five percent decline in population over just five years, and only half of all working-age residents actually working, Puerto Rico faces a severe economic and financial crisis. Some have even alluded to a potential humanitarian crisis.
Attempting to ward off such a crisis, a number of Puerto Rican and mainland policymakers—the president included—have introduced plans to help address the commonwealth’s problems. Senators Orrin Hatch, R–Utah, Chuck Grassely, R–Iowa, and Lisa Murkowski, R–Alaska, offered their solution in the Puerto Rican Assistance Act of 2015.
The Assistance Act contains five main provisions... "

 Misguided Plan For Puerto Rico Would Set Dangerous Precedent – Analysis | Eurasia Review:

"Puerto Rico faces an imminent financial crisis caused by decades of economically harmful policies, prolific government spending, and broken—if not corrupt—governance.
Claiming that this U.S. territory has no options on its own, the President and some Members of Congress have called for a bailout of Puerto Rico, including access to retroactive bankruptcy and other federal supports. This would set a dangerous and unaffordable precedent."

IB-plan-for-Puerto-Rico-chart-3-600

"Ironically, while Puerto Rico ranks only 57th in the World Bank Group’s “Ease of Doing Business” scores (compared to seventh for the U.S. mainland), the island received its highest scores—seventh of 189 countries—in the ability to resolve insolvencies and obtain credit.[14] While these rankings apply to private businesses, they nonetheless show that the island’s laws and systems provide a means for resolving unpayable debt." 

 Frank Worley-Lopez

 How to Put a Stop to Puerto Rico's Political Corruption: 

Time to Derail the Partisan-Money Train Once and for All:

"The most recent scandal involving money and politics hit Puerto Rico this last week. No, I don’t mean the accidental misreporting of two billion dollars in spending that no one noticed. I’m talking about the arrests of several top Popular Democratic Party (PDP) officials and operatives in a corruption scandal.

It should be noted that, once again, it was the FBI, not the Puerto Rico Justice Department, doing the job. 

These latest arrests follow a previous round of captures a few months ago involving the misuse of federal education funds. The unfortunate truth is that Puerto Rico has a long history of “political donations for contracts” and vice versa. It is emblematic of Puerto Rico’s overall credibility problem in the financial and political markets.

Puerto Rico’s credibility is a far greater threat to the future of the island’s economy and security than its US$73 billion debt. I repeat, the greatest threat to Puerto Rico’s economy is a lack of integrity among far too many ruling class politicians. 
This needs to stop, and now." 
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M.N.: I would respectfully comment and add to this a question: 
If this pervasive government corruption and other abuses were very well known (and they were) "for decades", as U.S. attorney Rodríguez Vélez put it, why did they come up only now, in the midst of acute financial crisis (actually a catastrophe), which inevitability was also very well known, especially lately, within last several years. Apparently, the general situation was not a secret at all neither to the local PR branch of the FBI nor to the U.S. attorney for PR; it is their job to know it, and if they did not, they are grossly negligent in performing their duties. And if they knew all this, why did they not act on it earlier, which might have prevented this catastrophe? 

 And I venture a guess: Were they not a part of this system of corruption and cozy cronyism themselves? 

 Whatever impulse and impetus for change came, it came from the central authorities, from the mainland, which would not put up with these abuses and nonsense. 
Mr. Worley-Lopez' thoughtful, as always article is appreciated, but I do not think that local "constitutional changes" would make much of a difference. New people, with completely different sets of mentalities and attitudes, that what will make a difference. Clean slate! 
This entrenched cesspool of thievery, deceit, hypocrisy, xenophobia, incompetence, corruption, mismanagement and socio-political perversions of self-centered egotistical and scared "elites", sitting on the top of the earthly paradise of natural and human beauty and serenity, which is today's Puerto Rico, needs a complete and deep revamping, including the local PR branch of the FBI (police, of course also and even more so, this goes without saying) and U.S. AG offices. The PR DOJ, apparently, as you rightly mentioned, is "just forget about it", it is a part of the problem than a part of the solution. 
It is too easy and too convenient to say that the debt is just "not payable"; in these circumstances "non-payment" is a form of another financial, social and political robbery, the form of protest and economical warfare against the "colonizing occupiers". Bankruptcy appears to be just a temporary, time buying, technical  band-aid solution (with materially and emotionally rewarding benefit of debt "haircuts") to this quite conscious, intentional, parasitic, exploitative, hostile and revengeful dependency. 
The deep and real, productive changes in economy and on all levels of governing, administration and management are only possible with the change in PR political status: obtaining a statehood, which is the only salvation for the Island and its people. They have to be on par, a proud star among other proud stars, a pearl in the crown, equal among equals. E pluribus unum. It will heal the wounds and will lift the spirits.  
Thus, it is the matter of political and cultural integration, unavoidable and inevitable. 

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 This Is Why Puerto Rico Matters - Route Fifty:

"On the verge of a humanitarian crisis, the U.S. territory threatens social unrest that could reach the mainland...
The Puerto Rican economy is in near free-fall. Last year, 84,000 people left the island, and 1,000 more join them each week, most headed to the US mainland. The island is also experiencing a spike in crime: Since 2011, the amount of cocaine seized traveling through Puerto Rico, most bound for the mainland, quadrupled. Odds are the drug trafficking situation won’t improve if the Puerto Rican economy remains in shambles and it can’t pay its police officers."

Filing For Bankruptcy Isn't The Right Solution For Puerto Rico - Forbes: 

"If Puerto Rico’s fiscal house is to survive and be repaired, ongoing investment will be a key component of any long-term solution. Resolving issues with debtholders in a consensual manner, rather than through a forced Chapter 9 restructuring, will go a long way toward ensuring that funds at reasonable cost will be available to Puerto Rico and its agencies well into the future." 

 An emergency financial control board for Puerto Rico - AEI:

"Statement for the United States Senate, Committee on the Judiciary
ABSTRACT: Congress should promptly create an Emergency Financial Control Board to assume oversight and control of the financial operations of the government of Puerto Rico, as Congress successfully did in 1995 with Washington, DC; as New York State, with federal encouragement, successfully did with the insolvent and defaulting New York City in 1975; and as the State of Michigan did with the appointment of an Emergency Manager for the insolvent City of Detroit in 2013. Such Boards have also been used [with success] in Cleveland (1980), Philadelphia (1991), and Springfield, Massachusetts (2004).
Under the United States Constitution, Congress has sovereignty over territories and the clear authority to create such a Control Board. In my opinion, with Puerto Rico’s severe and longstanding financial problems, Congress also has the responsibility to do so."


Clinton tells Puerto Rican voters 'we are a nation of immigrants' | Washington Examiner

Clinton Says Long-Term Solution Needed for Puerto Rico - Bloomberg Politics

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Recent (and not so recent) News Review

Hernandez Anaudi federal arrest for corruption in P. Rico

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"The dispute goes to the heart of Puerto Rico's efforts to restructure some $72 billion in debt. Puerto Rico wants a legal mechanism to allow it to impose payment reductions, or "haircuts," on some of its creditors, a prospect that has bondholders worried.
Several of Puerto Rico's creditors, as well as companies that insure its bonds, were involved in the city of Detroit's bankruptcy and have fresh recollections of the significant "haircuts" they took in that case.
Puerto Rico's governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, shocked investors in June when he said the island's debt, totaling $72 billion, was unpayable and required restructuring. The island has been in recession for nearly a decade."
"“The private sector, and not the government, should be the principal provider of social benefits,” García Padilla said. “We’re going to create a new entrepreneurial class...”

[M.N.: How?! Are you going to mold them out of clay, according to some biblical recipes or are you going to turn all your cocaine addicts into this "new entrepreneurial class"? Or maybe some political fundraisers, just like those who were recently arrested, would do?]

The bleak report views Puerto Rico’s problems as stemming from a stagnant economy with no growth. The island’s economy has contracted for most of the last decade. Though official data are not yet available, the report’s authors estimate that the economy continued to shrink by at least 1 percent in the 2015 fiscal year, which ended in June.
“[T]he drivers of economic decline have been years in the making: the problems are structural, not cyclical, and as such are not going away,” the report says.
Among its recommendations, the report calls for labor reform aimed at lowering workers’ wages, stating that current higher wages make local enterprise uncompetitive. The report also recommends reforming the state energy company, PREPA, which the authors call “inefficient” and “overstaffed,” and calls for federal reform of the Jones Act to help reduce the island’s transportation costs. The Jones Act, or the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, requires that shipping to and from Puerto Rico be conducted solely by U.S. ships, excluding international vessels from docking on island docks."

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M.N.: And this is the real, most delicious and almost unimaginable "pearl", deserving a long quote, from the most charming young states-lady. In essence, it is: "We owe you nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch. It is you, who owes us. So you better come up with the reparations, and fast! Or else!!!" - not such an uncommon point of view. How would you disabuse them of this misconception of historical entitlement? I don't know. I guess it will take a lot of charm in return, with no guarantee of success whatsoever.  Let the money do the talking. Save your breath. 


"San Juan, Dec 8 (Prensa Latina) Tjhe U.S. Comngress has the moral obligation of compensating damages inflicted on the Puerto Rican people foro ver a century, demanded today ex Minister of the Interior, Ingrid Vila Biaggi.
â��For 117 years, we Puerto Ricans have endured unilateral decisions made (in Congress), without being taken into consideration and whose only purpose has been to benefit the big United States interestsâ�Ö, underlined the ex minister of the government of Alejandro García Padilla.

Imn this regard, she highlighted that the Treaty of Paris, through which Spain handed to the U.S. this Caribberan Island, â��in which we were not representedâ�Ö, and the Foraker laws of 1909 to organize the civil government of Puerto Rico and Jones of 1917, imposing the U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans â��in whose redaction we did not participateâ�Ö.

Vila Biaggi criticized the docility with which the Puerto Rican political leaders, including Governor Garcia Padilla and thed delegate before Congress, Pedro Pierluisi, were present in an audition of a Federal Senate commission last December 1 in Washington.

She said that the U.S. Congress must be faced with firmness and dignity, because they wonâ�Öt heed anyone on his knees.

'That which should be the center of discussion is the moral obligation of Congress with the people of Pujerto Rico and the compensation necessary that compensates the bullying and damages inflicted on our people during the last centuryâ�Ö, she said when denouncing the tone of the public audition.

The former official makes a recount of the imperial arrogance with which the United States has acted in Puerto Rico, which it invaded in 1898 and in 1952 converted in an Associated Free State, with limited powers for its internal management.

Vila Biaggi referred that in 1952 Washington tried to put make up in the colony, already unsustainable, allowing a Constitution that had to abide by Congress absolute powers 

and leaving us with a representative with voice but not vote." 

M.N.: Is the Comintern still around? She would make an excellent Secretary General! Hello, Ingrid! 

 "Investigators have also questioned former government chief of staff Ingrid Vila Biaggi, Sen. Maritere Gonzalez, Public Affairs Secretary Jesus Manuel Ortiz and the CEO of AAA, Alberto Lazaro." 
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M.N.: Very boring leftist stuff (also) but with some interesting statistics.
M.N.: "Odious article". A lot of leftists love to write on Puerto Rican subjects. I guess, it is "inspiring". As long as it makes them happy, even if it has very little in common with reality.  
M.N.: Those three articles above are somewhat self-explanatory, with unsaid and unwritten addenda, and with too unpleasant (and unseemly) a subject to comment about. 

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