What do we think about Puerto Rico's Default

Posted by $ Thoritsu 9 years ago to Economics
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Self governing territory will not set up austerity measures to address this long-foreseen problem.
What do we think about the issue?
Was it contributed to by being a territory vs state?
Can/should this show up on the 2016 election?

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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Which equals an argument for independence.

    However there is a fly in the ointment. Why should Puerto Rico NOT declare default. They would after all only be following the example set for them by Bush II and O Bamba. in 2008 and the following years.

    Maybe all the States shiould do the same thing which would tend to destroy this misbegotten spawn of hell from Washington DC.
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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Look up, not down, my friend, look up. Why choose PR in the Caribbean? It is a beautiful island and can be better, much better. This can happen when people start letting the monotonic optimization of capitalism run the place, instead of a welfare state.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    they drove out the military to build a resort island of Vieques and then Roosevelt Roads and then some other facility. All the former employees on those military bases making I presume full union wages became bed pad emptiers working if that was even done. That was their choice. With all the choices in the Caribbean why anyone would choose PR is beyond me. I just as soon go back to Gitmo
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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    As long as the power remains so concentrated, nothing good will happen there. Amazing people talk about income inequality in the US, but not other countries or the US vs the world. If those people were so interested in real income inequality, they'd be giving away their earnings (even lower class below the poverty line) to the rest of the poor world.
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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Nice island though. To bad it is full of moochers, rather than supporting the excellent resort and growing possible there in a controlled way.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    PR had a Naval Base and USAF Base. All that is gone. That is the only reason they were held as part of the Spanish American War winnings. Guam also. The rest given their independence Philippines etc. American Samoa is a welfare state with an unused harbor that is a cess pool of leavings from the Star Kist and Prudential Factories. A place to avoid. Unlike the country of Samoa they have no national pride.

    So what is the reason for retaining them?

    Votes? If they qualify to votes they should be regularized in the system of the country and not as their Governor wants held as just another welfare mecca. no pride, no reason to exist hell they refuse to learn English No attempt to join with nor meld with the nation as a whole. Partly because they are not welcome.

    Why prolong the agony Giver them their Independence and a couple years worth of change over budget Pretty soon it will be just a another Caribbean vacation spot with a lot of maquiladore operations. and larger factory operations.

    Unlike Panama they have no reason to exist as a vassal property of the USA.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    They aren't as free to act freely as we envision quite yet. but they are moving to wards the capitalist economic model while - and many nations share this portion - deciding what individual and social needs will be supported and by whom.

    Since I won't use the word for that bastard failed system of Marx, Engels, and Sanders, I'll put it this way.

    "Capitalism with a Conscience."

    No more 20th Century Motors, Ma Chalmers, slave systems.
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Laughing...cause we all feel so let down, so maligned, so abused and taken granted for that we actually feel that way...it's really not funny.
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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Quite a different thing than a naval base. Look what they are doing in the South China Sea. Don't need that in the Atlantic.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Why not? Who do you think built the third locks at the Panama Canal and put in the trans ship to ship pipeline etc. etc. etc.
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 9 years ago
    Time for tough love...for them and ourselves...time to sever ties to them and the worlds kakistocracies including ours.

    How?...I have no clue except showing my proverbial bow finger for all to see...a meaningless gesture these days. I've not much enthusiasm for much else at this point.

    Maybe tomorrow I will feel differently...
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  • Posted by Technocracy 9 years ago
    They should have voted on statehood long long ago.

    When they vote no, kick them loose as an independent country with all that entails.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Much of that is because the Chinese are selling off their T-bills and need somewhere else to put their money. Land is always going to be an asset in fixed supply. As an added bonus, they also get to start affecting politics. Talk about a Manchurian Candidate in an upcoming election is going to be far more fact than fiction...
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  • Posted by $ blarman 9 years ago
    If we had any values of self-sufficiency, we'd order them into austerity until they got their fiscal house in order. Of course, since we don't have our fiscal house in order, there's no chance that's going to happen.

    My bet is that the Feds bail them out by paying off that $2 billion hidden in an appropriations bill.
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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Seems to be the common response to handouts, in Puerto Rico or the Continental US, despise those handing out. Clearly they must be keeping us down.
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  • Posted by DrZarkov99 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    The Chinese are buying American properties and companies at a breakneck pace. I have a friend who does partnership business with the Chinese, and many businessmen who've reached mandatory retirement are nervous the government may decide they have too much wealth, so they're seeing the U.S. as a tax haven and a way to stash money.

    With money comes influence, so it can't be too long before a Caribbean country is persuaded to allow berthing Chinese warships. The Monroe doctrine has long been toast.
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  • Posted by $ AJAshinoff 9 years ago
    The adage "sh*t or get off the pot" has been on my mind about Puerto Rico for many years. I've been there twice and twice I was annoyed at the open contempt they had for us. They have their cake and are eating it too, this needs to change.
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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 9 years ago in reply to this comment.
    That is what I meant. I wouldn't be opposed to private Chinese buyers, as long as it was very clear that the buyers were not a front group for their government like the group that funded the Clinton Foundation.
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