From Reuters:
White House says still not considering Puerto Rico bailout
9:22 a.m. CST, February 5, 2014
WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The White House said on Wednesday it was still not considering a bailout for Puerto Rico after Standard & Poor's on Tuesday cut its credit rating to junk status.
Steve's reporting on Puerto Rico is usually drive-by stuff so he's oblivious to the intersection of Way We Live Now factors at play in the PR debt fiasco, namely that it's another SNFU from Wall Street tax-bending artisans employing a third world Spanish-speaking island with no industry aside from tourism for vibrant human shields.
ReplyDeleteIs this because we have military bases there?
ReplyDeletePuerto Rico is a welfare case.
ReplyDeleteLittle / no productive industry on the island, and 2nd tier for tourism, the island subsists on US government subsidy.
It's sort of ironic that Sailer is noticing this because the very subsidies that are fattening up Puerto Rico, were put into place by politicians like him who noticed that: If we give them generous welfare there, then thy wolnt come here.
That's a policy that basically worked spectacularly for 25 ish years. The open borders flood to places like New York stopped.
Moreover he Island of Puerto Rico itself does not have open borders, it has similar rules to the US main (actually its probably tougher to get into Puerto Rico than it is to get into California).
Recently however, the Puerto Rican welfare state malaise is breaking down, welfare subsidies aren't keeping up with USA welfare subsidies, and now Puerto Ricans are once again flooding the US. This time they are moving to the Orlando area, which explains Alan Grayson. The recent flood to Florida of Puerto Ricans is a major contributor to why a Southern State (Florida) is on the verge of Flipping Blue.
@anonymous 6:11AM: This doesn't make any sense. Puerto Ricans have been coming to the US long before federal government welfare programs. They don't get any special breaks in getting handouts compared to other US citizens. I don't think there has been any concerted effort to keep Puerto Ricans on the island except in an effort to squeeze some productivity from the island.
DeleteMust not need the votes.
ReplyDeleteWhat is truly sad about the Puerto Rican situation, is that when 2016 rolls around, we will be subjected, yet once again, to the predictable spectacle of the GOP presidential candidates falling all over themselves trying to prove who's more in favor of Puerto Rican statehood.
ReplyDeleteAnd leading the forthcoming circus, will be the delusional, libertarian pander bear and ringmaster, Rand Paul!!!
Does anyone know the bankruptcy law on this point? Local governments are corporate bodies and can enter bankruptcy, but states are sovereign entities, so the process is not there in those circumstances.
ReplyDeleteIf re-organization is an option for Puerto Rico that would be preferable to any bailout.
I don't think Puerto Rico can avail itself of the same bankruptcy protections as Detroit since it's a territory.
DeleteIs this because we have military bases there?
ReplyDeleteFewer that 200 American soldiers & sailors are billeted in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Contrary to the impression that Andrew Bacevich may have given you, the Southern Command has only 2,000 billets (less than 1/10 th of what were there 60 years ago). Nearly half are at Guantanamo. A lower-three-digit number are in Columbia and Central America working on drug interdiction. The rest are scattered in groupscules hither thither and yon.
Puerto Rico is a welfare case.
ReplyDeleteLittle / no productive industry on the island, and 2nd tier for tourism, the island subsists on US government subsidy.
Actually, Per the World Bank, the Gross Domestic Product of the island is $101.5 bn. The domestic product per capita (ppp) is about $18,000, which is low for North America but the highest in Latin America and compares favorably to most of Eastern Europe (outside Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Estonia).
Per the CIA, fully 50% of the value added in the Puerto Rican economy is in agriculture and industry. It is less service-oriented than the national economy as a whole.
Does anyone know the bankruptcy law on this point? Local governments are corporate bodies and can enter bankruptcy, but states are sovereign entities, so the process is not there in those circumstances
ReplyDeleteYou've answered your own question. The sovereign simply defaults. The checks bounce, the state employees go home.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteThis time they are moving to the Orlando area, which explains Alan Grayson.
Yes, they are and yes, it does. They have moved into and take over the shittier suburbs, like Deltona, East Orlando and Grayson's Kissimmee. They make these places shittier still. And they breed, oh, dear lord, they breed!
I've also seen what looks like an increasing number of Central Americans moving in. They go to the Sam's club stores and Walmarts and buy big bags of rice. Wherever they're from, they are Mestizo-looking, short, unattractive and usually do not speak English at all, or at least not in public. The females are frequently gravid with numbers of uncontrolled spawn running around them.
I'm thinking Alaska might be my next move.
Bit of a difference here. Unlike Mexico, Puerto Rico didn't move to the US so much as the US moved to Puerto Rico.
ReplyDeleteGiven that so many young PR's are moving to the US, isn't it likely that what's left is old, feeble and few?
Might not be a bad place to retire to.
See above comment on breeding rates.
ReplyDeleteGilbert P
Ed, you need to learn the facts. Businesses have been getting tax breaks to manufacture in Puerto Rico for years (one of my customers built a huge facility there back in the late 70s) and the residents get federal income tax breaks for any income earned on the island.
ReplyDeleteRecently however, the Puerto Rican welfare state malaise is breaking down, welfare subsidies aren't keeping up with USA welfare subsidies, and now Puerto Ricans are once again flooding the US. This time they are moving to the Orlando area, which explains Alan Grayson. The recent flood to Florida of Puerto Ricans is a major contributor to why a Southern State (Florida) is on the verge of Flipping Blue.
ReplyDeleteNew York, Florida and then Texas. Puerro Ricians are heading for the Lone Star State and it will be purple rain in 10 years with all the Mexicans. I told the right that moderate democratic states like Minnesota and Iowa don't have the poverty rate much lower than Ca or Texas but do right wingers ever learn that the moderate Dem states are better since they have less minorities and less poor whites like Kentucky whites.
Just about everyone in Puerto Rico has a relative who left recently for Florida, New York, Texas or Virginia, among others. But the decision is never easy. Fathers leave behind children. Houses must be rented or sold at a loss in a glutted market. Businesses must be shut. And English must be polished, or in some cases learned, in a hurry.
ReplyDeleteThese are the top states for Puerto Ricians.