++Amy Goodman's cohost is Juan Gonzalez, a regular columnist for the New York Daily News. Juan is also a well-known expert on the history and economics of Puerto Rico.
++Tonight Democracy Now broadcast the full speech by Juan in October to an audience at NYU. The speech was on the colonial roots of the current debt crisis in Puerto Rico. If Congress does nothing by the end of the month,Puerto Rico will go bankrupt or will it. No one knows because Puerto Rico was purposely left out of the bankruptcy law when Strom Thurmond and Bob Dole made a deal in the 1990s. All other American territory can file under bankruptcy laws. The other aspect of change was Bill Clinton's deal with Newt Gingrich over raising the minimum wage. Bill let the corporate tax breaks for US companies in Puerto Rico expire over a ten year period. Previously,Puerto Rico was the number 1 profit center for many American corporations, sometimes out posting the profits from all of Latin America combined. Roughly 33.5 billion a year leave the island in corporate revenues. With the end of the tax breaks came the end of the businesses who moved elsewhere. Crash, Boom. The Puerto Rican economy was wiped out.
++What was intriguing about Juan's presentation was that everything in Puerto Rico has bonds. The reason--they are Triple Tax-Exempt for anyone living in the United States. That means you don't pay federal,local or state taxes. The bonds are insured by independent insurance companies that guarantee you the full payment. As a consequence the last bonds issued in 2014, pay 8% interest.
++Now the bonds are selling at $.30 to a dollar and hedge funds are buying them up at twice that with the anticipation they can recoup $.90 when the day of "default" comes.
++Juan pointed out how 100,000 Puerto Ricans are leaving the island per month because the living conditions have so deteriorated. Over half the housing stock is empty. Unemployment is the highest in America and it has been at depression levels for a decade.
++All sad and nothing in Washington is being done about it. Remember President Obama promised the island a referendum on their status. The lack of a clear legal status means everything is in legal limbo so it is unclear how they can tackle their debt problem. The island has already implemented a serious austerity budget and can't absorb anymore.
++Juan urges anyone concerned to rally around a press Congress to address this issue.
++Why? The bond insurers stocks are crumbling once news got out that the Governor was thinking of not paying. The market suggests the insurers do not have the money to cover a default. What this means is that all Triple A Tax Exempt bonds such as New York would be jeopardized. It's another achilles heel in our economy.
++Puerto Ricans are virtually ignored. But Juan says that 200,000 Puerto Ricans will be registered this year in Florida alone to vote. Perhaps they may raise the issue of the island.
++FYI--Mr grandfather was a missionary in Arecibo and Mayaquez during the 1920s. He was one of the youngest Doctors of Divinity who ever graduated in the United States. As a proud young man he posted "Dr. Relyea" outside his office in Puerto Rico.
The consequence,according to my grandmother, was that he ended up delivering many babies and never referred to himself as Dr. Relyea afterwards.
++The presentation by Juan Gonzalez is worth watching if you know nothing about the island and its recent history. It's too bad it had to air on Thanksgiving night.
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