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Keyword: puertorico

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  • U.S. House Unveils Retooled Promesa for Puerto Rico

    05/19/2016 4:25:28 AM PDT · by cll · 11 replies
    Caribbean Business ^ | 5/19/2016 | Luis J. Valentin
    SAN JUAN — Following several setbacks, the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee finally released its new version of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management & Economic Stability Act (Promesa), Congress’ latest effort to “bring lawful order to chaos in Puerto Rico,” reads a summary of the bill released late Wednesday. In doing so, the committee says it is not providing access to Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, there is no threat of contagion to the rest of the municipal bond market and no precedent is being established for other troubled U.S. states. The bill, now HR 5278, could go...
  • Bernie's Thug Life

    05/19/2016 2:57:38 AM PDT · by Biggirl · 13 replies
    Frontpagemag.com ^ | May 19,2016 | Mathew Vadum
    The reason Bernie Sanders pointedly refuses to condemn his supporters for throwing chairs and making death threats against Democrat officials at and after the party’s Nevada convention is because he doesn’t actually object to their violent behavior. Sanders blew off pressure from Democrat leaders to disavow ugly tactics by his supporters at the event Saturday evening, calling the complaints “nonsense” and arguing that his supporters were not treated with "fairness and respect."
  • After delays, House GOP moves forward to help Puerto Rico

    05/18/2016 10:36:06 PM PDT · by Olog-hai · 26 replies
    Associated Press ^ | May 19, 2016 1:26 AM EDT | Mary Clare Jalonick
    After weeks of delays, House Republicans are moving forward with legislation to help Puerto Rico manage $70 billion in debt. A revised bill introduced late Wednesday would create a control board to help manage the U.S. territory’s financial obligations and oversee some debt restructuring. Though it is the third version of the legislation, those objectives remain unchanged. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop, R-Utah, has led negotiations on the bill and has worked closely with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., congressional Democrats and the White House. The aim has been to write legislation that could pass both the House...
  • Tourism Industry in Cash-Stapped Puerto Rico Attempts to Calm Zika Fears

    05/18/2016 12:46:42 PM PDT · by cll · 17 replies
    ABC News ^ | 5/14/2016 | Susanna Kim
    Puerto Rico's tourism industry is hoping to ease tourists' concerns about the Zika virus on the cash-strapped island, describing the extra precautions businesses are taking. "We feel this has been blown out of proportion," Clarisa Jimenez, president and CEO of the Puerto Rico Hotel and Tourism Association told ABC News. "We have taken all the measures that the CDC has recommended from day one." Tourism is particularly important to Puerto Rico, as the U.S. commonwealth struggles through its recession and its inability to pay $72 billion in public debt. Puerto Rico's hotel business comprises about 7.1 percent of the island's...
  • Why Puerto Rico is in trouble

    05/14/2016 10:18:41 AM PDT · by ChessExpert · 55 replies
    The Economist ^ | May 11th, 2016 | A.A.K.
    The island’s troubles have their origin in an era of corporate tax incentives in the 1970s that exempted firms from paying federal taxes on profits earned in Puerto Rico. This was done to prevent tax-allergic American companies from setting up shop outside the country. Pharmaceutical, textile and electronics companies flocked to the island to spark a manufacturing boom that lasted for around two decades. In 1996, the American government, under the Clinton administration, started weaning Puerto Rico off these tax breaks to offset some of the country’s federal deficit. The largesse disappeared entirely in 2006 and its economy has suffered...
  • [Puerto Rico] "Humanitarian crisis" is a White House strategy

    05/13/2016 6:43:54 AM PDT · by cll · 14 replies
    El Vocero (Google translation) ^ | 05/13/2016 | Laura M. Quintero
    Puerto Rico Secretary of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC), Alberto Bacó Bagué, distanced himself from Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla's strategy to project to the island as facing a humanitarian crisis. The head of the DDEC maintains that the humanitarian crisis in the island is a strategy of the Secretary of United States Department of the Treasury, Jacob Lew. He stressed that Puerto Rico is being affected by a conflict between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. "This is a strategy by Mr. Treasury Secretary, he is well respected, but it is a strategy in his mind and I worry...
  • Major League Baseball Throws a Spitball at Puerto Rico

    05/12/2016 7:34:42 AM PDT · by Sean_Anthony · 5 replies
    Canada Free Press ^ | 05/12/16 | Michael Fumento
    It's hysteria, Carlos Beltran. Pure hysteria. Puerto Rico was thrown out of the game before it even entered the stadium It’s a common theme of mine that the American spirit is growing steadily weaker. One way in which we see that is the propensity to become hysterical at the least provocation, the proverbial elephant afraid of the mouse. Witness the ongoing hysteria over the mosquito-borne Zika virus. The latest victim is the impoverished U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which has struck out with Major League Baseball. A two-game series scheduled for the territory is being moved to Miami. Why? The...
  • Donald Trump won't bail out Puerto Rico

    05/09/2016 1:14:14 PM PDT · by Beautiful_Gracious_Skies · 94 replies
    CNN -Money ^ | May 7, 2016 | Heather Long
    Donald Trump says Puerto Rico has "far far too much debt," and the U.S. government shouldn't bail out the island....... Puerto Rico is in crisis mode. It has run up $70 billion in debt, a staggering amount for an island of under 3.5 million people..... "You have to cut the debt way down and get back to business," he said.
  • De Blasio blames US racism for Puerto Rico’s money problems

    05/08/2016 2:04:30 AM PDT · by EinNYC · 48 replies
    NY Post ^ | May 8, 2016 | Mary Kay Linge
    Racism is to blame for Puerto Rico’s dire fiscal situation, Mayor de Blasio charged Saturday. “The backs of the United States government turned on them, while a health-care crisis grows, a humanitarian crisis grows, the Zika crisis grows,” he said in a speech at the National Action Network in Harlem.
  • Puerto Rico's hyped "humanitarian crisis" narrative backfires

    05/05/2016 5:00:20 AM PDT · by cll · 11 replies
    The "humanitarian crisis" narrative fueled by the administration of Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro García Padilla, together with the fiscal crisis and the impact of the transmission of the Zika virus, is backfiring on the government of Puerto Rico, costing millions of dollars in revenue and affecting directly tourism, one of the few economic sectors that produce positive results for the U.S. territory. While it is true that the spread of Zika has had a strong impact on attracting tourists, groups and conventions to the island, this factor has been lagging in third place, taking the head "humanitarian crisis" narrative followed...
  • How to turn Puerto Rico into Hong Kong

    05/02/2016 10:27:48 AM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 38 replies
    Washington Times ^ | 05/02/2016 | Stephen Moore and Arthur Laffer
    Later this week or next, Congress will take up legislation to rescue the commonwealth of Puerto Rico from its financial crisis that is getting worse by the day. Puerto Rico faces more than $70 billion of debt and the government is already in technical default on many of its bonds. Billions more come due in weeks ahead and the government says they are out of money to repay. These debts don’t even include an additional $43.2 billion of unfunded pension liabilities. Add it all together and the debt reaches at least 150 percent of GDP. That’s a lot of weight...
  • Puerto Rico Says Will Default Tomorrow, Begs Congress For Help "Or Else Crisis Will Get Worse"

    05/01/2016 4:39:02 PM PDT · by tcrlaf · 64 replies
    Zerohedge ^ | 5-1-2016 | Durden
    Update: PR Governor Padilla has spoken... -PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR SAYS WON'T PAY DEBT TOMORROW -PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR SAYS ISLAND WON'T PAY DEBT MONDAY -PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR: GOVERNMENT SIGNED MORATORIUM BILL YESTERDAY -PUERTO RICO NEEDS DEAL W/ CREDITORS AND/OR CONGRESS: GARCIA And of course, demands a bailout... -PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR CALLS ON U.S. CONGRESS, PAUL RYAN FOR HELP And then threatens... -CRISIS WILL GET WORSE IF U.S. CONGRESS DOESN'T HELP: GARCIA -PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR CONCLUDES REMARKS TO COMMONWEALTH A default on the $422 million due today is "virtually certain," S&P Global Ratings said April 11.
  • Congress, Not Obama’s Cronies, Can Save Puerto Rico

    04/27/2016 8:11:32 AM PDT · by Sean_Anthony · 4 replies
    Canada Free Press ^ | 04/27/16 | Megan Barth
    Speaker Ryan has made it crystal clear that House Republicans' number one priority is to shield American taxpayers from a bailout of Puerto Rico My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income.—Errol Flynn Due to Puerto Rico’s gross habits, the commonwealth has amassed a total debt of over $72 billion and has already defaulted on $221 million of its’ debt. When unfunded liabilities (pensions) are included, these additional costs bring the total value of their debt closer to $165 billion, approximately $150% of its’ GDP.
  • Paul Ryan's Biggest Test Yet: Saving Puerto Rico From Congress

    04/25/2016 9:09:11 AM PDT · by yoe · 29 replies
    Daily Read List ^ | April 25, 2016 | Billy House
    Puerto Rico’s complex debt crisis is shaping up as the first true test of Paul Ryan’s six-month old speakership.[snip] The high stakes explain why Ryan’s office has been involved -- often behind the scenes -- from the start. It could also ultimately find him having to strong-arm or bypass fellow conservatives, a move that would also break his promise for a new, bottom-up approach to running the House. Either way, time is running short. Congress is already blowing through a May 1 debt repayment deadline and Ryan needs to get something through both chambers before July 1 to avoid a...
  • Obama Cronies Cashing in on Puerto Rican Debt Crisis

    04/15/2016 11:15:38 AM PDT · by Kaslin · 6 replies
    Townhall.com ^ | April 15, 2016 | Brian McNicoll
    It’s not just the chickens that have come home to roost in Puerto Rico. It’s the hacks as well. The whole thing can be summed up in two words – Hack City. There were the public-sector union hacks whose contracts drove the Commonwealth into what is now estimated at $72 billion in debt. There were the government officials who encouraged this profligacy with indulgent hiring. There are the hacks in Washington who just want to send a big check and forget the whole thing, rather than insist on the reforms that put Puerto Rico in these straits in the first...
  • Paul Ryan: Don’t Call My Puerto Rico Bailout a “Bailout”, Call It “Restructuring”

    04/14/2016 10:53:40 AM PDT · by detective · 22 replies
    Conservative Treehouse ^ | 13 Apr 2016 | Sundance
    Please insert a big fat TOLDYASO right here. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is lashing out at opponents to his Puerto Rico bailout bill demanding they stop calling it a “bailout”. Instead Ryan demands his opposition use the gaslighting term “restructuring”. Hogwash.
  • Committee on Natural Resources Releases Puerto Rico Legislation

    04/13/2016 9:10:59 AM PDT · by cll · 11 replies
    Today, the House Committee on Natural Resources released H.R. 4900, the “Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA).” Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) and bill sponsor Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) issued the following statements: “We are nearing the conclusion of a collaborative and open drafting process that has involved all stakeholders to reach a responsible consensus. “This package of reforms will restore the guardrails of freedom and self-governance in Puerto Rico. It will hold Puerto Rico accountable to its debt, uncover audited financial statements, enforce fiscal responsibility and cut red tape holding down the Island’s economy. It provides...
  • Puerto Rico legislature ignores Constitutions, gives Governor sweeping powers

    04/06/2016 10:13:02 AM PDT · by cll · 29 replies
    The draft "Law on Moratorium Emergency and Financial Rehabilitation of Puerto Rico" would give many absolute and unilateral powers to governor Alejandro García Padilla, including the option of expropriating properties from private companies that refuse to continue to provide services to the Government during an emergency declaration. According to the bill, which was approved this morning in the House of Representatives after being approved in the Senate yesterday, the governor "may take all reasonable and necessary measures to continue providing essential public services and protect the health, safety and welfare, including, without limitation, expropriating property rights of a contractor". That...
  • Walmart wins suit against Puerto Rico; tax declared invalid

    03/28/2016 8:20:31 PM PDT · by cll · 12 replies
    AP via Yahoo! News ^ | 3/28/2016 | Danica Cotto
    <p>SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Retail giant Walmart won a legal victory Monday in a fight over taxation by Puerto Rico's government.</p> <p>A federal judge in the U.S. island territory ruled that a modified tangible-property tax is invalid. The ruling was issued as Puerto Rico's government rushes to find new sources of revenue and a debt restructuring mechanism from the U.S. Congress while struggling through a decade-long economic crisis.</p>
  • Walmart wins suit against Puerto Rico; tax declared invalid

    03/28/2016 6:53:05 PM PDT · by Olog-hai · 11 replies
    Associated Press ^ | Mar. 28, 2016 7:54 PM EDT | Danica Coto
    Retail giant Walmart won a legal victory Monday in a fight over taxation by Puerto Rico’s government. A federal judge in the U.S. island territory ruled that a modified tangible-property tax is invalid. The ruling was issued as Puerto Rico’s government rushes to find new sources of revenue and a debt restructuring mechanism from the U.S. Congress while struggling through a decade-long economic crisis. Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said his government will appeal the decision. “The judge just took away $100 million from the people of Puerto Rico and gave it to Walmart,” he said, referring to the revenue the...