Trump says Puerto Rico's debt will have to be wiped out

CNBC ^ | October 3, 2017 | Leslie Shaffer, Christina Wilke, John W. Schoen and Reuters

[DIRTYSECRET]

Independence will empty Rykers island. I say go for it.

[cincinnati65]

Opening salvo to get them to renegotiate the debt to more favorable terms. Probably will be a write-off involved but I doubt it will be 100%.

If it DID end up writing off at 100%, what an incredible growth opportunity PR would be. The ability to borrow and put all of that into upgrades and infrastructure.

[sagar]

“Next time the companies should be smarter as to who they loan their money to.”

Yeah, paying them with taxpayer money will teach them not to involve in bad investments. Please pass me what’s being smoked.

What will teach them is to hang they high and dry. Next time, they will re-think about loan money to deadbeats.

[ADSUM]

If, then Trump needs all PR pay something and have a rigid no over spending budget and stupid democrats can’t run things.

Only frugal spenders.

[HereInTheHeartland]

It won’t be wiped out.
All of us now get to pay it.

[MtnClimber]

A really bad idea to let spending addicts off the hook. In a year they will be in the same place if they don’t face their irresponsible addiction and recover.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Dammit! He better not bail them out!!!

[WildHighlander57]

sipow wrote:

“*** that. Why should they get their debt wiped out? Can I get my mortgage wiped out? How about student loans and car loans.

This is complete bull****.”

Good analogy; good question- why —should— we bail em out?

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

When you owe the bank $100,000, you have a problem.

When you owe the bank $100 million, the bank has a problem.

[Bigg Red]

What is wrong with you?! We don’t use filthy language around here.

[jeffersondem]

“If done right, PR can be the jewel of the Caribbean, there’s no excuse for them not to be.”

Does the population have the smarts to be successful?

They are Democrats you know.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

My take on it is that PR has been, in effect, bankrupt for some time now. The bond holders typically take a haircut, in those circumstances. I would be astonished if a big risk premium weren’t factored into PR bonds. (Unless they were being underwritten by the U.S. government.) If so, the banks took calculated risks, when they bought PR bonds. This time, the coin landed on the wrong side for the banks.

It’s best to get that all sorted out now (right now); before boatloads of US taxpayer dollars are shipped to the island.

It appears that Trump is tidying things up — and likely making it harder for the big banks to divert disaster-relief funds into their vaults.

[Drago]

The “bankruptcy” already started back in May:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/05/03/puerto-rico-bankruptcy/101243686/

[adorno]

President Donald Trump said that Puerto Rico's debt will have to wiped out.

No need to do that.

Just restructure the debt to have them pay it down, $1 million dollar per year, until it's paid off. The additional accumulated debt from the years of interest(millenia?) can also be restructured for payments after the initial debt is paid off.

See? Debt not forgiven or written off. ;)

[Duchess47]

Too true. :)

[kevao]

As for the lenders? They will have to eat the debt. And they will absolutely deserve it, because they apparently didn’t care about PR’s ability (or willingness!) to repay.

Exactly right. But if they're smart, the debt-holders will work out deal -- restructure the debt on more favorable terms for PR. Creditors take a big haircut, but not a total loss.

In return, PR would accept a severe austerity program, with massive cuts in government spending and a complete overhaul of the PR pension system, to include massive cuts in pension payouts -- even to current government pensioners (they won't starve; those public-sector pensions are generous).

[adorno]

Does the population have the smarts to be successful?

They are Democrats you know.

Believe it or not, there is a huge number of republicans who used to be democrats. Did they get smart only after becoming republicans?

I used to be one of those democrats, and, to top it all off, I was born in Puerto Rico.

BTW, I haven't been a democrat for a few decades now, so, I must be one of the smart ones, right?

And, if I remember a study done a few years ago, Puerto Ricans are the "perfect humans". Look up that study.

Right about now, I feel superior to you. ;)

[catnipman]

they’ll never pay it back anyway so wiping the debt shouldn’t make much difference: anyone lending them money thereafter won’t get their money back either.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thirty-four people out of 3.5 MILLION died due to this hurricane?

I got nothin’...

[dynoman]

“Trump has bragged about using bankruptcy MULTIPLE TIMES to have clean slate. “

That’s a LIE.