Free Republic

With each passing day, more compromising of national security, self-serving and self-enriching behaviors, frauds, scams and general malfeasance on the part of Hillary Clinton come to light via new Wikileaks data dumps. But the news media’s obsession with things Donald Trump has said consistently overshadows things Hillary Clinton has actually done. Revelations have now surfaced that Clinton backed the Puerto Rico Debt Relief Bill, a plan to help the financially struggling U.S. commonwealth deal with a $70 billion debt it managed to rack up, after a top Clinton fundraiser –who just happens to be a lobbyist for the Puerto Rican...

New York Senator Charles Schumer was instrumental in getting Bharara appointed to that position and in return was asked from time to time to do favors for the senator and his allies. Up until recently, President Trump had no idea what was really going on. Once President Trump’s staff understood the quid pro quo, they had no choice but to ask for Bharara’s resignation. In 2015, Puerto Rico defaulted on $70 billion in municipal bonds. Those involved panicked. There was ample evidence that the issuing agencies were technically bankrupt when they issued the bonds and that they purchased fraudulent credit...

Today President Obama signed the PROMESA (Puerto Rico Bailout) bill created by representative Paul Ryan, and with it the immediate suspension of the Fifth Amendment which was supported by a Senate vote yesterday. The Fifth Amendment protects U.S. Citizens from federal seizure of property without compensation. It applies in this instance to Puerto Rico via the general obligation bonds (property) purchased by municipal bond holders (investing citizens), which were supposed to be repaid, and which congress has now determined can be frozen. In addition, PROMESA suspends legal redress, by blocking bond holders (property owners) from suing the debtor (PR) to...

Yesterday House Speaker Paul Ryan pushed through a Puerto Rico Rescue bill called PROMESA. The details of the bill are fundamentally challenging to understand in scope, however, the key aspect to remember is the underlying benefactor(s) – Wall Street. While Ryan is severely adverse to PROMESA being called a bailout, that’s exactly what it is – only worse. The plan structurally changes the dynamics of how State debt is repaid, and the considerations for bondholders under the 5th amendment (seizure of private property w/out compensation); which will lead to a guaranteed bondholder bailout. However, beyond the ‘bailout’ aspect there is...

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew got a first-hand look at the humanitarian impact of Puerto Rico's $70 billion debt crisis, touring an elementary school struggling with limited electricity and a hospital unable to provide some basic services to infants....... Garcia said that Puerto Rico is not asking for a bailout and has not been offered one...... "If Congress does not act then we will need a bailout, and it will be very expensive to U.S. taxpayers," he said.

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.