"The earth is the LORD’s and its fullness thereof..." —Psalm 24:1 

Is Vulture Hedge Funds Killing PR?
by Don Jibaro
The continual Exodus of Puerto Rican into the United States has created a fear in the USA investors that basically control the local economy. This is because there will be less people to suck the blood out of. Nevertheless the Island is in bad shape with a multiBILLION debt that doesn't want to go away.

Puerto Rico's, now defaulted,  $72 billion debt crisis is based on the principle of CAUSE and EFFECT. The CAUSE is, of course, the politicians who dress themselves with $1,500 shoes and $3,000 suits. Multiply that by 78 towns with 78 mayors and city councils and you get a lot of political "magician's sleigh of hand" making a lot of promises and fulfilling none of them.

The recession, combined with the broader economic downturn (Puerto Rico, like warm-weather U.S. states, experienced a housing bubble and collapse), exposed structural problems derived from the island’s unique status. Though Puerto Ricans pay the same payroll taxes as mainland workers, the island receives sharply lower reimbursement rates for Medicare and Medicaid. Its poorest citizens are ineligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit.

A monopolized power company derives nearly all its electricity from diesel fuel, despite trade winds and sun being the most plentiful resources on the island. With few exploitable natural resources, Puerto Rico has to import oil (giving it some of the highest electricity rates in the United States and loads of unpaid bills) and most of its goods.

Soon protections expire that shelter Puerto Rico from debt lawsuits and predatory financial groups popularly known as "vulture" hedge funds.


A private security guard sits in front of a closed down business in the colonial district of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sunday, August 2, 2015.
 

ALSO... And a 1920 law called the Jones Act restricts cargo carriage between two U.S. ports with a foreign-flagged ship. This means that foreign ships carrying U.S.-bound goods must stop at a U.S. port, transfer goods headed to Puerto Rico to a separate U.S. ship, and send them along. These shipping costs result in an exorbitant cost of living. The Virgin Islands, a U.S. territory near Puerto Rico, have an exemption from the Jones Act; Puerto Rico doesn’t.

Yes, that can create the EFFECT of a bankrupt economy.

Enter Vulture Hedge Funds...
USA investors that have descended on the commonwealth, taking advantage of a debt crisis that has impoverished citizens and created massive unemployment. These American millionaires buying the debt at 250% profit forcing the country into an economic chaos the ends up canceling basic community services like schools, health centers... etc.

But this is a new name for the same old monster of the American Giant trying to crush the little citizen. It forces the people to stretch out their arms begging for a handout. People are flocking to Florida looking for the American Dream, but it's not there. There's poverty among the newcomers, who rush to cheap motels and low pay jobs in order to survive.

The promises that were bound to Puerto Rico never came. The dream suddenly vanished, leaving the Island in an economic chaos that even home owners are selling their beachfront properties and moving to.... YES, Florida


Ever heard "Miami of Bust!"?


donjibaro@gmail.com


“Live in such a way that no one blames the rest of us 
nor finds fault with our work.” —(2 Corinthians 6:3)

 

 

Jibaros.Com®, Jibaros.Net® - This website all its contents and artwork is Copyright © by Orlando Vázquez, owner-designer. All rights reserved by the respective sources. Derechos Reservados de los Autores. We do not accept any responsibility for privacy policy of content of third party sites. U.S. Copyright Office, Washington, D.C. 20559