Puerto Rico's Sovereign Debt Crisis

Rey P:  "Once I am in the island I believe I will look into becoming active in the island politics, but not sure how yet. But at least I plan to have my voice heard, I don't think neither of the 3 parties would like what I have to say, as all 3 suck and I plan to let them know."

Well yes, they probably all 3 do.  Wish I could be be a fly on the wall when you give 'em hell.  As to a law degree, Donald Trump has a B.A. in Economics, real estate specialty from the Univ of Penn.  Don't let not being an att'y stop you.  Something like 80% of the world's att'ys reside in the United States.  We don't need any more.  In the Dom Rep one might say a person can hardly sling a dead cat w/o the risk of hitting an abregado, or somebody claiming to being close to it. (no offense meant of course, dgd, or nomad if he happens to read.)

Libertad Puerto Rico.  How bout that Rey.  Doesn't have to mean it's libertarian.  Or for national independence.  Just simply liberty.  Like the old gal on the money, Lady Liberty.  I'll be around.  Like the song says, whenever you need me, I'll be there.  Just call.    Take a good watch between now and November though.  It's a contact sport.

Hey, and just a thought.  Puerto Rico is about 100 miles wide X 35 miles tall.  About 3 mil PR's and bout 300K Dominicanos (and 1/2 the Dominicans are illegal).  Greater Miami is somewhere north of 2 & 1/2 mil.  Puerto Rico has 8 senate districts w/2 senators ea + 11 at large; 40 representative districts w/1 ea + 11 at large; and 78 municipal governments ea w/its own elected mayor.  Grand total elected big shots, 156.  (Not counting governor and U.S. congressman.)  Each w/a full staff and cronies hangin' off the coattails.  San Francisco, California is about 850,000+ and has a mayor and 11 council members by comparison.  Seems like a lotta gov't big shots for the size of the place.  Just sayin'.

Is true, the legal profession, and a few others, have screwed themselves. Really not the profession---really Academia

When I was first licensed in '80, there 22,000 lawyers in IL. Now 95,000. Universities saw green an either opened law schools or expanded the size of the admitting. I'd never do it now if I was in college and looking at my future.  That's why you see the BK or Divorce for $99 Billboards. The young guys/gals are starving.

My best friend is a Cardiac Surgeon.  Great career, low mortality rate (.05). Making 7 figures for years, had a nice chunk of BC/BS biz here. But, they went younger (really meaning cheaper). Suddenly he was out. Can't hook on with another existing medical group. Too many cardiac surgeons. Now doing veins--varicose veins, cosmetic. Talk about a guy who feels what he is doing is beneath his skills.

Only smart ones were the dentists. Started closing dental schools about 20 years ago. Closed Loyola's school in my town, one of the oldest in the US. 

No empty waiting rooms in dental offices. And not cheap--way overpriced really. I had a whole bunch of stuff done in CR for 25% of what they wanted here.

Yes, universities should keep an eye on the numbers for each of the professions and adjust accordingly. But also some of those starving lawyers should move to another state and or city.

But not enough Electricians and Plumbers, they are in great demand and they charge a lot.

Carlos when in RD wrote:

Hey, and just a thought.  Puerto Rico is about 100 miles wide X 35 miles tall.  About 3 mil PR's and bout 300K Dominicanos (and 1/2 the Dominicans are illegal).  Greater Miami is somewhere north of 2 & 1/2 mil.  Puerto Rico has 8 senate districts w/2 senators ea + 11 at large; 40 representative districts w/1 ea + 11 at large; and 78 municipal governments ea w/its own elected mayor.  Grand total elected big shots, 156.  (Not counting governor and U.S. congressman.)  Each w/a full staff and cronies hangin' off the coattails.  San Francisco, California is about 850,000+ and has a mayor and 11 council members by comparison.  Seems like a lotta gov't big shots for the size of the place.  Just sayin'.

and they and their staff don't do $#1t
There is a lot of room to down size. Each of those wants to be important and have a lot of staff, so for every one of the 156 you fire - all the staff under them can also go. That is a lot of money saved in toilet paper.

I'm luvin' it Rey.  You go guy!!!

Interesting article, and point of view, I was not aware we did not have the right to a Jury trial, but then again I keep my nose clean.

So that means we have two different levels of Judicial Justice, 1 for citizens that live in a state and, 1 for PR citizens. I was not aware there were two different levels of citizenship!!!!!
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/ … s-eat-cake

How many more little surprises exist for Puerto Ricans when it comes to being a second class US citizen?

There are apparently a lot of laws that make a difference on our rights that I was not aware of, seems we are getting screwed without Vaseline.

It also seems the administration may not prosecute the people that got us into this mess and also not try to recover the money of the people that invested (Early investors, not the Mafia ones we currently have).
Wow!

PR's do not have a right to a jury trial in a commonwealth court for civil matters. PR's do have that right in the Federal Court in PR.

The 7th Amendment right to a jury does apply to criminal cases in a PR commonwealth court, though unlike Federal cases anywhere and stateside criminal cases which require unanimous verdicts, PR commonwealth courts may or may not--not sure if they do, require unanimity, meaning e.g, 10 of 12 voting guilty may send your ass to the big house in PR.

Gonna write some more after a bit, Rey.  Dom Rep warning tho.  The Nat'l Tourista Policia can throw ur ass in jail for 48 hrs before they'll even listen to a habeus corpus.  & bout hour 47 it'll be "Aw gee, I think this isn't THAT big a deal.  You can go.  Just behave, okay?"

The story did not provide any new information. I guess this article was to keep the issue current in the minds of mostly people on the mainland.


http://www.npr.org/2016/01/24/464219439 … erto-rico# 

On Friday, Puerto Rico suffered the latest setback in the island's ongoing debt crisis. Talks on restructuring the nearly $9 billion debt of its power company, a government-owned utility, reached an impasse. While the utility, PREPA, said Sunday that it had reached a forbearance agreement with lenders, negotiations on its debt restructuring still have not reached a resolution since the last deal expired Friday night.
Puerto Rico's governor, Alejandro Javier Garcia Padilla, shown here in an appearance in Washington this month, has been urging Congress to allow the commonwealth to seek bankruptcy protection.
The Two-Way
Puerto Rico Says It Will Miss $37 Million In Bond Payments This Week

Power company officials have warned that failure to make payments on that debt could lead to delays in fuel shipments and blackouts across the island, which is home to more than 3 million people.

It's just one financial problem of many for the U.S. territory, where government agencies have amassed a debt of $72 billion.

"This financial crisis is just an expression of a deeper crisis, which is the collapse of the economic structure," says Rosario Rivera, an economist and professor at the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey. Rivera tells NPR's Michel Martin that the island has been in a recession since 2006.

Puerto Rico's constitution requires the government present a balanced budget at the end of every fiscal year. But reports indicate that the island has masked the problem in the past by using loans to balance the budget.

Rivera says deficits could be covered by raising taxes, cutting spending or issuing debt.

"What has been happening for the past maybe 20 years is that we have been covering those deficits strictly with debt," she says. "And it just hits us in the face that all the debt we have accumulated is bigger than our capacity to raise taxes."

In December, the government made headlines by spending $120 million to pay Christmas bonuses to public employees. "We can no longer do those things because those are politically-motivated decisions," Rivera says. "It's those kinds of decisions that have brought us here."

Puerto Rico's fate is controlled by Congress, and Republicans and Democrats there have offered competing ideas on how to solve the debt crisis. Republicans generally favor having the federal government take over Puerto Rico's finances, while Democrats want to allow the island to restructure and shed some of its debt through bankruptcy, which federal law currently prohibits.

"The scenario of bankruptcy is considered more appealing to us, because it might make us able to pay attention to the economy," Rivera says. The other option "would mean that we are basically not able to dictate public policy anymore."

In the meantime, the crisis has weighed heavily on Puerto Rico's residents, Rivera says.

"It's very difficult because the weight of the tax system is only on the shoulders of the working class. And that is a shrinking class. So it's very hard on us."

Unfortunately a lot of these articles have less than 1% new information, the rest is the same rehashed issue about being 72 Billion in the hole, not having the tools to deal with it, yada, yada, yada.

Great way to fill space in the newspaper on a slow news day.

She, a PR authoritative source, a Professor of Economics at U of PR did say something though that many whispered but at least I never saw it stated so clearly from an authoritative voice:

One high possibility in exchange for the bail out, hair cut, or whatever kind of "restructuring" shakes out, PR is going to lose absolute control of its internal political systems.

I think some may view it as an insult to PR, or a punishment. The people with the purse strings will view it as "How else are we to be sure you are going to pay your bills"

And at the end, she reiterates and as Rey says, we've heard this already, that taxes on a dwindling populace aren't going to make it.

But she should have added: "Especially when people who owe do not pay."

Read about PR high society Don Frankcisco who got exposed Friday for owing $250k in taxes–not his income taxes–from sales taxes he collected from his customers on top of his bill but failed to remit to his motherland. He charged people the sales tax and then put that dinero in his pocket.

“The president-elect of the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce is resigning after being targeted in a crackdown on tax cheats by the commonwealth's cash-strapped Treasury Department.
Chamber President Jose E. Vazquez Barquet announced Frank Medina's resignation Saturday.
Treasury officials say Medina's Vita Natura vitamin supplements supplier was shuttered Friday until it pays $257,753 in taxes.

Calls to Medina's businesses seeking comment rang unanswered on Sunday. El Nuevo Dia newspaper quoted him as telling reporters Friday that he was "sad and embarrassed" by the situation and would pay his debt.

The months-long crackdown has focused on businesses that have failed to remit proceeds from an 11.5 percent sales tax charged to clients."

So really, if upper echelon, highly respected PR's are not paying the sales tax and the VAT after collecting them, how many other businesses are also stealing, that is, collecting the sales tax at point of purchase but not tendering them?

It's a common scam that goes back to the beginning of sales tax, from stateside to Greece. Who pays 100%? Even Pope Francisco said last year: "There's a thief in all of us". Only those in a non-cash biz that can't hide how much they sell because their sales are all traceable.  Don Frank from the Chamber, the mail order vitamin man, thought he was invisible but has learned the hard way. Let's see if he's criminally charged for tax evasion and not just publicly humiliated.

Not likely they will be charge for tax evasion. Likely just pay up and get your bins back, don't and we will sell your business for pennies on the dollar and get 1/10 of what you ought us.

A lot of these businesses have been getting away with it (amount well know being ought) for a while, it is time they do more of this and prosecute them also. There is one snag, apparently the law says they can collect and keep the money under some circumstances, loopholes like that will be abused.

I hope they nail them to the cross, but I don't believe they will.
Rey

It's why in the Dom Rep, EVERTHING paid for by debit/credit cards goes thru the little terminals. Can't integrate accounting systems in your computer. The digital debit system connected at the hip con DR's central bank. So all the touristas pay the 16%+ consumption tax the gov't lives off.  The Dominicans as soon as you go where they live get their $$ out of the bank & everything is in cash. One reads on places like Trip Adviser that yes you can use your card but in PR smaller places tend to use cash.  You can't pay at the pump, you have to pre-pay and they prefer cash.  Lemme see now, umm, DUH. The smaller and more "provincial" the operation, the harder it is to use my debit card.

Yeah, it's like the Guatemalan gal I know here in Chico, CA.  About 24 yrs old, father brought at age 7.  Fake Soc Sec card, gateway to CA Driver's license, then vehicle w/cash, then insurance.  Works 2 jobs part time, dishwasher at sushi restaurant and maid at hotel.  All cash.  Access Obamacare, food stamps, section 8 housing.  Let's see now, when the gov't calculates taxes and statistics, where does she fit in? We analyze things by U.S. Mainland standards that aren't real in the 1st place.  Then we project the analysis onto Puerto Rico as if the avg boricuas living life to survive aren't in a parallel world where the digitized, connected & computerized big city U.S. does not apply.

Good points Carlos.  Comparing a tipico PR's life to a similarly situated statesider is not possible. Without picking a fight, it is why I am opposed to lowering the minimum wage in PR. Statesider's aren't paying gross sums for basics. Can't expect a PR to go to work for ??how much after withholding when milk is $5, etc, no access to cheap transportation to get to work outside of metro, etc., etc. And what if he wants to get married and God-forbid have a child? Can't do it on minimum wage in PR. Barely possible in Chicago living bare-bones, week to week.

All the fussing about PR may be for naught. Some will soon predict PR will be like Syria, everyone is headed stateside.

Basing that partly on two things:

1) OK, assume debt gets restructured. Now what, still not enough money coming in to sustain the population. Is going to be deja-vu all over again, debt crisis #2, then #3.

2) I read this article from "The Hill" this a.m. linked below on what it is reporting as "The consensus" of what is going to happen in PR. Take it or leave it, this e-paper is always pretty good, source wise. It is clear to me that worse then Detroit's pensionado's, (Google "Detroit after BK"),  older PR's who like all of us have dreamt of the day that they can sing" "Take this job and shove it" are going to get screwed out of their pensions or a major chunk. And for the young, just starting out city cop, or garbage man, etc in PR,  "No government contribution to my pension? Only my contribution?" What a joke.

And no way PR is going to be able to pay down it's 9 billion restructured debt and then keep out of major new future debt.

PR is going to be a great place for guys like Rey with stateside based private pensions, or people who can make it in the "virtual" world, or like me with my personal set-up, and folks like us, and also OK for those unlike us--the ultra rich. Everyone else is going to be stateside. PR's are blessed with one thing --they can get stateside. Otherwise, PR would become another Haiti. I predict the % of locals departing is going to increase form the 3% currently to astronomical numbers soon, as soon as it becomes obvious that the current quagmire is never going away. 

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/f … ricos-debt

Correct, easy payments does not make the 72 billion debt go away, even with a 15% trim it would still be 61.2 billion which is still not payable. It needs to be reduced by 1/2 before it can really be addressed.

Government raising taxes makes the problem worse, specially if they don't collect it. More big businesses will move out and close, the little guys will only report 10% of sales but collect the taxes from the clients using cash so they get more money that is undeclared and in their pockets.

Police and politicians in the pocket or big businesses and drug lords (same thing?) are making a killing and the population is becoming smaller and smaller.

There are even Puerto Ricans moving to DR looking for jobs (I guess no English) and Dominicans are moving back to DR, so everyone is abandoning ship.

What PR needs most is jobs above board not cash transactions so people can move back to the island and take care of  their families.

As to lowering the minimum wage, I don't know. If I was making minimum wage and working two jobs to support my family I would be hard pressed to take a pay cut.

It would seem that lowering the minimum wage on one hand would trigger more people to leave, while on the other hand would allow employers to be able to hire more help.

But lets be honest, Just because they can now afford more help does not mean they will hire more help, it also means more money on the employer pocket so some will simply keep it and force their workers to increase their productivity or get fired and hire somebody else that is a little more hungry for the scraps.

A lot of government workers will have a hard time finding jobs in the private sector since a lot of them don't have marketable skills, being a wiz at Facebook does not count. There are also few private sector jobs and BIG lines outside to fill them.

So it looks like retired people from the US will be the only ones able to live in PR.
It is a shame, that people that were born and raised in the island will not be able to live there and will lose their lands, their homes and split of the family.

We definitely need more sustainable jobs and elimination of corruption and waste, how that is going to happen with the current quality of leadership is a mystery to me.

Rey hit it on the head re: PR's headed to DR.  English speakers for the tourism biz, skilled (PR architects, construction) for the boom.

Today's ABC news:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wir … s-36501533

Exactly DGD.  In the Dom Rep the snowbirds, Euros or Nor Americans, rent or own condos or retire there and go home on visits.  Their retirement dollars go further in some ways because of the CHEAP labor of the Dominicans that can't leave as easy as the PR's can.  They do however.  A lot.  To Spain, Chile, Argentina, any place they can get a job.  Dominicanos now outnumber Puerto Ricans in NYC.  So the cash cow in the DR is basically the tourist dollars brought in by anybody that will spend.  And outside of the resorts one sees if one looks closely the monied oligarchy of the world.  Putin's cronies, Ukranians, Swiss, Germans, Italians, etc.  And the "nice" Canadians, Americans.  Cuba will be no different.  Puerto Rico's main disadvantage in attracting the money of this cadre of ne'er-do-wells is that they are part of the USA and the Rooskies would rather go to the Dom Rep where the corruption is independent from Putin or the U.S.

So guys like you, me, Rey, Sitka, etc. whose $$ come from outside the island have to figure out how to draw more $$ to the island without we ourselves getting raided so hard by the PR gov't that they make living there financially not possible.  But thing is, SHTF on the way big time in the U.S. and elsewhere for debt problems also.  It just isn't realistically possible to consider PR's future without looking at the debt collapse Goldman Sachs, et al is headed for up here also.  And THAT is even more unpredictable than the PR debt.  So U.S. law, being stronger at protecting the little guy than most anywhere else in the world, is maybe not such a bad play.  Puerto Rico IS the beautiful Caribbean.  AND it is part of the U.S. and looks like it's on the road to the feds playing a bigger role in multiple ways.  So if a person can live there and not get burned by some of the inevitable???  Anybody NOT think PREPA isn't going to be forced to raise prices and have "debt repayment" figured into the price of energy?  Anybody wanna share making our own power?    I got some ideas.

Additional:

From the PR's to DR ABC News article:

"Among them is Gonzalez.

He originally moved to the Dominican Republic to work as a marketing manager for a Hard Rock Cafe in the popular beach resort of Punta Cana, but he quit nearly two months ago to open his own tour company there.

"We're at full blast," he said, noting that he already has several contracts with large hotels in the region. "This is on the up and up."

When I was managing the restaurant/sports bar in Los Corales (Punta Cana) I learned a lot about this tourist area.  I've been in that Hard Rock, Outback Steakhouse, etc.  Brand new Coco Bongo same area.  I believe this area is headed straight for a downturn when the easy cream sitting on the top evaporates as upper middle class discretionary income is about to drop.  A 20% drop will cause cutthroat pricing in an already very shady and overbuilt place.  The PR will have a leg up on the DR and Cuba as being "safe".  I guarantee the organized crime, prostitution, etc, etc stories will come to the surface when the area is chasing a shrinking money pool.  So, an American tourist?  Want sex tourism?  Dom Rep.  Want safe?  Puerto Rico.  Cuba only for history and be VERY careful.

To the few of this on the board that remember in 1975 when NYC was in the same bind as PR and went fetching to the Feds for a Bail-out, you'll get a kick out of this foto of Prez Gerald Ford on the front page telling NYC "Drop Dead". (He really never said those exact words, but that was close enuf).

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/28/nyreg … .html?_r=0

From the NY Times article:  Ed Koch, former NYC mayor, who succeeded Mr. Beame, said of Mr. Ford: “Obviously he was persuaded his original position was wrong, and that shows a great man open to change. I hold nothing against him. And there are very few people, even when they’re dead, that I hold nothing against.”  Ed Koch, truly one of the all-time funny big city politicians.

Have any chips left over from the InterContinental Resort & Casino in SJ?

Better hurry over.

Just closed its doors after 15 years.

Great article published today. Finally suggestions that make sense. Too bad this qualified author is not in a policy making capacity but hopefully these ideas will be discussed because they haven't been mentioned by either side on the Hill.  And are not in the proposed legislation ("PR Debt Recovery Act of 2015").  It's one thing to drain the pond of the debt water, but a waste of time if it is just going to refill. It will unless as he points out they fix what caused the debt.

He suggests:

1) Restore the manufacturing tax credits which Clinton dissolved via a slow death plan, finally totally eliminated in 2005  which is precisely when PR had to start borrowing big time and the huge debt started. For the years the manufacturing tax incentives were in place, PR had acceptable unemployment levels and a stable economy. Why Clinton dissolved that part of the IRS code knowing what would it would do to PR is one of those great moments every Prez has, he wakes up one morning and says:  "I did what?" 

#2 Fix the Jones Act so PR aren't paying exorbitant prices for consumer and business goods.

#3 Lower the minimum wage in PR. I highly disagree with this, can't live in PR even on current minimum wage if your paying $5 for eggs etc. But I'd say OK as long as they fix the Jones Act.

So, OK, bail PR out, or allow BK, or restructure the debt, choose your remedy. But, fix the causation or be prepared to do it again and again.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

From "The Hill" todays edition
Puerto Rico's real problem
By Desmond Lachman, contributor

"As the Puerto Rican economic and debt crisis deepens, one has to be struck by the partial solutions being advanced for its resolution. The Obama administration and Democratic senators put much faith in affording Puerto Rico with Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection akin to that currently enjoyed by all U.S. municipalities. For their part, Republican members of Congress put much store on the imposition of a mid-1990s New York City-style financial control board that would exert the budget discipline that the island has been so sorely lacking.

Yet neither of these proposals addresses the island's core issue, which is that it has been stuck in an economic slump over the past decade. Sadly, that slump now shows every sign of picking up pace.
As Greece's recent dismal economic experience attests, a declining economy tends to seriously exacerbate an economy's debt problem. The smaller the economy becomes, the less able it becomes to repay its debt. Puerto Rico would seem to be no exception to this rule, since a large part of its current inability to service its $72 billion debt mountain is the fact that its economy today is some 15 percent smaller than it was in 2005. Over the same period, the island has lost 10 percent of its population, with the exodus to the mainland picking up pace sharply in 2015 as Puerto Rico's financial crisis has deepened.

The reasons for Puerto Rico's economic slump are not difficult to identify. Manufacturing tax preferences for the island legislated by Congress, which had earlier encouraged investment and economic growth, were completely phased out by 2005. Over the same period, the island's public finances were grossly mismanaged. It also did not help that the U.S. military presence on the island was scaled down and that the island was subject to the same minimum-wage requirement as was the mainland. That minimum-wage requirement is reflected in a labor participation ratio of around 45 percent, which is more than 20 percentage points below the corresponding ratio on the mainland.

Against this background, it is difficult to see how either the imposition of a control board or the affording of Puerto Rico with Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection would in and of themselves place the island on a higher growth path. Indeed, one would expect that by imposing budget austerity on the island at the same time that it is locked in a monetary union with the United States that precludes it from following an independent monetary or exchange rate policy, its economic slump would deepen as it did in Greece. Similarly, while bankruptcy protection might spare the island from the debt-related legal free-for-all that would almost certainly otherwise occur in its absence, it is difficult to see how that protection in and of itself extricates the island from its current downward economic spiral.

Rather, it would seem that sorting out Puerto Rico's present economic and financial mess would require a comprehensive approach that emphasized policies to spur economic growth. A fiscal control board together with bankruptcy protection might certainly be helpful in that endeavor by exerting budget discipline and by avoiding a debt-related free-for-all in the courts. However, if Puerto Rico is truly to succeed, it would also need far-reaching structural economic reforms to get its economy growing again. As emphasized by the recent Krueger report, such reforms should include congressional action to modify Puerto Rico's minimum wage to make its economy more competitive, as well as amending the Jones Act to reduce the island's transport costs. Congress would also do well to reinstate manufacturing tax preferences for the island to encourage economic growth and investment.

As the litigation already started by bond insurers and the recent falling apart of the Puerto Rican electricity utility's debt restructuring deal remind us, the clock is ticking for Puerto Rico. Hopefully, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who is promising to come up with a solution for the Puerto Rican crisis by the end of March, is hearing that clock. More important yet, hopefully, in coming up with a solution for the island, he will attach the highest priority to those measures that have the best chance of putting the island back on an economic growth path that might make it better able to repay its debts." 



Lachman is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He was formerly a deputy director in the International Monetary Fund’s Policy Development and Review Department and the chief emerging market economic strategist at Salomon Smith Barney.

From DGD & News Article

He suggests:

#1 Restore the manufacturing tax credits which Clinton dissolved via a slow death plan, finally totally eliminated in 2005  which is precisely when PR had to start borrowing big time and the huge debt started. For the years the manufacturing tax incentives were in place, PR had acceptable unemployment levels and a stable economy. Why Clinton dissolved that part of the IRS code knowing what would it would do to PR is one of those great moments every Prez has, he wakes up one morning and says:  "I did what?"
*** Easy answer. Bill Clinton wanted to look like the savoir of the U.S. economy and his Goldman Sachs Treas Sec & advisers told him let's quit losing tax revenues to giving away PR tax freebies.  Not fair to the American taxpayer to subsidize PR.  Congress give the freebies back?  Expect strings attached.  (Goldman Sachs of course made tons of $$ off Puerto Rico's bond sales.)

#2 Fix the Jones Act so PR aren't paying exorbitant prices for consumer and business goods.
*** American Maritime Officer Washington lobby is very, very strong. Even tho the US Virgin Islands right next door is exempted, I wouldn't hold your breath.  And when the feds pulled the tax advantages in 2005, of course they leave the unfair, competition killing, federal regulation unchanged.

#3 Lower the minimum wage in PR. I highly disagree with this, can't live in PR even on current minimum wage if your paying $5 for eggs etc. But I'd say OK as long as they fix the Jones Act.
*** It is the constant argument between the gov't controls wages and prices or one let's the markets set prices.  Washington chooses what it wants to control and what it doesn't.  It ALWAYS chooses a phony "protect the little guy, I'm your friend" basket of control that ends up killing business and wrecking the business landscape where decent wage jobs are created.

So, OK, bail PR out, or allow BK, or restructure the debt, choose your remedy. But, fix the causation or be prepared to do it again and again.
*** Okay, how bad does it have to get before both Washington and PR political officials give PR a fair, level playing field and the gov't in San Juan starts operating transparently and dumps the cronyism. Hmmm.  I don't know, but prayer can't hurt.

Jones act needs to be modified to except PR from it, it is a monopoly and an overpriced one also.

Question guys, anybody seen the articles about the prices at the pump?
How much are you guys in PR paying today per litre of gas? -- 3.8 = 1 gallon?
As of last night in Taxachusetts regular gas was 1.85 gallon or 0.486 per litre

My "e-novia" in Mayaguez says $2.90 yesterday.

That is way out of line!!!
Looks like we need solar cars, LOL

In the DR, gov't subsidizes propane cause it's what everybody cooks with.  The typical Dominicano converts his car to propane.

Solar panels for the house and get a Tesla, charge it from the panels. However if I had money for a Tesla, I probably would have plenty of money to pay gas instead of a tesla.

Besides if stuck in traffic, car would likely give me very little distance before it runs out instead of the rated 250 miles to a charge.

Wow Rey, how much you planning on driving?

Gas in Chico, CA runnin' bout $2.10-2.50

By the way.  A question got asked in the Rep presidential debate in Iowa last night on PR.  Jeb Bush said underlying economic problems gotta get fixed.  $79 ticket to Orlando too easy.  No one else commented.

I didn't watch last night, but I saw a news item in Google News for PR this morning

Jeb Dead said PR needs to worry about economics rather then statehood at the moment. Duh.

Was that an accurate play or out of context?

Yes.  More accurate play would have been, Duh.  Sorry, yes about right.  Question was asked, Jeb got the question.  He didn't take his full minute, it was the standard political PR's have right to self-determination.  Just that they needed to solve economic problems.  Very low key and went right by.

Carlos when in RD wrote:

Wow Rey, how much you planning on driving?

Gas in Chico, CA runnin' bout $2.10-2.50

By the way.  A question got asked in the Rep presidential debate in Iowa last night on PR.  Jeb Bush said underlying economic problems gotta get fixed.  $79 ticket to Orlando too easy.  No one else commented.

I was joking, I plan to drive fairly little, but about once a month I plan to drive to different parts of the island looking for adventure.

It is a migration problem, When people from PR move to Florida or other states it changes the balance of jobs, culture, music, food, etc. It also changes the political picture of the area and the voters mix. More people means more schools are needed, more doctors, more parking, etc. I would presume it can be a headache for the mayors and for the current residents as the job market shrinks when more people move in.

The Puerto Ricans are coming, there goes the neighbourhood!!!!

And vice versa--hey PR--the Irish are coming. Soon.

And not the nice Lace Curtain ones  (as we would refer to the rich Irish).

The Shanty Irish (as the Lace Curtains would refer to us)

So sell your house now because we party all night, can survive on warm beer, chase women, throw rocks at the Poooolice, love to dance and loud L-O-U-D music. If you want to shoot one of us in the head, aim for the boom box!!

Heard a nice Catholic Italian northern Jersey gal say when in the 70's she'd sneak out to the city on Fri night they'd say to each other don't dance with the Cubans.  So the PR's must have been at least a notch down from that.  Now those Irish...

Oh no, not the Irish!!!!!
Your description sound like you are describing Puerto Ricans, we party all night, chase a lot of women, make a lot of noise and speak like we are trying to be heard at the next mountain.
So come on down, the water is warm.

A lot alike, really.

Brothers from other mothers.

Hello From The Other Side.

Puerto Ricans on the island and the mainland, along with other Latinos, should require presidential candidates sign a pledge to end the Jones Act monopoly. If they do not sign, without voting in the caucus. Vote only in the general election. The general election would apply to those living on the mainland.

With all of the Latino and Hispanic chamber of commerce and other groups, it should be a force to counter the shipping lobbyists.

Is there a SuperPAC representing the needs of Puerto Rico?

Every real presidential candidate can either introduce a bill or have a congressmen/congresswoman introduce a bill.

Maybe Obama can issue an executive order for emergency shipments to drive down the cost of goods for a few months.

Would you give a quick summary of the Jones act and how a repeal would help PR?
Thank you.

Here is an interesting article about a new offer to bond holders. It significantly lowers the debt, but unlikely it will be accepted https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pu … story.html

Carlos:  Where are you when we need you?

Frogrock asks a good Q:

"Would you give a quick summary of the Jones act and how a repeal would help PR? Thank you"

y me hermano, en normal inglis, porfa.

Or else I will have to interject with legaleeeeese and everyone will be more confused about this stupid, way outdated 100 year godxxxx statute that adds to PR's  "leaders", hahaha, like we have in Chi-town, problems. But Pr's debt is 10x worse of goofy chi-town, along with CA and NJ, the worst crisis govt other then Detroit. 10x as bad.

You know those guys--the ones that over 15-20 years in PR authorized the sale of bonds, knowing it was the Titanic setting sail, and then the next Captain sailing it further out to sea, and then the next Captain driving it right smack into the iceburg , aka "governmental suicide and screw everyone else"

I ain't a Nero-surgeon like Ben whathisname, but I know when my Master Card is close to max. And my bank let's me know if I am maxed, and starts suing me if I don't pay. PR did this to the tune of 90 billion$. The 4 governors in that time didn't know a 90 billion$ iceberg was in the way of clear sailing? They are the ones that should get locked up, not the simple dope stealing chump change from PR here and there who kept electing these string-pullers.

Can anyone other then my axx xxxx guys in Chi-town be that self serving "next guy's problem" dopes? That will not be able to pay its civil servants their hard earned pension starting in 2019. Wow, think of that deceit.

Think of being 65 like me, dreaming of sitting on my fat Irish axx on a scaled down living because of my fixed 75% pension and then a knock  on the door and hey guess what you now only have your SS--if you even have SS. Makes me want to juke. if you ain't retirement age or close, you probably can't grasp the morbidity of this situation.

But if you ain't that age, think of it this way: your very proud but desperate father and mother are the next knock on the door.

And riddle me this. Why isn't PR screaming about Jones Act relief?  $5 eggs is a good idea?  And only 1% of its economy is agriculture-------in the perfect land for milk and honey, down 40% historically. They like cheap meat @7$ a pound?

You may have noticed Governor Broke begging, but I haven't heard two words from him about the Jones Act--nada palabras, nunca. A lot from stateside commentators /economists, but not one gosh darn word from PR power people.

Time for a novel idea from those who are pulling the strings in PR?

Me thinks a lot of PR interests like the Jones Act just the way it is.

Calling Carlos.