Trump says U.S. must "wipe out" Puerto Rico debt

The US basically owns PR so either the US steps up and finances PR or they should sell the place...

 

The Federal government is legally and ethically required to restore Puerto Rico's infrastructure, including water systems, roadways, municipal utility systems, airports, police force protection, methods of delivering all needed items, etc. In other words, "help for the population of Puerto Rico related to the hurricanes". No problems with that.

But...

The Federal government is not (NOT) required to go rushing in to "rescue" any private investors in any financial instrument offered by anyone in Puerto Rico that they freely entered into. If somebody on Wall Street or in a hedge fund loses their ass because of a bad PRIVATE investment in anything in Puerto Rico, then TOO DAMNED BAD! No more "rescues"! No more "too-big-to-fail"! No more "bail-out's" for any private investors. The "smart money" thought they were going to 'cash-in' on some nice, fat deals, but if they lose their ass instead, TOO DAMNED BAD!

 

those bankrupt financial instruments pay for the retirement pensions of many people, they must be bailed out or they would end up on food stamps in their golden years.

 

If it's a government program, requiring government-backed funding for iron-clad promises related to government employment contracts and retirement, then, yes, of course, the Federal Government of the United States must 'make good' on those obligations if the Government of Puerto Rico cannot.

What I'm spun-up about are PRIVATE investments between PRIVATE investors in speculative for-profit ventures that promise ROI (return-on-investment). For those PRIVATE investment deals there should be NO bailouts at all by the Federal Government of the United States. People can play financial "shell-games" at the financial market casinos if they want to, but if they lose their asses, it should not (NOT) entail an obligation for taxpayers.

 

More Trump stupidity.. Wall Street immediately announced that what Trump suggested was impossible.

 

Talk is cheap, Margot, and there's no bigger bunch of liars and cheats than the conniving 'big-boys' on Wall Street. They may pay 'lip-service' to the idea that there won't be a government bailout for private investors, but we saw that very thing happen all too clearly beginning in 2008 under Idiot Bush. It continued full-throttle under Idiot Obama starting in 2009.

I want President Trump to divert his evidently easily-diverted attention to something else and never mention this topic of 'wiping-out' debt that is OWNED by Puerto Rico. If we 'bail out' Puerto Rico, the road is paved to eventually 'bailing out' California, Illinois, and all the other liberal Democrat economic black holes in the country....

 

More Trump stupidity.. Wall Street immediately announced that what Trump suggested was impossible.

I can't find the news about that... If I come across it, I will post it for you.

 

but not everyone retires on government pensions, many retirees have private pensions that must be bailed out too.

 

Trump financial nuke?

Chapter 11 of Trump's 'Art of the deal' should guide them.

 

You think the Federal Government should bail out 'private pensions'? Why? Were those 'private pensions' earned as a result of working for private companies? If so, then the remedy is for the pensioners to take the companies they worked for to court. That is the only place for those issues to be settled -- not by Uncle Sugar 'riding to the rescue'. We had WAY too much of that nonsense during and after the 'Great Recession'....

While the issues are being sorted out in court, some of the pensioners may qualify for government welfare, and pensioners can collect accordingly. Hell, from what I read, nearly the whole island of Puerto Rico was already on one form of welfare-suck or another before this year anyway....

 

PUERTO RICO BEFORE THE HURRICANE: Trouble on Welfare Island: Overbearing government and the welfare state are hurting the United States’ poorest citizens.

Puerto Rico has been a United States territory for more than a century, and its people have been citizens since 1917. They do not vote in national elections or pay federal income taxes, but those are not the biggest differences between Puerto Rican residents and their fellow American citizens. The island is distinguished by its poverty and joblessness, which are far worse than in any of the 50 states. The territory’s economy, moreover, has fallen further behind the national one over the past three decades. Bad government—not just locally, but also federally—is largely to blame. Yet most Americans are oblivious to the Caribbean island’s problems.

The place did earn a rare and brief mention in some mainland newspapers earlier this month. Its government had hit a borrowing limit and partly shut down for a couple of weeks, putting 95,000 civil servants out of work. Then leaders in San Juan—the commonwealth’s capital—agreed on a budget deal that let the government borrow more and resume paying people. The drama ended, and life there reverted to its depressing former state. . . .

Many things have gone wrong. Most important, however, is that the United States government assumed too big a role in the Puerto Rican economy, and its largesse enabled the commonwealth’s government to do the same. Through hubris, clumsiness and sheer size, these governments knocked Puerto Rico off the promising path that it was following, and the island’s economy is now lost in a thicket of bad incentives. Two federal intrusions stand out: an oversized welfare state, and misguided rules on business investment.

Federal transfer payments to Puerto Rico rose sharply in the 1970s. Some programmes have been modified since then, but transfers still make up more than 20% of the island’s personal income. These federal handouts reflect the sensibilities of a wealthy country. So by Puerto Rican economic standards, they are huge. And the more a man or woman earns through paid work, the more they decrease.

Puerto Ricans are eligible for federal disability payments, for example, through Social Security. Ms Enchautegui and Mr Freeman point out that, in the territory, federal disability allowances are much higher than the United States average as a share of wages and pension income. Unsurprisingly, therefore, one in six working-age men in Puerto Rico are claiming disability benefits.

Many families do not view the federal handouts as temporary. Neither does Raúl Vega, who owns a consumer-finance outfit in Aguadilla. His firm treats the benefits as income when deciding whether to lend people money for new televisions.

Sad. They need more of those transgressive bourgeois values. But then, so does the rest of America.