General Discussion

Gregorian

(23,867 posts) Fri May 6, 2016, 06:18 PM May 2016

Puerto Rico could be just the beginning.

Puerto Rico's woes are due to the system, not the people, according to Wolff. He's ramping up his efforts to get the word out before this election is over. I can feel it. We have the first opportunity since ages, to enact a humane economic system. What we have is giving greedy people too much incentive to rip people off, and to not stop doing so.

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12 replies

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Puerto Rico could be just the beginning. (Original Post) Gregorian May 2016 OP

Sooner or later Americans will have a very stark choice nadinbrzezinski May 2016 #1

Americans do a good job of submitting bigwillq May 2016 #2

I will never say never nadinbrzezinski May 2016 #4

Ridiculous. Puerto Rico spent like drunken sailors. Trust Buster May 2016 #3

Deets? KamaAina May 2016 #5

No, fact. Trust Buster May 2016 #6

"Deets" = details. KamaAina May 2016 #10

And the USA doesn't? bigwillq May 2016 #7

Yep, the U.S. over spends as well. Trust Buster May 2016 #8

Puerto Rican rich folks/politicians/bankers et all spent like drunken sailors. libdem4life May 2016 #11

Nice smear. Octafish May 2016 #12

Indeed. Banco Popular de Puerto Rico has many branches in the NYC area. KamaAina May 2016 #9

nadinbrzezinski

(154,021 posts)

1. Sooner or later Americans will have a very stark choice

Reply to Gregorian (Original post)

Fri May 6, 2016, 06:24 PM

May 2016

rise up against the machine, or completely submit

bigwillq

(72,790 posts)

2. Americans do a good job of submitting

Reply to nadinbrzezinski (Reply #1)

Fri May 6, 2016, 06:26 PM

May 2016

and voting in the same people over and over and over.
They want change, they just rarely vote for it.

And, even when they do, the system still never changes.

The system is broken. And it may never be repaired.

nadinbrzezinski

(154,021 posts)

4. I will never say never

Reply to bigwillq (Reply #2)

Fri May 6, 2016, 06:27 PM

May 2016

just that the repair will be very hard

Right now CNN is having a talk about Trump and all that. The POTUS announced the continuation of fiscal policies that close off shore loopholes today. CNN gave it all but three minutes earlier in the day. Trump is a simple story... EIN and IRS, and off shores, not so much.

Trust Buster

(7,299 posts)

3. Ridiculous. Puerto Rico spent like drunken sailors.

Reply to Gregorian (Original post)

Fri May 6, 2016, 06:27 PM

May 2016

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)

5. Deets?

Reply to Trust Buster (Reply #3)

Fri May 6, 2016, 06:28 PM

May 2016

Trust Buster

(7,299 posts)

6. No, fact.

Reply to KamaAina (Reply #5)

Fri May 6, 2016, 06:30 PM

May 2016

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)

10. "Deets" = details.

Reply to Trust Buster (Reply #6)

Fri May 6, 2016, 06:33 PM

May 2016

bigwillq

(72,790 posts)

7. And the USA doesn't?

Reply to Trust Buster (Reply #3)

Fri May 6, 2016, 06:30 PM

May 2016

The USA needs to stop spending. If one doesn't have the money, don't spend it.

Trust Buster

(7,299 posts)

8. Yep, the U.S. over spends as well.

Reply to bigwillq (Reply #7)

Fri May 6, 2016, 06:31 PM

May 2016

libdem4life

(13,877 posts)

11. Puerto Rican rich folks/politicians/bankers et all spent like drunken sailors.

Reply to Trust Buster (Reply #3)

Fri May 6, 2016, 06:41 PM

May 2016

Do not lay this at the feet of the people/the poor. I was in Los Angeles County real estate in 1980 before the Great Recession, in tech sales in 2000 when the dot com misery hit, and again in finance in 2008 when the banks collapsed.

This is as absurd comment...like people buying property they couldn't afford. Well, they changed the requirements, fudged incomes, and with every "sale"...agents, lenders, title, escrow, termite, home inspection...so many got a piece of the pie. They did graduated payments (even FHA), low initial interest rates, and it was all a scam. They even sold their dirty paper to Europe causing financial chaos.

I'm sure this scam worked in Puerto Rico, too. I don't think you know too much of what you speak...with that silly response.

Octafish

(55,745 posts)

12. Nice smear.

Reply to Trust Buster (Reply #3)

Fri May 6, 2016, 06:44 PM

May 2016

Over the last few years, hedge funds and mutual funds have bought up large tranches of Puerto Rico’s bonds at cut-rate prices, hoping the island will pay back its debts in full, thereby giving those financial interests a big payout. That gamble, however, has relied in part on the bet that the island will make draconian cuts to social services and worker pensions and use the savings to pay back 100 cents on the dollar to its Wall Street creditors — a bet, in other words, that Congress will prevent the island from simply erasing some of its debt through the kind of bankruptcy protections that are afforded U.S. cities.

To that end, federal lobbying records show that major banks, bond insurers and hedge funds spent millions last year to try to shape bankruptcy proposals for the island. Two so-called dark money groups linked to the billionaire Koch brothers and Republican strategist Karl Rove are also working to influence the debate over Puerto Rico’s debt.

http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/financial-industry-lobbying-shape-puerto-rico-bankruptcy-bill-2353392

Banksters.

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)

9. Indeed. Banco Popular de Puerto Rico has many branches in the NYC area.

Reply to Gregorian (Original post)

Fri May 6, 2016, 06:33 PM

May 2016

Should it collapse because of this, the ripple effect could spread outward across the country from there.

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