So, Moody's has downgraded Puerto Rico's bonds to just two steps above junk bonds and stopped *this* short of declaring the island officialy broke.
Net tax- supported debt as a percentage of personal income is 56.7 percent in Puerto Rico. In 2003, it was 51.2 percent. THE MEDIAN FOR THE STATES, is 2.4 percent.
This means that you are probably better off speculating on stocks than lending money to the government. It also means that to pay back the debt, every Puerto Rican would have to reach into their pockets and come up with almost $7,000. All the public works we do on our own two feet comes from the money of lenders. If we are downgraded we won't even appear in the basic bonds portfolio offerings at Wall Street and we will be dropped from the ones who already carry us. This means no more money for public works: no needed expansion for the urban train, an unfinished "Expreso", layoffs in the government payroll - the biggest employer in the island. What makes us "better" than other Latin American countries: this incredible American citizenship conceit that makes us believe that nothing can go wrong because Uncle Sam will always rescue our asses off. The funniest thing is that people on the street are not worried or do not understand that full fledged generalized poverty is knocking on our doors. Standard and Poor is preparing to publish their own very damaging report on the state of our economy.
As I always ask statehood supporters here in the island, what in hell do we have to offer the US to warm them up to the idea of making us part of the federation?
Joe Mysak's column at Bloomberg.com
Net tax- supported debt as a percentage of personal income is 56.7 percent in Puerto Rico. In 2003, it was 51.2 percent. THE MEDIAN FOR THE STATES, is 2.4 percent.
This means that you are probably better off speculating on stocks than lending money to the government. It also means that to pay back the debt, every Puerto Rican would have to reach into their pockets and come up with almost $7,000. All the public works we do on our own two feet comes from the money of lenders. If we are downgraded we won't even appear in the basic bonds portfolio offerings at Wall Street and we will be dropped from the ones who already carry us. This means no more money for public works: no needed expansion for the urban train, an unfinished "Expreso", layoffs in the government payroll - the biggest employer in the island. What makes us "better" than other Latin American countries: this incredible American citizenship conceit that makes us believe that nothing can go wrong because Uncle Sam will always rescue our asses off. The funniest thing is that people on the street are not worried or do not understand that full fledged generalized poverty is knocking on our doors. Standard and Poor is preparing to publish their own very damaging report on the state of our economy.
As I always ask statehood supporters here in the island, what in hell do we have to offer the US to warm them up to the idea of making us part of the federation?
Joe Mysak's column at Bloomberg.com
1 Comments:
Ah... Why you wanna make people think? Why? Why? Whyyyyyyyyy? LOL I think that PR has much to offer besides the obvious monetary debt... Our main asset is educated people. The proof: most graduates from engineering at RUM go work for NASA. Puertoricans are not dumb, most are lazy but not dumb... And this little island has World Wonders everywhere... Another thing to think about, especially those people that think PR is trash. PR is NOT trash. It is beautiful and has lots of potential. The problem is that lazyness keeps people from working making this a better place... Instead of fighting for cupones and getting off the island, the true challenge is developing tourism and small business. There are many niches in the PR market, they are just waiting to be exploited! I say there is a gov default because of lousy management and because people complain but do nothing about it. As long as bad leaders are supported there is nothing else to do... Politics should be dismissed and people should support leaders because of their true worth. In the meantime, while we wait for that miracle, we can make a difference not becoming parasites and creating businesses and emphasizing the real beauty and worth of our little gigantic island.
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Vierna, at 5:34 AM
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