Days ahead of primary, Sanders has a plan for Puerto Rico

[WhiteTara]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/days-ahead-of-primary-sanders-has-a-plan-for-puerto-rico/2016/06/02/656e6486-2895-11e6-8329-6104954928d2_story.html

WASHINGTON — Three days before Puerto Rico’s primary, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is digging in on his opposition to a House deal to rescue the U.S. territory from $70 billion in debt.

Sanders said Thursday that he will introduce his own legislation to help the island. His bill would allow the Federal Reserve to give the territory emergency loans and provide broad bankruptcy protections, unlike legislation approved by a House committee last week that would create a control board to oversee limited debt restructuring. Sanders’ bill would also boost Medicaid and Medicare payments to the island and designate $10.8 billion to rebuild the territory’s crumbling infrastructure.

snip

Puerto Rico, which has struggled to overcome a lengthy recession, has missed several payments to creditors and faces a $2 billion installment, the largest yet, on July 1. The economic crisis has forced businesses to close, driven up the employment rate and sparked an exodus of hundreds of thousands of people to the U.S. mainland.

Sanders’ opposition could cause problems in the Senate, where one lawmaker can slow a bill’s progress. Senators have said they are waiting to see what happens in the House before they consider a bill to rescue the territory, so it could be weeks or months before the chamber takes up the issue. Sanders has been largely absent from Senate proceedings during his lengthy primary campaign.

[Octafish]

1. AIG was made whole...''100 cents on the dollar'' as Tim Geithner put it for $180 BILLION.

http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2013/01/it-was-not-a-free-lunch-the-true-cost-of-the-aig-bailout.html

What's Puerto Rico ever done for America? Besides all the cannon fodder, I mean?

[geek tragedy]

2. purist showboating. How helpful of him to wait until the week before the primary to come up

with his own legislation, which I am totally certain will immediately get passed into law by Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell.

[Octafish]

3. Sanders to offer Puerto Rico debt bill that would protect pensioners

I was born in Puerto Rico. Here's another reason I love Bernie Sanders:

"It is morally reprehensible that Wall Street vulture funds are demanding that Puerto Rico fire even more teachers, close more schools, cut pensions and slash the minimum wage so that they can reap huge profits off the misery of the people of Puerto Rico," Sanders said in a statement.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-puertorico-debt-sanders-idUSKCN0YO2IR

The guy gets it...us...and...me.

[WhiteTara]

4. It's great, but I wish it were more timely

this is the 11th hour.

[Octafish]

5. Been a while since anyone with authority has lifted a finger to help PR's people. The banks, well...

From 2014:

The bourgeois press, including the Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch, write openly that Puerto Rico is to be treated like Detroit. Notwithstanding the fact that Puerto Rico, like US states, cannot go bankrupt, a default on its bonds would be disastrous for capitalism.

-- https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/01/23/rico-j23.html

Banksters ALWAYS get what they need. Like happened in Detroit.