Monday, October 2, 2017

Wall Street Vulture’s premeditated murder of Puerto Rico




Puerto Rico is the canary in the coal mine for America’s controlled demolition by Wall Street Banks.  During WWII the transatlantic liner the St.Louis was sent on a voyage to America where its Jewish passengers would be denied admittance and returned to Germany to face certain death.  The purpose of the trip was to gauge the world’s tolerance for the Nazi annihilation of the Jews. 


Puerto Rico is today’s liner, the St. Louis.  What will be gauged is American’s tolerance for the total annihilation of the American territory of Puerto Rico and its American citizens for Wall Street profits.  Our “elected” officials are complicit in the annihilation of Puerto Rico on behalf of their campaign donors.  Case in point, Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s long, long service to his master, Vulture Capitalist Paul Singer.  Interesting that Senator Rubio is a loud voice in advocating for hurricane relief for Puerto Rico, but whose relief is Rubio really interested in?  From Gregory Palast:

Excerpt:

Rubio’s Billionaire wins ransom from Argentina

Paul Singer, known as The Vulture, won a $4.65 billion payment from Argentina — nearly ONE HUNDRED TIMES his "investment" of $50 million in old Argentina bonds.  It was, in finance speak, the most successful "vulture attack" ever.

Singer’s actions are outlawed in most of the civilized world. Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, attempted to stop Singer’s predatory act, but Singer did a brilliant end-run:  he used his cash to help elect a new President in Argentina that would jump to his tune and pay him billions.

Now, he’s attempting to do the same to the USA:  pick a president for us who will feather his vulture's nest.  He’s the number one donor sugar daddy for Marco Rubio’s candidacy

Rubio, in fact, skirted some ethical lines in his attempts to pressure the State Department to side with his corpse-chewing donor against Argentina…  Rubio’s affection for carrion-eating birds has no decent bounds. While Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders are currently siding with Puerto Rico against a whole flock of vulture financiers. Sanders and Clinton support Rico’s plea for the same bankruptcy protections afforded the 50 states (and afforded to Donald Trump).

But Rubio has actually switched positions. The Senator, who originally supported bankruptcy rights for Puerto Ricans, turned on a dime the moment Vulture financier Andrew Herenstein of Monarch Capital announced he would hold a big fundraiser for Marco in the Hamptons.

Rubio now is calling for Puerto Rico to lay off teachers and sanitation workers to pay more to Herenstein and his fellow vultures–financiers already cranking profits on Puerto Rico bonds.

Watching Rubio flip his positions to his donors’ wishes is like watching one of those little doggies glued to the top of an old mechanical piggy bank who jump through a clown’s hoop when you put a coin in their snout.

Well, God bless America

My, my, my.  Little Marco knows who butters his bread.  Our bought and paid for congress refused to allow Puerto Rico file for bankruptcy, like any state would.  Congress appointed a board, like the Emergency Manager that was appointed for Detroit, to look out for the interests of the creditors of Puerto Rico over that of the people.

While huge numbers of dumbed down Americans don’t even know that the citizens of Puerto Rico are Americans, Little Marco’s Wall Street vulture buddies are circling the remains.  From The Intercept:

Excerpt:

PUERTO RICO REJECTS LOAN OFFERS, ACCUSING HEDGE FUNDS OF TRYING TO PROFIT OFF HURRICANES

PUERTO RICO HAS rejected a bondholder group’s offer to issue the territory additional debt as a response to the devastation from Hurricane Maria. Officials with Puerto Rico’s Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority said the offer was “not viable” and would harm the island’s ability to recover from the storm.

The Prepa (Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority) Bondholder Group made the offer on Wednesday, which included $1 billion in new loans, and a swap of $1 billion in existing bonds for another $850 million bond. These new bonds would have jumped to the front of the line for repayment, and between that increased value and interest payments after the first two years, the bondholders would have likely come out ahead on the deal, despite a nominal $150 million in debt relief.

Indeed, the offer was worse in terms of debt relief than the one the bondholder group made in April, well before hurricanes destroyed much of the island’s critical infrastructure.

Puerto Rico’s Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority suggested that profit motive rather than altruism was the bondholder group’s real goal.  Thomas Wagner of Knighthead Capital Management, one of the members of the bondholder group, admitted as much on Bloomberg TV yesterday, saying “What we’re trying to do is lend where our investors are not disadvantaged.” He added that the loan could be a “win-win” for the utility and the bondholders, “where the capital is not expensive...”

The island’s 3.4 million residents were without power in the immediate aftermath of the storm, and most continue without power today. Prepa has limited ability to restore the grid, given the island’s cash-strapped status…

Despite growing calls for debt relief, no bondholder has said they would supply it in the days following the storm, nor have creditor lawsuits been withdrawn.

Absolutely astonishing, the Wall Street vultures offer only deeper debt with loans that reap exorbitant Wall Street profits in return for water and power.  Wall Street banks are using their massive control over the US congress to impede the hurricane aid from reaching Puerto Rico in order to place their interests ahead of others. 

President Trump has come under vicious attack by the media and congress for tweeting:

Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble…  …It's old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars...  ...owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with. Food, water and medical are top priorities - and doing well. 

Of course the media, along with members of congress and the usual Trump haters went into overdrive condemning Trump for bringing up Wall Street’s financial enslavement of Puerto Rico at a time of catastrophe.  But that is exactly the time to bring it up, when the vultures are circling.  From Slate:

Excerpt:

How Can Puerto Rico’s Debt Problems Be “Dealt With”?

Trump seems to understand banks and hedge funds will trouble the island’s recovery. There’s only one thing for him to do.

On Tuesday, President Trump said something about Puerto Rico that was sort of right…
Of the American locales that have been hit by hurricanes in recent weeks, he wrote in a series of tweets, “Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble. It’s old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars owed to Wall Street and the banks, which, sadly, must be dealt with.”

One way of interpreting Trump’s tweet salad is that he was saying the wreckage of Hurricane Maria was somehow Puerto Rico’s fault…

The more charitable and hopeful way of reading Trump’s tweets is that Puerto Rico needs to be rebuilt and reconstructed—and that unfortunately, it must do so at a time when it is already crippled by the interest payments it must make to banks and bondholders…  

Simply put, it won’t be possible to reconstruct Puerto Rico’s infrastructure, economy, or society without reconstructing its finances. If that’s what Trump was going for, it’s dead-on…

Wall Street and the banks do, indeed, have to be “dealt with.” And perhaps they need to be dealt with in the same way that Trump has dealt with banks, Wall Street, and real estate lenders throughout his career: by telling them to take a hike and settle for far less than they expected. 

Given that many of Puerto Rico’s systems were decrepit and outdated—the island generates electricity by shipping in oil and burning it—the destruction presents an opportunity not simply to rebuild, but to build a more effective and resilient one. But that takes a lot of money. And the reconstruction can’t be funded simply with insurance payments or even with whatever handouts the Republican Congress will provide.

Bondholders don’t pause for weather. In order to stay current on debt, entities in Puerto Rico have to keep making interest payments—even when they’re not collecting revenues. Some of the first cash that Puerto Rico’s power authority and other government agencies get from insurance or government aid will be funneled to the pockets of bondholders.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which provides electricity on the island, has $9 billion in debt and was in bankruptcy before the hurricane hit. Each year, it is on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars of interest payments—all before it can spend a penny on fuel, salaries, upkeep, or transformation...

The same holds true for Puerto Rico at large, which has $73 billion in debt. This in a territory with a GDP of $103 billion—Puerto Rico is about the size of Mississippi and about as poor. Again, the first $3 billion to $4 billion of revenue Puerto Rico generates each year goes to pay interest without making a dent in the total…

Is this sad landscape what Trump had in mind with his tweets? OK, I doubt it. But Puerto Rico doesn’t just need a haircut of 15 to 20 percent on its debt, which is common in bankruptcies. It needs a buzz cut with large chunks of debt either forgiven, wiped out, written off as uncollectable, or assumed by the federal government. That’s how its problems can be “dealt with.” Will Trump deal with them?

Puerto Rico’s public health was a catastrophe before the hurricane.  After the Hurricane is sure to be worse.  From Stephen Lendman:

Excerpt:

Puerto Rico: A Public Health Catastrophe

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke deplorably called the federal response to crisis conditions in Puerto Rico a “good news story,” adding she’s “very satisfied.”  San Juan Mayor Yulin Cruz emotionally responded, saying “(w)ell, maybe from where she’s standing it’s a good-news story…”

“When you’re drinking from a creek, it’s not a good-news story. When you don’t have food for a baby, it’s not a good-news story…”  Cruz continued adding “(d)ammit, this is not a good-news story. This is a people-are-dying story. This is a life-or-death story.”  “This is ‘there’s a truckload of stuff that cannot be taken to people’ story. This is a story of devastation that continues to worsen because people are not getting food or water…”

Around half the population has no access to drinking water. Hospitals can’t function normally, struggling to keep seriously ill patients alive…  Supplies delivered to ports are stuck in docks for lack of transportation. Nearly two weeks ago, the strongest hurricane in nearly 90 years devastated the Island, creating crisis conditions for its 3.4 million residents.

On Monday, Florida International University Dean Tomas Guilarte said conditions in Puerto Rico continue deteriorating. A public health catastrophe looms.  “When the sewer system stops working, wastewater – aka human feces and urine – and seaborne bacteria contaminate the water supply.”

“This leads to bacterial infections – such as cholera, dysentery, E. coli and typhoid – that can be disastrous. The typical treatments, like tetanus shots or powerful antibiotics, are not readily available on the island, where medical supplies are quickly running out.”

According to FEMA, 58 of the island’s 69 hospitals have no power or fuel for generators. Only one is operating normally. Water can’t be boiled to kill bacteria. Some toxins become concentrated by the boiling process.  It kills harmful organisms, not toxic chemicals, compounds, salts, and heavy metals. Disease-causing pathogens contaminated areas affected by floodwaters.

Toxicity seeping from Puerto Rico’s Battery Recycling Company in the Arecibo coastal area alone “could be off the charts,” said Guilarte…  Immediate congressional action is vital, appropriating enough funds for food, medical supplies and medicines, along with other essentials to life.

Most islanders are impoverished. Residents EVACUATED BY GOVERNMENT AIRCRAFT and other means of transportation have to sign promissory notes to repay the cost, a disgraceful situation.

It’s amazing how Wall Street interests are impervious to human suffering if it gets in the way of profits.  For instance, the Jones Act, an archaic law which prohibits foreign countries from shipping goods directly into ports in Puerto Rico was temporarily suspended by the Trump Administration.  Now some Senators are calling for ending the outdated Jones Act.  From The Hill:

Excerpt:
   
McCain repeats call for Jones Act repeal following Puerto Rico waiver

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday repeated his call to repeal the Jones Act after the Trump administration announced a temporary lift on shipping restrictions for Puerto Rico as it recovers from Hurricanes Maria and Irma.

“Trump admin has finally waived #JonesAct for #PuertoRico. Now Congress must repeal this law to aid long-term recovery,” McCain wrote on Twitter.  

Lawmakers this week have pushed for a one-year waiver of the law, which mandates that American-owned and -operated vessels transport cargo between U.S. ports, so that Puerto Rico can receive much-needed aid after being battered by two major hurricanes in the last month.  McCain this week re-upped his call to repeal the law, which he has called “archaic and burdensome.”

“It is unacceptable to force the people of Puerto Rico to pay at least twice as much for food, clean drinking water, supplies and infrastructure due to Jones Act requirements as they work to recover from this disaster,” the senator wrote in a letter to acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke.  The Trump administration early Thursday announced a 10-day waiver to the Jones Act that goes into effect immediately.

Gee, only a 10-day waiver from the punitive Jones Act that forces the people of Puerto Rico to pay twice as much for “food, clean drinking water, supplies and infrastructure” seems unconscionable under any circumstances.  Who could possibly be against this?  From The Intercept:

Excerpt:

U.S. SHIPPING LOBBY: LETTING FOREIGN SHIPS BRING GOODS TO PUERTO RICO COULD ENDANGER NATIONAL SECURITY

ALLOWING FOREIGN SHIPS to bring goods to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico would be a grave threat to national security, warned a handful of American shipping companies who have the trade routes locked down thanks to a century-old law.  They wanted to see that law left in place, thank you very much.

Puerto Rico, suffering from the combined forces of economic collapse, debt-driven austerity, and Hurricane Maria’s devastation, faces restrictions on imports from foreign registered ships under the Jones Act, a law supported by a small but powerful group of American companies that dominate U.S.-Puerto Rico shipping routes…

Many have recently argued that the law has dragged down the Puerto Rican economy by artificially increasing costs for island residents and businesses…  Resistance to the waiver came as millions of Americans were without clean drinking water, facing a life-threatening situation that has already turned deadly for some.

Puerto Rico is a Wall Street chattel state and congress will do nothing to save lives if it slashes into the billions Vulture Capitalists can make there.  Congress’ response is always the same “privatization.”  Privatization is anti-American.  From The Nation:

Excerpt:

Privatization ‘Disproportionately Hurts Poor Individuals and Families’
When public services get handed over to private corporations, poor Americans lose.

In a compendium of privatization disasters, the watchdog group In the Public Interest (ITPI) concludes that “government privatization disproportionately hurts poor individuals and families.” By shifting social costs onto the public, the market logic of “personal responsibility” serves as a pretext for a self-perpetuating spiral of social disinvestment.

One way privatization fleeces the poor is by making basic public services cost more…   ITPI points to privatization schemes for water and electricity systems, which have hiked user fees for outsourced utilities, but suffered from a decline in the quality of services, and that spiking rates “particularly harm low-income residents and those on fixed-incomes.”

On the national level, under the semi-private Affordable Care Act, overall costs for the public health-care “consumers” are virtually uncontrolled, but the free market draws from unlimited spigots of government subsidies…

There are a myriad of examples of graft, corruption and kickbacks baked into the cake of privatization.  However, congress never learns from experience, if that experience interferes with their personal profiteering off the public trough.  From The Intercept:

Excerpt:

HURRICANE IRMA UNLEASHES THE FORCES OF PRIVATIZATION IN PUERTO RICO

VULTURES CIRCLING THE wreckage of Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Irma are closing in on a long-sought prize: the privatizing of the island’s electric utility…  “[The investors] have the best sales pitch now,” Carlos Gallisá, a former consumer representative on Prepa’s board of directors, told The Intercept by phone from San Juan. “They have already started, saying that only privatization will serve the people.”

For struggling governments around the world, privatizing utilities has come to be seen as a kind of get-rich-quick scheme, offering an upfront infusion of cash to underfunded municipalities... The blackout following Irma just added fuel to the fire. Days before Irma hit, Rosselló emphasized that privatization is firmly on the table…

According to a Friday report from Reorg Research, a trade publication for investors, creditors and members of Puerto Rico’s federally appointed financial oversight board have met with Prepa top brass in recent days to discuss a new “transformation plan” aimed at privatizing major aspects of the power authority…

In radio interviews after the storm, a representative from the Electrical Industry and Irrigation Workers Union (UTIER) that represents Prepa workers denounced the utility’s leadership for not sending 170 available workers out to reconnect lines and accused it of delaying restoration to build support for a corporate selloff.

Since the day that General Kelly took over as Trump’s Chief of Staff, the President’s information has been heavily filtered and only that information General Kelly wants the president to see is presented.  When President Trump lands in Puerto Rico Tuesday he may get a rude awakening.

Puerto Rico is the canary in the coal mine for Wall Street’s controlled demolition of America.  How goes Puerto Rico, goes the rest of the Nation.  If Puerto Rico is busted up and sold off to the highest bidders and congress floods the private hedge funds with Treasury cash to rebuild, Wall Street will be unstoppable. However, if President Trump deals with banks, Wall Street, and real estate lenders like he has dealt with them throughout his career he’ll tell them to take a hike and settle for far less than they expected.



By Patricia Baeten

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