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| #Post#: 2696-------------------------------------------------- | |
| The Looming Default by Puerto Rico & Presidential Politics | |
| By: Kerry Date: July 28, 2015, 8:01 am | |
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| Is the possible default of Puerto Rico on its bond of any | |
| concern? If you care about the 2016 election, perhaps it | |
| should be. The stands politicians take on this issue now may | |
| determine if they win or lose in the next Presidential race. | |
| First of all, Puerto Ricans are American citizens and they can | |
| vote if they move to the mainland; and moving is exactly what | |
| they're doing as their economy continues to worsen. Many have | |
| already left, and everyone who leaves means one less taxpayer | |
| there, making the economy even worse. | |
| Florida is getting a lot of immigrants; and remember how close | |
| elections can be in Florida. National results can depend on how | |
| Florida votes. From the Washington Post | |
| http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/07/06/the-daily-202-puerto… | |
| /> | |
| Puertorrique�os recognize their increasing political clout, | |
| particularly in Florida, and they promise to put it to use. In | |
| an interview on Telemundo yesterday, Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro | |
| Garc�a Padilla threatened negative consequences for politicians | |
| in either party who are �passive� about giving them the | |
| privilege to declare Chapter 9. �Those who want the support of | |
| Puerto Ricans must help Puerto Rico now, not later,� he said. | |
| �Puerto Ricans decide the elections in Florida. That�s very | |
| important. By deciding the election in Florida, we can decide | |
| [who is the next] president of the United States.� | |
| The island has a debt of $73 billion. Their state run | |
| electricity company by itself has a debt of $9 billion. As CNN | |
| http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/15/news/economy/puerto-rico-debt/<br | |
| />points out, their debt is about the size of New York , but the | |
| ir | |
| population that of Connecticut. | |
| Jeb Bush is in favor of changing the law to allow Puerto Rico to | |
| declare bankruptcy and default on its bonds. Naturally, Wall | |
| Street and the Koch brothers who fund so many politicians are | |
| against it. The other Republican candidates are under pressure | |
| to say no. | |
| Senator Schumer of New York and other Democrats favor allowing | |
| the island to go bankrupt and will try to force a vote on it in | |
| the Senate, putting all the Senators running for President to | |
| take a stand. | |
| Rubio is caught between a rock and hard place. Does he go for | |
| the "conservative" votes and money or for the Latino votes in | |
| Florida? Back to the Washington Post story: | |
| �Senator Rubio has been closely watching events in Puerto Rico | |
| and is concerned about the economic situation there,� | |
| spokeswoman Brooke Sammon emailed last night. �He�s in the | |
| process of reviewing the legislation to make sure it is the | |
| right approach to begin addressing Puerto Rico�s debt crisis | |
| without having any negative impact on American taxpayers.� | |
| Spokesmen for Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham did not | |
| respond to requests for comment. | |
| In the Democratic contest, Hillary Clinton has also avoided | |
| taking a clear position. Martin O�Malley aggressively embraced | |
| the bankruptcy option last Tuesday in a play for Hispanics, and | |
| the former Maryland governor earned tons of free media in the | |
| Spanish-language press for his stance. Clinton tweeted last week | |
| that, �Puerto Rico�s debt crisis is not theirs alone. For PR�s | |
| economy to grow & their people to thrive, they need real tools & | |
| real support.� Asked if that means she supports the right to | |
| Chapter 9, a spokesman for the former secretary of State | |
| declined to comment. | |
| Clinton is trying to raise as much as she can from Wall Street | |
| executives who already eye her skeptically because of her | |
| leftward lurch to win the nomination. | |
| If I had to bet, I'd bet Clinton goes with Wall Street and | |
| hopes to win even if she alienates Puerto Ricans. | |
| If relatives move to them to be close to relatives or to be | |
| around other Puerto Ricans, that won't change the electoral | |
| college in states like New York that are already overwhelmingly | |
| Democratic; but other states could be affected: | |
| Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Virginia, | |
| Ohio, Wisconsin and Georgia. | |
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