By Nathan Barton
According to an Economist story, the “democratically elected” governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico declared bankruptcy on Wednesday.
This is a debt of $74 billion dollars, about 100% of the island’s GNP. The amount is staggering. But so are the rest of the statistics: Puerto Rico’s population has dropped by 8% since 2010. Fifty-seven percent of voters supposedly support requesting annexation from Congress, and an election is scheduled soon. Half the population is on Medicaid.
The fear and violence associated with collapse is already underway. Protests on May Day (apparently, not many folks celebrated Loyalty Day there) were less than peaceful, as road blockages and fighting led to police attacks on protesters. People are worried about medical care, retirement pensions, and the reason for the population dropping is that so many are fleeing to the Fifty States. Meanwhile, DC continues to meddle, and every indication is that this meddling just makes things worse.
Some people say PR has the best of both worlds. It seems to me to be the opposite. The island has many good things, but it has too much government. Too much socialism, to boot. But now, the situation is almost certainly going to get worse.
More and more people are going to flee to the Fifty States.
More and more people are going to lose (or seriously worry about losing) their benefits; medical, welfare, unemployment, retirement, and more. Many will lose their jobs, especially government jobs or jobs serving government.
And in today’s American climate, that will lead to protests, violence, and panic on the part of the Street Senate and the politicians both in San Juan and in DC. The panic is likely to expand, in part because there are many manipulators that see the advantage to a bigger and “better” panic and more reaction and action.
No doubt the police will be joined by National Guard troops. And Federal troops may not be far behind. Not just in Puerto Rico, but in the Fifty States, to which more and more Puerto Ricans will be fleeing conditions at home.
Meanwhile, although it is a “measly” 73 billion, it may trigger all kinds of nasty things economically for the Fifty States and Wall Street. Given all the problems with the economy, this might be a situation in which millions of people in urban areas soon get to enjoy the same “fun” as the people of Puerto Rico. States might follow the Commonwealth into some form of bankruptcy. With the same results as we are already seeing in Puerto Rico. After that, it snowballs.
Such fun! Are you prepared?
The Price of Liberty 
The Unions in Puerto Rico are a big part of the problem. They refuse to accept lower wages and benefits.
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No surprise there, Ron. The “unions” are organized to take as much control of the business as possible, with the clear goal of increasing the wages and benefits – among other things. Any “union,” anywhere. The problem in Puerto Rico is the same as almost everywhere now… A large majority of the people believe in the “authority” of the government to steal from some and give to others. They often don’t even have any idea that they are the victims of this theft as well. They have been conditioned to believe that the world – someone else, somehow, owes them pretty much whatever they want. Look at South America in general. People are starving, being murdered left and right, but the people call constantly for more government to protect and feed them… or go out and do the stealing and murder personally. I don’t remember any hint of people there (or much of anywhere) working for individual liberty, self responsibility and self defense.
There are a thousand “flavors” of socialism, but they all fail when they run out of other people’s money.
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Besides the 73 B there is another 53B in unfunded pension funds. The people allowed it to happen, they are to blame. It is no different in the US of A, the US government has one advantage, they can print more money
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Actually, there is no physical money being “printed.” What they do is electronically “borrow” using the productivity and property of future generations as “collateral.” Governments are not the only ones who perpetrate this horrible crime, but they are the only ones who manage to get away with it for very long because people generally think that governments have the “authority” to do so… and they have a monopoly on force and violence to make it happen.
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