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+15 +2
Economy and Crime Spur New Puerto Rican Exodus
Puerto Rico’s slow-motion economic crisis skidded to a new low last week when both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s downgraded its debt to junk status, brushing aside a series of austerity measures taken by the new governor, including increasing taxes and rebalancing pensions. But that is only the latest in a sharp decline leading to widespread fears about Puerto Rico’s future. In the past eight years, Puerto Rico’s ticker tape of woes has stretched unabated: $70 billion in debt...
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Economy and Crime Spur New Puerto Rican Exodus
Puerto Rico’s slow-motion economic crisis skidded to a new low last week when both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s downgraded its debt to junk status, brushing aside a series of austerity measures taken by the new governor, including increasing taxes and rebalancing pensions. But that is only the latest in a sharp decline leading to widespread fears about Puerto Rico’s future.
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+17 +1
Puerto Rico: Tropical Tax Haven for America's Super-Rich
Puerto Rico’s low-tax welcome mat comes as some of the wealthiest Americans grow more anxious about tax increases and rhetoric directed at the rich.
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+18 +1
Residents Use White House Petition to Call for Governor's Ouster
Puerto Ricans upset with the administration of the island territory's governor, Alejandro García Padilla, are asking the federal government for "an investigation (into) what has been done with the people's money over the last two years." In a petition on the White House Web site, a Guaynabo resident said García Padilla needed to be removed by Congress.
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+19 +1
Puerto Rico governor signs executive order legalizing medical pot
Puerto Rico's governor on Sunday signed an executive order to authorize the use of medical marijuana in the U.S. territory in an unexpected move following a lengthy public debate. Gov. Alejandro García Padilla said the island's health secretary has three months to issue a report detailing how the executive order will be implemented, the impact it will have and what future steps could be taken. The order went into immediate effect.
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+22 +1
Monkeys break free in great escape from research facility in Puerto Rico
Authorities say more than two dozen monkeys have been set free in Puerto Rico after someone broke a lock on their enclosures at a primate research facility. Police say the roughly 30 rhesus macaques were freed early Sunday from the Caribbean Primate Research Center in the northern town of Toa Baja. The facility established in the late 1930s is a unit of the University of Puerto Rico. It supplies monkeys for use in studies of diseases that afflict people.
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+23 +1
Want to save Puerto Rico? Make it a U.S. state
The island colony needs help, and the U.S. government owes it.
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+15 +1
Colony, state or independence: Puerto Rico's status anxiety adds to debt crisis
Since the April day in 1899 when Americans formally took over the island, Puerto Ricans have felt uneasy about their status within the United States. And as the island faces a debt crisis that has cratered its economy and sent its leaders to Washington to plead for more sovereign powers, the issue has taken on a new urgency.
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+2 +1
How Washington helped create Puerto Rico’s staggering debt crisis
The island, now sinking in more than $70 billion in debt, has been whipsawed by decades of fickle policymaking in Washington.
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+15 +1
Forget Greece, Puerto Rico is about to default on millions
Puerto Rico is expected to default on $58 million of debt on Monday. The US commonwealth country is increasingly coming under pressure financially as it attempts to restructure $72 billion of debt. Governor Garcia Padilla has described the country’s economy as being in a vicious “death spiral” and announced that the country is unable to pay back its debts. He said: “The debt is not payable. There is no other option. I would love to have an easier option. This is not politics, this is maths.”
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+22 +1
For Puerto Rico, Prosperity Requires Equality
Skewed media coverage can cause policymakers and members of the American public to draw erroneous conclusions. If you genuinely want to understand why Puerto Rico is mired in a crisis, but you disregard or downplay the lack of political and civil rights in the territory, then you are missing a core point.
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+22 +1
America’s Un-Greek Tragedies in Puerto Rico and Appalachia
On Friday the government of Puerto Rico announced that it was about to miss a bond payment. It claimed that for technical legal reasons this wouldn’t be a default, but that’s a distinction without a difference. So is Puerto Rico America’s Greece? No, it isn’t, and it’s important to understand why.
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+14 +1
Puerto Rico Faces Greek-Style Austerity Nightmare After Default
Puerto Rico could be facing a similar fate as Greece, with massive spending cuts and tax rises, after the debt-laden commonwealth went into default Monday. Puerto Rico was due to make a $58 million bond payment Monday but managed to scrape together just $628,000. Melba Acosta, president of the territory’s Government Development Bank, said the default “reflects the serious concerns about the Commonwealth’s liquidity,” according to Standard & Poor’s.
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+25 +1
Project Ara won't debut in Puerto Rico after all
Google's modular smartphone Project Ara, which lets you swap out every important hardware component so you can upgrade your device piecemeal, is taking a detour.
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+21 +1
Sen. Bernie Sanders: From Greece to Puerto Rico, the Financial Rules Are Rigged to Favor the 1%
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders recently convened a panel of economists in Washington to discuss the debt crisis in Greece and throughout the world. In his opening statement, Sanders talked about the debt crisis in Greece as well as in Puerto Rico. "It is time for creditors to sit down with the governments of Greece and Puerto Rico and work out a debt repayment plan that is fair to both sides," Sanders said.
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+18 +1
Tropical Storm Erika Batters Caribbean; Florida, Bahamas on Alert
Erica will bring torrential rain, flash flooding, mudslides and gusty winds to many of the northern islands of the Caribbean, prior to taking a turn toward the Bahamas and Florida this weekend.
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+25 +1
Fault Lines - The Puerto Rico Gamble
In June, Puerto Rican Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla announced that the island had accumulated $72bn in debts and would not be able to pay them back anytime soon. The announcement touched off a new struggle over who should pay for the debt crisis.The US territory has not yet recovered from the effects of the global financial collapse, and poverty, unemployment and inequality rates far eclipse those in any US state.Simultaneously, Wall Street investors have taken a new interest in the island.
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+37 +1
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Puerto Rico Restructuring Appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear Puerto Rico's bid to reinstate a law that would allow restructuring of the debt-burdened U.S. territory's public agencies.
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+19 +1
Congress’ Fix for Puerto Rico Comes With Huge Strings Attached
A plan to create a powerful financial oversight board was too much for some Puerto Ricans.
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+24 +1
How Hedge Funds Are Pillaging Puerto Rico
Vulture investors have descended on the commonwealth, taking advantage of a debt crisis that has impoverished citizens and created massive unemployment. By David Dayen.
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