Puerto Rico bankruptcy decision a Death Star for Wall Street

American Thinker ^ | 01/18/2019 | Chriss Street

[ferret_airlift]

So what you’re saying is that I can have my own private island for the taking?

[fruser1]

” banned English “

¿Debería Puerto Rico ser un estado?

What? Couldn’t understand the question.

[A Cyrenian]

bttt

[Boogieman]

Sure, great climate, no passport required, casinos right by the airport, and just a short hop down from Miami. They’d probably be economically better off letting the mob run it than the current crop of lefties.

[Red Badger]

There was little ‘crime’ in Las Vegas when ‘The Mob’ ran it..................

[MeganC]

“We just HAD to have an empire back in 1898.”

One of my husband’s friends was a man named Robert Conroy who was a professor at a school in Michigan. I remember him talking about how in the 1890’s the Spanish Empire was faltering and how the British and Germans were competing to take it over. They were also competing over Hawaii.

The leadership in the USA saw this and acted partly to get rid of Spain, partly to head off Britain and Germany, and partly to secure not so much an empire but a network of places for coaling stations for the Navy.

Dr. Conroy also talked about how the Germans even put together a plan to invade, capture, and then hold hostage New York City in order to extort the US into surrendering the one-time Spanish empire to the Kaiser.

It wasn’t just about empire building it was about global strategy and making sure that the USA wasn’t hemmed in by a European power.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Anyone stupid enough to buy those bonds deserves the haircut.

Just walk in and say "Give me Sweeney Todd".

[Buckeye McFrog]

Yup. Coaling stations for the Navy was a big priority at that time. We nearly ended up with the Dominican Republic on our hands as well as Puerto Rico.

[BlueLancer]

Dr. Conroy also talked about how the Germans even put together a plan to invade, capture, and then hold hostage New York City in order to extort the US into surrendering the one-time Spanish empire to the Kaiser.

The year is 1901. Germany’s navy is the second largest in the world; their army, the most powerful. But with the exception of a small piece of Africa and a few minor islands in the Pacific, Germany is without an empire. Kaiser Wilhelm II demands that the United States surrender its newly acquired territories: Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines. President McKinley indignantly refuses, so with the honor and economic future of the Reich at stake, the Kaiser launches an invasion of the United States, striking first on Long Island.

Now the Americans, with their army largely disbanded, must defend the homeland. When McKinley suffers a fatal heart attack, the new commander in chief, Theodore Roosevelt, rallies to the cause, along with Confederate general James Longstreet. From the burning of Manhattan to the climactic Battle of Danbury, American forces face Europe’s most potent war machine in a blazing contest of will against strength.

[MeganC]

Yeah, Steve says that Dr. Conroy wrote that.

He passed away a few years ago but was really sweet and he liked BBQ ribs!

[Politically Correct]

Not many people would get that reference!

[SunkenCiv]

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court decision wiping out half of Puerto Rico's general obligation bonds represents a potential Death Star precedent against Wall Street buying municipal bonds from states without a balanced budget. The reason that high-tax rate and potentially insolvent states like California, Illinois, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Maryland have continued to have access to massive new borrowing is Wall Street's ability to sell general obligation municipal bonds to high-income individuals who can benefit from receiving federally tax exempt interest. Most muni investors also believe that the federal government will bail out any state financial crisis.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Well, you all (PR) recently voted to become a state. Fine. Learn English and re-adopt it as (one of) your official language(s).

You’re welcome.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

The economy has been at least semi-socialist since the FDR administration. The lack of fed income tax, it seems, is not ameliorating the effects significantly.