Vulture capitalists fight over pickings from bankrupt Puerto Rico
Federal US court proceedings began May 17 in San Juan on Puerto Rico’s $123 billion bankruptcy. New York District Court is handling the bankruptcy. As with the Detroit bankruptcy of 2013-2014, the island faces privatization and cutbacks that will exacerbate a mass wave of emigration and further sink its economy into depression.
The court hearing took place two weeks after Puerto Rico’s federal oversight board filed for Title III bankruptcy protection, on May 3, to tackle the mountain of debt and a public pension crisis.
The opening of the bankruptcy negotiations began with a dispute over which of two groups of creditors will have priority over sales tax revenue and other assets. According to the New York Times, the courtroom was packed with lawyers, signaling “intractable battles” ahead.
They may be fighting over who will be first in line to be paid, but they all agree that workers, pensioners and the poor will have to sacrifice their jobs and living standards. In fact Title III, a provision in the Puerto Rico relief law (Promesa) that the US Federal Legislature passed last year, was specifically designed to make possible an attack on public employee pensions.
Read more: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/05/22/rico-m22.html
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