Thursday, March 09, 2017

We gonna bail them out too?-----From Bad to Worse for Puerto Rico

From Bad to Worse for Puerto Rico by Joseph E. Stiglitz and Martin Guzman - Project Syndicate
SAN JUAN – Puerto Rico’s deep and prolonged recession has led to a severe debt crisis.
Image result for Puerto Rico problemsAnd the combination of economic contraction and massive liabilities is having dire consequences for the island.
Everywhere in the United States commonwealth, private-sector jobs are being lost.
Total employment in Puerto Rico has fallen from 1.25 million in the last quarter of the 2007 fiscal year workers to less than a million almost a decade later.
Without employment, large numbers of Puerto Ricans (who are US citizens) have emigrated.
But, despite this flight, the unemployment rate is now 12.4%. 
Without job prospects, the labor participation rate has plummeted to 40%, two-thirds of the level on the US mainland.
About 60% of Puerto Rico’s children live in poverty.
The commonwealth’s debt position is clearly unsustainable..."
Bad times, read on!

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