Via The Daily Bell
Secession has been a hot topic lately from Brexit, to Catalonia, to California; so why is Puerto Rico voting on statehood tomorrow?
It is a non-binding referendum which asks Puerto Ricans if they would rather the territory remain as it is now, become an American state, or go entirely independent. But some say the election has been rigged for the pro-statehood group.
Authored by Mark Glennon via WirePoints.com,
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. -Arthur Schopenhauer.
For Illinois or another state to formally go bankrupt, the United States Congress would have to pass legislation.
Would they? I think so.
Puerto Rico’s economic decline and, now bankruptcy, has triggered an astonishing exodus as thousands flee the commonwealth in search of economic opportunity in the Continental US, Bloomberg reported.
The population has been declining rapidly. The island has lost 2 percent of its people in each of the past three years, a comparable departure in the 50 states would mean 18 million people moving out since 2013. About 400,000 fewer Puerto Ricans live on an island of 3.4 million today compared with a decade ago, when its economy began contracting, Bloomberg reports.
Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man
What happened:
Puerto Rico has long been a safe haven for businesses and investors weary of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Despite the fact that Puerto Rico’s public sector is going through bankruptcy, the private sector has enjoyed relative freedom from the intrusive hands of the U.S. government.
That will change if a bill making its way through Congress becomes law.
Back in 2013, markets tumbled (if briefly) on the news that Detroit would file for bankruptcy, at the time the biggest municipal bankruptcy in US history with over $18 billion in liabilities. Yesterday, algos barely even bothered to look up when Puerto Rico's governor announced that the US Commonwealth would submit Title III (aka bankruptcy) protection, despite a debt load of more than $70 billion, or nearly four times greater than Detroit's.