Wall Street Makes Sure that Puerto Ricans CANNOT Afford Any More Water

War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s Colony

–Saturday, August 15, 2015 

Yesterday, Wall Street made it clear, that it wants Puerto Ricans to leave the island. 

In the middle of a historic drought, a rating service in New York City demanded the highest possible interest rates (aka “yield”) from the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA). 

PRASA provides water to 97% of Puerto Rico residents and commercial enterprises, and sewer service to 59% of its residents. If PRASA cannot function, there will be no water in Puerto Rico. Without PRASA, Puerto Ricans will die of thirst. 

Knowing all of this, the Moody’s Investor Service today assigned a “Caa3” rating to $750 million worth of PRASA bonds. This puts PRASA deep into Junk Bond territory.

https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-assigns-Caa3-to-Puerto-Rico-Aqueduct-Sewers-750M-issue–PR_332602

A Caa3 rating also means that the interest rate (or yield) on PRASA bonds will be very high. The buyers of PRASA bonds will make extreme profits: all paid by the people of Puerto Rico. 

To give you an idea of these profits, here are the yields from recent Wall Street investments in the Puerto Rico Electrical Power Authority (PREPA) and Puerto Rico general obligation bonds:

When you factor in the triple tax exemption for both of these bonds, the PREPA and general obligation bonds are currently providing yields of 20% and 17% annually. 

This is the type of yield that the PRASA bondholders will receive…17% to 20%. 

Let’s place this in context: 

At this very moment, Puerto Ricans are suffering through a severe drought. Water is being rationed in every town – even in San Juan.

People wait to use an osmosis water purifying machine in San Juan.
 24-hour water rationing has been announced in the metropolitan area.

For the past two months, the island government has enforced drinking water rationing for 200,000 users in the San Juan area, permitting households to draw water only every third day. Rivers and streams are drying up at a record-breaking pace. It’s become one of the worst droughts in the history of Puerto Rico. 

The island is becoming desperate for clean drinking water, in every single town. 

In the midst of this crisis, Wall Street is jacking up the price of water…by declaring the PRASA bonds as “Junk Bonds”…so that hedge funds and investment banks can make higher profits.

This is the sad situation in Puerto Rico.

It is why 400,000 Puerto Ricans have moved out of the island over the past 12 years. 

If this keeps up much longer, Puerto Rico is going to need a magic faucet…just to keep from dying of thirst.

As ridiculous as this photo looks, it is less ridiculous than expecting Puerto Ricans, whose water rates have risen by 67% in the last eight years, to pay even more for their water, just to meet the interest payments on the “Junk Bonds” from Wall Street. 

This can’t go on much longer. 

A profound change is needed in Puerto Rico.

War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s ColonyBuy the book

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21 Comments on “Wall Street Makes Sure that Puerto Ricans CANNOT Afford Any More Water”

  1. Sr.denis, Te Conoci Cuando nosotros estabamos encontra de board of education de ny por quitarnos el tenure de una for a injusta y Luchamos mucho y recuerdo tu como candidato nos apoyaste. Gracias

    Liked by 1 person

  2. PRASA does lose 48% of the water distributed through physical leaks and another 10% via commercial losses. The average should be less than 10% combined. In addition the Government is currently seeking permission to allow PRASA to file bankruptcy. I am curious if you think these factors effect either water rates or interest rates? I think if you were in court filing bankruptcy on your business your bankers may want to charge you higher rates – if they would even consider ever to lend you money while you were telling them you were suing to file BK. Do you think if PRASA could stop pumping 50% of their water into the ground they would be able to reduce costs, save money, lower rates and start paying back debt instead of borrowing more? I am simply curious.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Just like Detroit. Banks get rich, people can’t even get water.

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  4. Yields are so high because Puerto Rico
    will most likely default and investors will loss all their money.

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  6. A total restructuring of PR must take place. 50% of government workers must be let go. Why ? Because they serve no economic purpose. AAA and PRT must be sold/privatized. Puerto Ricans with political ties can not run them efficiently. 50% of their employees must be fired. Union contracts must be renegotiated. Here’s your solution, folks. Maybe not palatable, but it will work,

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  7. Not an accurate statement, Wall Street does not loan money. They provide the capital structure to match lenders to borrowers through bonds. The actual dollars that PRASA is wanting to borrow comes from individuals ultimately, either through mutual funds from managers like Oppenheimer or directly sold to individuals. If the ability to pay was adequate you could go to a bank and request the loan that you need in order to run a disaster of a business, like PRASA. So you are proposing that individuals give their hard earned money to a poorly run government agency owned by a government that just declare its inability to meet their financial obligation and who’s governor just said that the lenders who lent money to PR where responsible for their losses because they were aware of the Island’s financial stress and lent them money anyways.
    My question is, would you lend your, hard earned, money to PRASA at all?
    What do you say to those who lent money to the Public Finance Coorporation and know are not being paid back as agreed with much better terms than this one?
    Wall Street is providing the only opportunity for PR to keep the water services running. Banco Popular which is the local bank and profits from PR would not, responsibly, be able to lend that money, neither the Cooperativas.

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  8. If you become a U.S. state you will lower your education standards.

    “People’s Histoty of the United States”, Howard Zinn.

    Click to access A%20People’s%20History%20of%20the%20United%20States-%20Howard%20Zinn.pdf

    “Indian Givers”,Jack Weatherford.
    https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/pdf-library-se–/-hHsk-tVQ6E

    “American Nations”, Colin Woodard.

    “Lies My Teacher Told Me”, James W. Loewen.
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzTOX1xo8sgpN2JmYWRjOGEtYjhlMS00NzMwLTljNWEtNTdiZTJkMDZlYWRh/view

    and my favorite
    “War Against the Weak”, Edwin Black.

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  9. Gordon,

    The problem is…Puerto Ricans do not decide on statehood. The US congress does. And the US congress is not going to do it.

    That is why statehood is a moot point. I discussed this at length in the article.

    I appreciate your comment and your reading. Please tell me where my logic is wrong.

    –Nelson

    Liked by 1 person

  10. We should have choosen STATEHOOD to end territorial corruption! Should have choosen STATEHOOD for the IRS, to collect and redistribute FEDERAL TAXES. Should have choosen STATEHOOD for extensive federal funding of water supply infrastructure. Should have choosen STATEHOOD for Puerto Rican REPRESENTATION in the congress! SHOULD HAVE CHOOSEN STATEHOOD!! SHOULD HAVE CHOOSEN STATEHOOD!! SHOULD HAVE CHOOSEN STATEHOOD!!

    Let’s ask the US NAVY to bring us some atomic powered ships. Their giant evaporators are able to distill hundreds of thousands of gallons of pure drinking water for us every day during this developing public health emergency..;. Oh wait, I forgot, we already drove them out of Puerto Rico. Radas Roosevelt is … empty!

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  11. We are the island we are the people and we call ourselves respectaable Puerto Ricans we don’t need to warry our lord will shower us with he’s blessing waters from the heaven’s and we are here to stay i have spoken and i am Puertorican GOD BLESS ALL LATINO’S

    Liked by 1 person

  12. The problems of Puerto Rico have to be solved by puertoricans, wall street does not control the skies to allow or stop water, the 400,000 people that left are doctors, lawyers, engineers and other professionals because the government, Fight back what? the corruption on the local government that cause the financial problem, they new when they had to slow down in loans, lets not be so melodramatic, by making bad decisions we puertoricans have caused the problem, here we vote red or blue it does not matter who is running we only vote red and blue. Very few people dig around to see what the incumbents have achieved or not. It is our problem not wall street we made the 78 billion dollars debt, we did not have to make loans, if we had listen to real economists even when they where from a different party we should be ok, and explain to me why the governor is trying to make rain when in a case of emergency he can activate the national guard and process the sea water? Which would cost thousands of dollars less that letting someone try an experiment that has never worked, why we have desserts if that crap worked. The problem is ours puertoricans, Americans and if some one get offended by it lets get on a helicopter and go to Iraq and fight ISIS which is a bigger problem to the nation than this. You want to fight against the USA go and start fighting the puertoricans at the 101st Airborne Division, Green Berets, 1st Calv, go and fight those Tainos.

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  14. Esto que nos esta pasando se debemos a nuestra confianza en los Partidos Políticos de nuestro país. Los líderes políticos, tanto Rojos como Azules solo legislan para comprar votos. Y aún comprando votos no prevalecen en las elecciones y cambiamos líderes cada cuatro años y de esta manera el gobierno funciona como una ecuación matemática de una menos uno.
    Hoy debemos enfrentar esta situación como un pueblo unido sin colores ni banderas partidistas y abazar la única bandera de la unida la bandera monostrellada y tratarnos como hermanos y hermanas. De no ser así seremos esclavos de los inversionistas que sólo sabe del amor al dinero.
    Luchando juntos triunfaremos.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. I agree with you, doctor Rex. But, there is big plan, The United States needs wáter, wáter is now synonymous of oil. Te final intention is less puertoricans in the island, more millionaires moving to the island = more chance to loot our wáter and at the end our island will be sold.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. empieza assemblar cajas de agua, y reservas, como antes, 10’×10’×20′.
    nosotros lo hicimos una ves y podemos hacer lo otra ves si lo maricones EU

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  19. I SAY FUCK YOU WALL STREET PIGS YOUR GREEDY ASSES NEED TO SHUT THE FUCK UP HEY JUST BECAUSE YOUR CRIMINAL ASSES THINK YOU CAN PUSH PEOPLE AROUND YOU WHITE JACKASSES NEED TO GO FUCK YOURSELVES

    Like

  20. Hace unas semanas que la fracción de la burguesía que administra el Estado en Puerto Rico se declaró en quiebra, acelerando la migración de miles de ciudadanos que no quieren pagar la deuda de la burguesía. Mas de 400, 000 ciudadanos han dejado la isla en los últimos 10 o 12 anos….El ataque del capital continua con la escasez de agua potable, llegando a afectar la capital, San Juan. Se inicia la discusión en torno a la necesidad de un cambio profundo en ese país. La necesidad de la revolución social también se está poniendo en el orden del dia. Guerra civil desatada por el agua o cualquier otro elemento de la crisis o revolución social. No hay termino medio. El proletariado en Puerto Rico está obligado a despertar o reventar de hambre.

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  21. Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
    Wall Street is pushing and rooting, without impunity, for the exodus of a people from their country. Lack of empathy, greed and profits, disregard for a culture and its members, shameless actions …. for all too see. And the “Master” stands idly by …. not batting an eye, not lifting a finger. As the Island’s population continues to decline, the “powers that be” will swoop in, once again, and “pillage and plunder”! Brief thoughts of a distant Palestine come to mind …. minus the “real bombings”! Shame on “the Master”! It’s snowing its true, forever present character and real intentions!
    Stand up, proud Boricuas! Time to fight back!!

    Liked by 2 people

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WAR AGAINST ALL PUERTO RICANS

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