"The delayed fuse on the eurozone's debt-deflation policies has finally detonated in a second country. Portugal has joined the revolt against austerity. The rickety scaffolding of fiscal discipline and economic surveillance imposed on southern Europe by Germany is falling apart on its most vulnerable front."
"The verdict from the markets has been swift. "We would be very reluctant to invest in Portuguese debt," said Rabobank, describing the turn of events as a political shock."
"Catarina Martins, the Left Bloc's chief....says that if the Portuguese people have to choose between "dignity and the euro", then dignity should prevail."
From:
TheTelegraph
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.the extent of the human tragedy,” Sanders said. “Wall Street should not be believing they can get blood from a stone.”
Puerto Rican debt is popular with municipal bond fund managers because they pay interest exempt from federal taxes. If these loans aren’t paid back, the impact could bleed into the pockets of Americans who own these kind of securities.
Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, accused the administration of failing Puerto Rico by asking Congress to clean up its fiscal mess.
Warren blasted Weiss and the White House for what she characterized as a weak reaction from the president, compared to the speed at which banks received bailouts at the start of the Great Recession.
The clock is ticking for Puerto Rico to pay the piper, but it doesn’t have the cash — or, perhaps, the time– to do it. It owes $720 million in bond payments in December and January. Padilla told the committee Puerto Rico will have a negative cash balance of $29.8 million next month. Puerto Rico already defaulted on some of its debt in August.
Many Republicans oppose any kind of bailout or debt restructuring, because they say it fails to punish Puerto Rico for decades of financial mismanagement.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/10/22/sen-warren-obama-passing-the-buck-on-puerto-rican-debt-crisis/