In Episode 6 titled ” The Bankruptcy Letters” speaks about how the people of Puerto Rico has filled out papers to show something that they have been owed. Mariluz and many other people filled out those papers together sitting down to do the math and calculate how much money they are owed by the government from wage increased they were promised by the government. Not only were they promised it was legislated and approved which means it was a law that the people get their money. When Mariluz did her calculations of how much money the government owed her it was ” 75 mil pesos” “75 thousand dollars”. The main reason why the episode is called the ” The Bankruptcy Letter” is because after the people filed they papers about what the government owed they they have gotten no response so people took it into there own hands and wrote letters to the government a line from Mariluz letter “El motivo de la reclamación es de 75000 o más a la que tenga derecho.” “Her claim is for 75 thousand dollars or whatever she is legally entitled to”.
When listening to this podcast it was very surprising to me that thing literally happened a couple of years ago. Now I am wondering if they have gotten some of their money from COVID with the stimulus checks were going out did they get theirs? But Mariluz wasn’t the only person who wrote letters weather you are a police officer, teachers or even incarcerated they wrote their letters to demand what they are owed and that is the fair. Puerto Rico does not do allows their people to have a voice. Puerto Ricans are not allowed to vote for the president of the United States and they are apart of our country nor do they have the right to vote for anyone in congress but they can vote for resident commissioner who has no vote in congress who the puerto rican voice does not matter to the government?
Question ~ Would Puerto Rico get out of debt fully ? When they do or not would they ever give the people of Puerto Rico the voice that they deserve?
I don’t think Puerto Rico will ever fully be out of debt. The hole that the government dug itself into not only affects Puerto Rico but the people who reside there.
I don’t think Puerto Rico will get out of debt any time soon, unless God does a miracle. But times are going to get even worse and freedom of speech is gone so their voices will only matter if it goes with the government.
Yes Puerto Rico has the ability to get out of the debt fully by paying back these financial institutions, but they will be able to do this because of the amount of social creditors claims that they have been rejecting,”As of today, more than sixty thousand creditors’ have been rejected. there are still fifteen thousand pending claims.”
I do believe that Puerto Rico could eventually get out of debt I just think it may take years for that to happen. In the transcript the narrators talk about the unfortunate fact that Puerto Ricans don’t have a say in voting so in general in order for change to happen they at least need some sort of say who’s leading them because that will determine if it’s even a concern for them to get out of that debt.
I don’t believe overtime Rico ever be totally out of debt because creditors don’t care about regular peoples suffering. Here in the transcript of bankruptcy they say “their focus is on restructuring the debt but giving as much as they can to the bond holders instead of the well-being of the people.” This tells us how little these people care about the people of Puerto Rico and how they only care about money.
I don’t think that Puerto Rico will get out of debt due to how badly the government put their people in their financial situation.
Until the United States government actually begins to care about Puerto Rico’s issues and treats the people as a part of the states , no I doubt that Puerto Rico would ever get out of debt. In the text from the episode bankruptcy letters , it states, “The most recent administrations have given nothing. Because since the start of the 2006 financial crisis, the public sector has seen budget cuts, salary freezes and the massive firing of public employees. So the working conditions for Mariluz and fellow teachers only got worse, with little or no institutional support. ” So instead of the government reaching out to help Puerto Ricans , things just got more difficult for them because the U.S had turned their backs on the voice of Puerto Rican people and their issues.
I don’t think Puerto Rico will go out debt soon and even if they are given money, it will not be what they asked for. Although they have been given a “promise” that will most likely not be met, it gives the people of puerto rico hope. The line “why bother….We are winning”. A representation that as long as people will have hope there will be a slight change. This is demonstrated when they got bombed, unfixed potholes, debt, at the end of the day they got a promise law and if they continue to have hope more change can be made.
Unless the US government puts in the effort to give Puerto Rico the proper economic aid they need, I don’t believe Puerto Rico would ever fully get out of debt. In the episode, the speaker states, “A lot of the financial institutions that threaten suing the government are new creditors in this legal action. In other words, the government of Puerto Rico owes them money.” Puerto Rico is in a position where it cannot afford to return money to its rightful owners because of its massive bankruptcy, but if the US decided to save funds to help its territory, Puerto Rico would not be in the economic state that it’s in.
Puerto Rico’s debts have happened because of the lack of support from the US. They would never pay off that debt without the fully committed help of the US showing support to the island. Puerto Rico needs someone to help because the hope of the people would be lost because without the help they cant pay that debt.
Puerto Rico will never get rid of their debt because they don’t have the support needed. The USA has failed to help PR as Puerto Rico has gone through many things. The Episode says “She told me they are not on the same page. She was frustrated and said she would write a letter to Judge Swayne. Another letter… this time to let her know that social creditors like her are not happy about the kind of treatment they’re receiving. “
in my opinion Puerto Rico will never get out of debt fully due to la PROMESA and the officials in play. As shown in the podcast “they can have a say into what laws are going to be enacted … giving as much as they can to the bondholders instead of the well-being of the people”. As an elected official people have to assess the best situation as hand and benefit from a situation but as a result of this selfish move Puerto Rico owes trillions of dollars to people but given that the government didn’t take emotion into account, they won’t get to receive the money they are owed.
I don’t think Puerto Rico would ever get out of debt fully if they don’t get help cause honestly, the government is not going anything to help plus they basically taking money away and not giving the money Puerto Rico people owed so I feel like if don’t get the support they will never get out of debt fully.
With a selfish government I believe Puerto Rico would never fully get away from debt because of the government’s unfulfilling promises. In this episode the narrator mentions “Now, after almost three years of letters and waiting in line, the promises are, once again, broken…and the debt keeps piling up.” So after all the time spent waiting and trying to fix things Puerto Rico has to rely on its government because they don’t have the money to get out of this debt the government put them in making which puts Puerto Rico at the government’s mercy.
I believe that from this continuous thread of promises and laws for change or something to help puerto rico lead me to say that Puerto Rico will most likely not get of debt freely or at least not any time soon in the near future. A teacher for example like Mariluz who gives a public service and is in contract with the government cant even receive the money she is due. In the text this quote saids “The most recent administrations have given nothing.Because since the start of the 2006 financial crisis, the public sector has seen budget cuts, salary freezes and the massive firing of public employees. So the working conditions for Mariluz and fellow teachers only got worse, with little or no institutional support.” This shows how they were constantly cut off from money and even after the Law was passed, the promesa meant absolutely nothing. I also would say. that I believe they would get their voice that they deserve to represent and actually mean something to show that Puerto Rico exist and they matter.