Blame the progressive ‘vultures’ for Puerto Rico’s woes

Demonize someone else for the disasters your ideas have caused — that’s the progressive “solution.” Case in point: Mayor de Blasio’s slam of “vulture hedge-funders” for fueling Puerto Rico’s debt woes.

The commonwealth’s crisis is “being created by hedge-fund managers . . . trying to take advantage” of Puerto Ricans, de Blasio said Friday. He blasted lenders for “trying to make a profit” off the island’s “financial danger.”

Uh, would you lend to Puerto Rico if you couldn’t make money on the deal?

Progressives like City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have resorted to the same “vultures” slur.

None will own up to Puerto Rico’s real problem: an economy that’s shrunk every year since 2007 — where just 40 percent of adults work or are seeking jobs, and more than a quarter of workers get government paychecks.
Nor to the pain imposed by the too-high minimum wage Congress long ago imposed on Puerto Rico.

As a share of per-capita income, the federal minimum wage is nearly three times as high on the island as on the mainland. That leaves tourist businesses (a key part of the economy) lagging their Caribbean competitors.

Nor will they ever note that Puerto Rico grew too dependent on now-lost federal subsidies. Or blame the island’s bloated government, which has used debt to finance its overspending (just what got Gotham in trouble in the ’70s).

The real culprits, in short, are all progressive dreams: ever-higher minimum wages, government subsidies, fat-laden budgets. . .

Instead, they target the “vulture” lenders whose money has (so far) helped Puerto Rico stave off financial doom.
That’s the progressive prescription for Puerto Rico: Slap the only folks offering any aid, ignore the real problems — and don’t care that you’re not really helping one bit.

Melissa Mark-Viverito and Mayor de Blasio

Blame the progressive ‘vultures’ for Puerto Rico’s woes