Could Puerto Rico Be the First Falling Domino of Financial Doomsday?

By Lowell Ponte

On Sunday May 1, America's Caribbean Island Puerto Rico defaulted on a debt payment of $422 million. This island that Spanish explorers named “rich port,” Puerto Rico, is roughly the size of Connecticut and is home to 3.5 million U.S. citizens. How has it run up a staggering total debt of more than $72 billion, more than any U.S. state except New York and California? Puerto Rico has been turned into a cash-short poor port by U.S. economic manipulation along with welfare and government pension politics. The U.S. government built Puerto Rico's current economy on exotic tax breaks, especially for drugs. At one point, nine of America's 12 biggest drug companies had major facilities in Puerto Rico. [more...]