A Financial Control Board Proposal for Puerto Rico — Medium

Posted on June 25, 2015 by StevenTorresRamos

Back in January, I wrote a piece about how Jeffrey Gundlach was wrong about Puerto Rico’s default risk — “I don’t care if [Puerto Rico] securities flop around,” Gundlach said, they will find a way to pay.

The territory’s power utility, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) — which is already in forbearance for tapping its debt service reserve funds — is expected to exhaust those funds and have a monetary default on July 1st. According to the trustee, after reserves are drawn down (and trustee fees are paid), PREPA will be short $150 million. The monolines have wrapped most of the maturities coming due that day and will have to cough up the cash for investors.

According to Bloomberg:

Investors and bond insurers have tentatively agreed on a proposal for how they’d be willing to alter terms on the authority’s existing securities, according to a person with direct knowledge of the discussions.

Suspending principal and interest payments or asking bondholders to reduce the amount owed would help Prepa as it seeks to modernize a system that relies mostly on petroleum to produce electricity.

Obligations of the utility that mature in July 2042 traded Thursday at an average price of 54.6 cents on the dollar, the highest since June 2 …

Regardless of how PREPA’s commitments shift, investors in all Puerto Rico securities will be negotiating difficult terrain from this point on. This will likely be the first of many creative revisions, which will all ultimately amount to bondholders not receiving what they were originally promised.

I heard from a congressional staffer yesterday that Representative Jeffrey Duncan sent out a “Dear Colleague” letter asking for a financial control board for Puerto Rico to address its debt crisis. Establishing a federal financial control board for Puerto Rico could potentially be the best option for residents. I have started thinking through the mechanics of how such a board might work and the history of emergency interventions in the municipal market —no, this is not an unprecedented event.

Objectively speaking, any Chapter 9 legislation will be ineffective when applied to Puerto Rico

Representative Duncan’s letter was written in response to H.R. 870, the “Puerto Rico Chapter 9 Uniformity Act of 2015.” This legislation wasrecently discussed in a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law.

H.R. 870 has proven to be quite controversial and bondholders have spared no expense in lobbying policymakers to scrap it. The legislation should be scrapped, but not necessarily for moral reasons. As drafted, the legislation would be ineffective. Continue reading →

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Financial Control Board Should Take Over Debt-Laden Puerto Rico, Lawmaker Says – The New York Times

Posted on June 25, 2015 by StevenTorresRamos

In one of the strongest bids yet for federal intervention into Puerto Rico’s fiscal woes, a member of Congress is calling for a control board to take over the island’s beleaguered government.

Representative Jeffrey D. Duncan, a South Carolina Republican, sent a letter to his fellow lawmakers on Friday, urging them for a solution to Puerto Rico’s financial problems that may result in “management changes” in the commonwealth.

Mr. Duncan said Congress had the authority to establish a control board in Puerto Rico, similar to the one it created in Washington, D.C., in the mid-1990s.

“I believe legislation to require the establishment of a financial control board, to enable the politically unpalatable changes necessary to put Puerto Rico back on the road to self-determination, may be needed,” wrote Mr. Duncan, who is chairman of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mr. Duncan’s letter is the latest salvo in the battle between Puerto Rico and its creditors. The island is quickly running out of cash to pay its debts, leading many analysts and investors to conclude that the commonwealth may default.

Mr. Duncan’s call for a control board will most likely find favor with hedge funds and other investors that own billions of dollars of Puerto Rico municipal bonds and are seeking to head off a default or debt restructuring.

A group of Puerto Rico debt investors have been trying to thwart efforts in Congress that would allow Puerto Rico’s public corporations, which run the island’s water and electrical systems, to declare bankruptcy.

In his letter, Mr. Duncan said authorizing a bankruptcy filing “will be a financial bailout of Puerto Rican debt that will provide only temporary benefit, harm U.S. investors that have invested in Puerto Rican bonds, and not meaningfully address the entrenched issues that have created the fiscal management problems that have created the current crisis.”

via Financial Control Board Should Take Over Debt-Laden Puerto Rico, Lawmaker Says – The New York Times.

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Lexus video teases a ‘real’ magnetic hoverboard

Posted on June 24, 2015 by StevenTorresRamos

Yes, we know – it’s 2015, the year Marty jumped to in Back to the Future 2 and you still don’t have a hoverboard. Right on time, Lexus has presented the latest example from its “Amazing in Motion” series of video spectacles: the Lexus Hoverboard. As you can see in the video after the break, it certainly appears to hover, and smoke, but no one actually hops on the magnetically-levitating device for a ride. Gizmodo heard from the carmaker that this project has been in development over the last 18 months, but couldn’t get more specific info on how it works.

via Lexus video teases a ‘real’ magnetic hoverboard.

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Woman with skinny jeans hospitalized, suffers compartment syndrome | BGR

Posted on June 23, 2015 by StevenTorresRamos

Here’s how you’ll be able to identify hipsters when they’re old and in the nursing home: They’ll be the ones who suffered permanent muscle and nerve damage before it was cool. The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry this week published a new report detailing the plight of a woman whose skinny jeans were so tight that they got her hospitalized.

Apparently, the woman had been helping a family member move out of their old house, which involved a lot of squatting down to pick things up our of cabinets. However, as the day went on she slowly started to lose feeling in her feet and she fell down on her walk back home from the move and laid there for hours until someone found her and brought her to a hospital.

When doctors examined her, they found that “her lower legs were markedly oedematous bilaterally, worse on the right side, and her jeans could only be removed by cutting them off.” From there they discovered that “there was bilateral, severe global weakness of ankle and toe movements, somewhat more marked on the right.”

In fact, the woman’s jeans were so restrictive that they caused her to suffer from compartment syndrome, which Web M.D. helpfully informs us “occurs when excessive pressure builds up inside an enclosed space in the body” and often requires surgery to prevent permanent damage to muscles, nerves and organs.

We probably can’t draw many solid lessons from this other than you probably shouldn’t wear insanely skinny jeans while doing lots of physical activity. So if you’re a hipster who owns a dog-walking business, you’re probably going to want to loosen up your clothes a little bit before going to work every day.

via Woman with skinny jeans hospitalized, suffers compartment syndrome | BGR.

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The Least Unhealthy Items at Seven Popular Fast Food Joints

Posted on June 23, 2015 by StevenTorresRamos

Fast food is hardly health food, but when you’re on the road or it’s late at night, sometimes it’s your only option. These are the menu options to look for that will fill you up without filling you out.

General Guidelines for Finding the Least Unhealthy Options

Let’s just come out and say it: fast food is generally not healthy. It’s all processed and packed with sodium, unhealthy fats, and excess preservatives. When you compare it to meals you could make at home, there’s obviously no way that fast food could be considered healthy options.

via The Least Unhealthy Items at Seven Popular Fast Food Joints.

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University of Florida researchers say lupus treatment shows early promise | UF Health, University of Florida Health

Posted on June 23, 2015 by StevenTorresRamos

A new treatment that may reverse the effects of the most common type of lupus has shown promising results after undergoing early testing by a team of researchers at University of Florida Health.

The findings of a two-year study that used human cells and mouse models were published Feb. 11 in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The new treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus involves regulating metabolism in cells that affect how lupus develops in the body. It has yet to undergo clinical trial in humans.

Lupus is an immune system disorder that prevents the body from distinguishing between harmful germs and healthy tissue. In lupus patients, proteins known as antibodies that are supposed to ward off viruses and bacteria instead attack healthy tissue. This causes inflammation and can lead to irreversible scarring, blood clots and kidney, lung and cardiovascular problems.

Just as diet has a major effect on overall health, nutrients affect immune activity at the cellular level. Now, UF Health researchers may have found a way to rein in lupus by changing the way cells in the immune system use energy. click below to read more Continue reading →

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Scientists Cure Lupus in Mice with a One-Two Punch

Posted on June 23, 2015 by StevenTorresRamos

Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that knows no bounds and can damage any part of the body, from the skin to the joints to the organs.

There is no cure for lupus, a disease that flares up and then seems to disappear before returning again.

But researchers say they have discovered that by using a combination of two drugs that already exist, it’s possible to reverse lupus in mice.

In a new study published in Science Translational Medicine, researchers from the University of Florida, Gainesville, have found that by inhibiting certain metabolic pathways in immune cells it’s possible to combat lupus in mice.

The most surprising result from this study was that the combination of the two metabolic inhibitors was necessary to reverse disease.

Laurence Morel, Ph.D., University of Florida College of Medicine

Each year, 16,000 new cases of lupus are reported across the country. The disease affects about 1.5 million Americans, according to the Lupus Foundation of America.

via Scientists Cure Lupus in Mice with a One-Two Punch.

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The Internet Is Done With The Confederate Flag

Posted on June 22, 2015 by StevenTorresRamos

A social media movement has built up around the hashtag #takedowntheflag. Following the murder of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, people are pushing back across platforms against the old, tired “it’s about Southern heritage” argument. And as of today, even South Carolina politicians (who have previously defended the flag) are set to call for its removal.

Widespread anger that the Confederate flag still flew in South Carolina’s state capital, Columbia, reached a boiling point after US and South Carolina state flags were lowered to half-mast in the wake of the killings. But not the Confederate flag, which is padlocked into place.

While the growing movement began on social media, it was galvanized by a searing article in The Atlantic by Te-Nehisi Coates, “Take Down the Confederate Flag—Now,” that has since been shared more than 300,000 times on Facebook. Coates wrote:

The Confederate flag’s defenders often claim it represents “heritage not hate.” I agree—the heritage of White Supremacy was not so much birthed by hate as by the impulse toward plunder. Dylann Roof plundered nine different bodies last night, plundered nine different families of an original member, plundered nine different communities of a singular member. An entire people are poorer for his action. The flag that Roof embraced, which many South Carolinians embrace, does not stand in opposition to this act—it endorses it.

via The Internet Is Done With The Confederate Flag.

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Tagg GPS Pet Tracker for dogs | Whistle

Posted on June 22, 2015 by StevenTorresRamos

The world’s most popular GPS pet tracker

Tagg GPS Plus ensures your best friend can always be found, wherever they may roam. Track your dog’s location and monitor their activity levels wherever you are. Enjoy the peace of mind that your pup is always healthy and safe.

via Tagg GPS Pet Tracker for dogs | Whistle.

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John Oliver Confederate Flag video | BGR

Posted on June 22, 2015 by StevenTorresRamos

 

Many people from the Southern United States sincerely believe the Civil War-era Confederate Flag is a symbol of Southern heritage and not of racism. However, many of those people probably aren’t aware that South Carolina in particular didn’t actually start flying the Confederate Flag outside its State House until 1962, when it was intended to be a direct rebuke to the Civil Rights movement. This is why to many more people the flag is a symbol of a desire to keep racial minorities as permanent second-class citizens.

John Oliver had a short segment on the Confederate Flag over the weekend that completely tore both it and its supporters into pieces.

“The Confederate Flag is one of those symbols that should really only be seen on t-shirts, belt buckles and bumper stickers to help the rest of us identify the worst people in the world,” Oliver said before describing how the flag could be used to easily screen out job applicants. “‘Oh, is that a Confederate Flag on your belt, LeAnn? Thanks, the nanny position has already been filled.’”

In the end, Oliver recommends lowering the flag to half mast… then lowering it all together… then taking it off the pole and putting it into a box that’s labeled, “Bad flag.”

via John Oliver Confederate Flag video | BGR.

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