Most folks are not aware of the fact that the Mortgage Field Services Industry performs operations in Puerto Rico (PR). Puerto Rico is somewhat its own nation; somewhat sovereign. PR technically a U.S. territory and subject to U.S. law and many have questioned why it never became the 51st State to begin with. Probably that pesky thing Americans have with neat and tidy things like the Roman Numeral System and shit.
PR spent years financing its operating deficits with debt and its fiscal house is in shambles. The re is a distinct possibility that PR may defaulting on their general obligation bonds. Why is this serious? Well, first they are heavily traded on Wall Street and predominately controlled by U.S.-based municipal bond funds. How much are we talking about? Around $73 billion. To comprehend this one needs to understand that PRhas a higher per capita debt load than any of the 50 U.S. States.
On 11 February 2015, Rep. Pierluisi, Pedro R. [D-PR-At Large], introduced H.R.870 – Puerto Rico Chapter 9 Uniformity Act of 2015. So, while it was referred to the Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial And Antitrust Law in March, 2015, the reality is that it has no cosponsors and zero related bills. That is never a good thing. To understand how PR got here, you have to understand both its past and the dirty politics which the United States always likes to leave undiscussed.
Hawaii is similar to PR with the exception that the United States simply annexed, vis-a-vis a bloodless coup, Hawaii without the consent of its native population. The Blount Report is the popular name given to the part of the 1893 United States House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee Report regarding the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii. The report was conducted by U.S. Commissioner James H. Blount, appointed by U.S. President Grover Cleveland to investigate the events surrounding the January 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, which used Vieques as a training site and testing range for bombs and missiles from 1941 to 2003. I am familiar with RRNS as I am ex Navy. To say that turning Vieques into a bombing range was necessary is similar to saying that Jim Crow Laws were necessary to maintain the peace.
In essence, the US bound Puerto Rico to a ball and chain and through the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish-American War. Spain ceded the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States. People born in Puerto Rico are natural-born citizens of the United States. The territory operates under a local constitution, and Puerto Ricans elect a governor. However, Puerto Rico lacks voting members in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, both of whom have plenary jurisdiction over it under the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950. As of 2015, Puerto Rico remains a U.S. territory.
Puerto Rico’s banking sector laid it on hard and heavy until the last minute when Gov. Luis G. Fortuño signed a law requiring that all foreclosure proceedings of a primary residence include compulsory mediation. The law became effective in July, 2013. Fortuño stated,
Our administration has implemented a series of measures to protect the homes of Puerto Ricans. We seek to guarantee that each family will have a safe roof and that is why we have developed initiatives to promote this.
If Puerto Rico collapses without any consideration for the repayment of debt, the United States is going to be on the hook. Even if Uncle Sam gins up a bailout, the US Taxpayers are on the hook. The sad reality is that while all the Members of the National Association of Mortgage Field Services (NAMFS) were holding hands in the mold covered basement and patting Eric Miller on the back, the world burned down around them.
