Sometimes Donald Trump has value he says the things other politicians would like to say, but haven't quite got the nerve to do so. So it was this week with Puerto Rican debt. The island "owes a lot to Wall Street", he told a US reporter. "We're going to have to wipe that out You can say goodbye to that."
The debt can't be paid back by Puerto Rico, and the central government isn't stepping in to cover the shortfall ("we are not going to bail out those bond holders", said Trump's budget chief). So it won't be paid back. There was pushback from Wall Street ("it's just noise", said one analyst), but the bond market took Trump at his word. Try to sell a general obligation Puerto Rican bond with a face value of a dollar this week, and you'll be lucky to get 33 cents for it (down from 56 in September).
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
-
House prices rising fastest in areas with highest crime rates – where does your area rank?Property prices are higher in safer areas but growing more slowly than in places benefiting from gentrification and buy-to-lets
-
State pension age review launched – could it rise faster in future?The government has announced a review of the state pension age, after it warned of a “retirement crisis” and revived the Pensions Commission to boost pension savings
-
How capitalism has been undermined by poor governanceEditor's letter Capitalism’s “ruthless efficiency” has been undermined by poor governance, a lack of competition and central banks’ over-enthusiastic money printing, says Andrew Van Sickle.
-
The biggest change in the last 17 years – the death of the “Greenspan put”Editor's letter Since I joined MoneyWeek 17 years ago, says John Stepek, we’ve seen a global financial crisis, a eurozone sovereign debt crisis , several Chinese growth scares, a global pandemic, and a land war in Europe. But the biggest change is the death of the “Greenspan put”.
-
Things won't just return to normal – that's not how inflation worksEditor's letter You might think that, if inflation is indeed “transitory”, we just need to wait and everything will return to “normal”. But this is a grave misunderstanding of how inflation works, says John Stepek.
-
Car hire and the strangeness of the post-pandemic economyEditor's letter A global shortage of hire cars and unusually high hotel occupancy rates sum up the post-pandemic global economy in a nutshell, says Merryn Somerset Webb, with enhanced demand meeting restricted supply.
-
Everything is getting more expensive – including moneyEditor's letter Investors are about to start feeling rather more pain, says Merryn Somerset Webb – from the rising price of money.
-
We may be heading for recession – and it will be no ordinary recessionEditor's letter Just as the downturn in 2020 was not a typical recession. the next downturn could be very different too, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
-
What companies should be prioritising this decadeEditor's letter In a world beset by uncertainty, companies should be prioritising slack over efficiency, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
-
Inflation could soon start to hurtEditor's letter Inflation is not going away. And with people's wages not keeping up, things are going to start to hurt, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
