Abstract. A preliminary investigation shows various connections between Puerto Rican economic crisis, the Clintons and Vulture Hedge Funds. Further research is needed before influence peddling can be ruled out.

This morning I promised to put some of my notes together on how the same neoliberal politicians and vulture funds who have destroyed Puerto Rico donated and still donate to the Clintons (and Obama, and the DNC). The connections of different hedge funds, bankers, appointees, and vampires twist together into a sort of hairball. I can see why academics need to write whole books on this. There are scores of articles that apparently Clinton feminists and other voters have never read. Example: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/vulture-fund-lobbying_us_57350001e4b...

In fact, I now have over 50 tabs open and with my 70 year old memory, am having trouble remembering how Poulsen, the DCI Group, BlueMountain Bank, Liberty International group, LAZARD, Rattner and the whole bunch of blood-sucking hyenas are related, if at all. They pop up like maggots on a dead pig. The timeline looks like string theory's (11 or whatever it is now) dimensions.

Umm. Just thinking now but Rattner. RATTNER! He was the one who rented out the Lincoln bedroom from Clinton, and founded LAZARD, the CEO (Antonio Weiss) of which was appointed by Obama to lead the agency’s response to Puerto Rican financial woes. Big time donor to the DNC. Rattner and Hank Morris, connected million dollar kickbacks in a a NY pension fund scandal. Hmm he is the same Hank Morris who is heavily involved in the RAPP megadevelopment that is destroying South central LA. Damn, where is my notes on that??? Later, the suits all look the same anyway.

But first a megalomania alert: "The Hillary Building. The latest batch of emails released by the State Department uncovers a massive ego trip by the former secretary of State. Anxious to etch her name in glass, as well as in history, the woman now vying to be president of the United States and her closest aides raised nearly $37 million from corporations and foreign governments to build a U.S. Diplomacy Center, to be named after her." Hmm donations from United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and BruneiFedEx, Boeing, PepsiCo, Cisco, Bank of America, Caterpillar, eBay, General Electric, Microsoft, Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman... all donors to the Clinton Foundation as well. Hmm. Don't see a Puerto Rico connection here, but certainly am reminded of how many statues Mussolini had. Check out the nice photo of Henry Kissinger and Madeline Allbright helping to throw the first shovel of dirt. http://thehill.com/opinion/dick-morris/264870-dick-morris-the-hillary-bu...

Meanwhile DCI group, are they connected to the mega develoment in South central LA (?), hires Raben and Paulson's American Continental Group against Puerto Rico in favor of BlueMountain Capital, one of the vulture hedge funds who bought up Puerto Rico's debt at cents on the dollar and then proceeded to suck their blood. Later, we find A SuperPAC supporting Hillary Clinton has made two key Latino hires ... Democratic strategist Larry Gonzalez, a principal at the Raben Group.

In short we have bunches of Clinton cronies running back and forth between "financial services" CEO positions, appointments to key government positions, fund raisers, weddings and vacations etc. They monkey around in Puerto Rico rigging elections so that their Martin Friedman Chicago Boys have a neoliberal governor. The proceed with "private/public partnerships". That generally means privatizing anything and everything that might produce wealth for the Commonwealth, and making sure the Puerto Rico government lowers taxes on the corporations, borrows huge amounts of money at high interest rates to pay the expenses like schools, hospitals, roads, public infrastructure and then kicks them with free trade agreements until they go bankrupt. All cackling (you know who I mean) like hyenas picking the bones off of the lives they ruin, sipping champagne and eating almost extinct sea bass at funding parties.

OK, this diary is just a way for me to try and organize, something I used to be good at when I was working with the taxonomy and micro ecology of rodents. If it stays open for awhile so I can add, subtract, edit, make footnotes and correlate I might end up with something sensible. For now, there are some quotes to urgently share with the Puerto Rican community before the primary.

SOURCES and QUOTES

Hedge fund executives with significant Puerto Rican holdings — which stand to lose billions if the Commonwealth declares bankruptcy — have contributed more than half a million dollars to Clinton’s bid,

"A group of 34 hedge funds presented reports to the Puerto Rican government saying that instead of declaring bankruptcy, they should implement a regime of austerity that eliminates the minimum wage, sells off public buildings and assets, lays off teachers and shutters schools, and cuts workers’ vacation and benefits."

"Hillary Clinton’s campaign, meanwhile, has received the legal maximum donation of $2,700 from bankers [their employees etc.] at Fortress Investment Group and four-figure contributions from bankers at Perry Capital, Blue Mountain Capital, and Angelo, Gordon & Co., according to Federal Election Commission filings. A banker with Apollo Global Management also donated the legal limit to Clinton, and that hedge fund paid her $250,000 for a speech in May, according to her personal finance disclosure.

In December, Wesley Edens, co-founder of Fortress Investment Group attended a joint fundraiser for Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee held at the Manhattan home of Blackstone Group President Hamilton “Tony” James and his wife, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-blasts-wall-street-but-s...

All of these hedge funds have been deeply involved in the Puerto Rican debt crisis. Several of them, including Blue Mountain Capital, the Managed Funds Association, and Angelo, Gordon & Co., have spent big this year lobbying Congress not to give the island bankruptcy protections.

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/09/04/3697677/clinton-and-bush-pr...

Aides: Clinton raised up to $500,000 during Puerto Rico trip, San Juan, Puerto Rico Hillary Clinton came to Puerto Rico ostensibly to talk about health care and the economic crisis gripping this American island territory.

But campaign aides revealed late Friday that the former secretary of state had another reason for visiting the island: it was an opportunity for her to raise between $200,000 and $500,000 for her campaign. Clinton attended a private fundraiser at The Condado Plaza Hilton here for about 90 minutes, where about 200 people turned out, contributing between $1,000 to $2,700. After the event, Clinton boarded a private jet to return to the U.S. mainland.http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/04/politics/marco-rubio-puerto-rico-hillary-c...

Puerto Rico closes dozens of schools as economic woes deepen

"....Over the next five years Puerto Rico may have to close nearly 600 of the 1,460 public schools that once existed to save $249 million a year. Currently, there are 1,387 schools across the island. http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/may/14/puerto-rico-closes-...

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew Tours Puerto Rico to Urge Action in Congress

"Mr. Lew toured an elementary school where teachers told him they can’t turn on the lights in the cafeteria when it rains. Many schools can’t afford screens for windows or cleaning of septic tanks, hampering mosquito-abatement efforts that are critical to preventing the spread of the Zika virus. Zika will test Puerto Rico’s fragile public-health infrastructure and could leave its hotels and restaurants reeling if tourists stay away Funding shortfalls and delayed payments from the government to suppliers have been particularly acute in the health-care sector.

Some bondholders have said the Treasury is exaggerating the risks of a humanitarian crisis by pointing to some of the island’s bustling shopping centers and beautiful beachfronts.

Puerto Rico is not a state, its municipalities and public corporations can’t file for bankruptcy protection, and because it is not a country, it can’t seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund. Puerto Rico not only faces a large debt load, but its pension system also has more than $40 billion in unfunded obligations and is likely to exhaust its reserves later this decade". http://www.wsj.com/articles/treasury-secretary-jacob-lew-tours-puerto-ri...

House Republicans are preparing to reintroduce legislation Wednesday that has been the product of unusually bipartisan negotiations between both parties and the Treasury Department. to allow Puerto Rico some authority to restructure its nearly $70 billion in debt. The legislation would also create a federal oversight board to ensure local compliance with balanced-budget standards." http://www.wsj.com/articles/treasury-secretary-jacob-lew-tours-puerto-ri...

Cheap labour and tax incentives

The current fiscal crisis is the result of the commonwealth economic model’s failure, according to union official Luis Pedraza-Leduc.

“Our economic model, based on providing cheap labour to the pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries and light manufacturing, has exhausted itself,” said Pedraza-Leduc, who runs the UTIER utility workers union’s Solidarity Programme (PROSOL) and is spokesperson of the Coordinadora Sindical, a coalition of over a dozen unions.

“Things that were considered basic services provided by the state are now turned into commodities as private enterprise moves in to fill those spaces."

University Puerto Rico economist Martha Quiñones said, "“We had an economic model based on bringing foreign corporations and enticing them with cheap labour and tax incentives. The death knell was the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other similar trade deals that the U.S. has struck, which made even cheaper labour available in other parts of the world.

Governor Fortuño (governor 2009-2012) laid off over 30,000 public sector workers, and introduced “public-private partnerships” http://www.caribbean360.com/news/is-puerto-rico-going-the-way-of-greece-...

Winner: Hedge Funds and Distressed-Debt Buyers

"For nearly two years, hedge funds and investors in riskier debt have been purchasing Puerto Rico securities at distressed levels."

Obama's Appointment to Treasury Department counselor, Antonio Weiss leading the agency’s response to Puerto Rican financial woes

Another vulture hedge fund manager who donated $72,300 to the DNC 1908-1912 Remember RATTNER? he founded LAZARD. http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.php?name=antonio+weiss&cycle=Al...