Bankruptcy Generally

The lives of Puerto Rico residents remain profoundly disrupted by the aftermath of Hurricane Maria measured by metrics such as electricity, clean water, health care access, with death tolls mounting. This week, though, in a federal court hearing on January 10, 2018, Puerto Rico has the extra burden of confronting Hurricane Aurelius.

Adam Lerrick, of the American Enterprise Institute, has offered an intriguing approach to the Republic of Venezuela/PDVSA debt problem. Call a spade a spade. The distinction in the market between Republic of Venezuela and PDVSA bonds has always been artificial and the market has normally perceived it as such.

This morning I saw a docket for a bankruptcy case captioned In re Kabbalah Taxi, Inc.  Look for the cab with the little red thread around its mirror. If you meditate properly on the Tetragrammaton you will be teleported to your destination, although there are special fees for bridges and tunnels. I suppose the company competes with the Magic School Bus and the Chariot of Fire. Or it might just be a yeshivah bukher with a side job.

It seems to me a sign of serious regulatory dysfunction when a government expressly uses bankruptcy law as a means of collection, rather than rescue or at least collective redress, with an aim to treating economic stagnation.