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Romneys Make a Push Through *Puerto Rico* - NYTimes.com
via puerto rico - Google Blog Search by By ASHLEY PARKER on 3/17/12
Mr, Romney said he would support statehood for Puerto Rico, if that was a path that residents of the island decided to pursue.
via Puerto Rico Newswire on 3/18/12
The financial analyst Cate Long, in her blog on Reuters.com, highlights the similarities between Greece's and Puerto Rico's economies.
*Puerto Rico*: The New Greece? · Global Voices
via puerto rico - Google Blog Search by Greg Ahlswede on 3/18/12
Puerto Rico could be described as America's own Third World country. It has a per capita income of $15203 — that's less than half the level of the poorest state, Mississippi, where it's $31046 — and the official unemployment ...
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Puerto Rico: The New Greece?
Posted By Greg Ahlswede On 18 March 2012 @ 15:10 pm In Citizen Media,Economics & Business,English,Latin America,Media & Journalism,Politics,Puerto Rico (U.S.),Spanish,Weblog | No Comments
The financial analyst Cate Long(@cate_long [1]), a columnist and guest blogger for the news agency Reuters, made some observations about the Puerto Rican economy that were not very reassuring. In her blog MuniLand [2], she published an article [3], in which she stresses the similarities between Puerto Rico's and Greece's economies:
Puerto Rico could be described as America’s own Third World country. It has a per capita income of $15,203 — that’s less than half the level of the poorest state, Mississippi, where it’s $31,046 — and the official unemployment rate is 15.5 percent. Forty-five percent of Puerto Ricans live below the poverty line, and 20 percent of personal income in the commonwealth comes from federal or Puerto Rican public funds. In short, it’s an economy going nowhere.
But it’s Puerto Rico’s massive debt load that makes it resemble another crisis-stricken country that’s been in the news lately: Greece.
What motivated her to write the article was the recent issuance of municipal bonds by the Puerto Rico government, which has been remarkably successful for Long, since, according to her, in the future Puerto Rico could become insolvent due to its economy not growing fast enough to ensure compliance with its long term public debt payments.
The analyst Sergio Marxuach from the Center for the New Economy [4] agrees:
At a more fundamental level, neither country has control of monetary policy, so neither can devalue its currency to jumpstart the economy; neither has a strong productive base it can bootstrap to ignite growth; and perhaps more important of all, both economies are economic mirages based on consumption that has been sustained by a monetary illusion, that is, by having access to a stronger currency than their fundamentals warrant. So, in my view, the fundamental similarities outweigh any superficial differences between both countries.
This information is not new for economists. Nonetheless, Long's article prompted strong reactions on the Internet. The website Alerta Progresista [5] [es] (Progressive Alert), one of the official pages of the New Progressive Party's campaign, the party headed by current governor Luis Fortuño, accused Cate Long of being an Occupy Wall Street activist, of not being a true financial analyst, and of being ordered to write the article as part of an agenda against governor Fortuño's administration. However, several people came to Long's defense on Twitter.
The blog Latino Rebels [6] created a Storify [7] story that sums up well the discussion on the social networks.
Long was surprised by all the controversy her article created and the strong negative reactions she received from the Fortuño administration. Be that as it may, she realized that those who paid the most attention to her article were people who were not involved with the bond market:
But it turned out the attention my piece was getting was from people outside the bond market. Those who were responding to it were those who love Puerto Rico and are concerned about its future, namely its citizens. They seized on what I wrote and passed it around on Facebook. Newspapers like elnuevodia.com [8] [es] and blogs [9] [es] picked it up and debated the fine points of the island’s unemployment rate and deficit spending. I’ve never seen anything like it in the United States.
A week later Long published an open letter to the Puerto Rican Governor [10] in which she reaffirmed her original statements and expressed her displeasure with respect to the personal attacks she has received. However, she did admit that she committed an error in her first article:
… I made one mistake in that piece, which I did not discover until I read the rating agencies’ reports about the commonwealth. Your constitution requires that bond principal and interest be repaid before your government can make any other expenditures. That means bond repayments take precedence over payments for education, healthcare, government-worker wages and pensions. Bond markets cheer for this, of course, but I’m not sure that your citizens are entirely aware of it.
*Thumbnail photo by Rickymar [11] republished under a CC Licence BY-2.0 [12].
*
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Puerto Rico: ¿La nueva Grecia?
Posted By Ángel Carrión On 17 Marzo 2012 @ 9:59 pm In Economía y Negocios,Español,Inglés,Latinoamérica,Medios Ciudadanos,Periodismo y Medios,Política,Puerto Rico (E.U.A.),Weblog | No Comments
La analista financiera Cate Long (@cate_long [1]), columnista y bloguera invitada de la agencia de noticias Reuters, hizo unas observaciones sobre la economía puertorriqueña nada alentadoras. En su columna MuniLand [2] [en], publicó un artículo [3] [en], en el que destaca las similitudes entre las economías de Puerto Rico y Grecia:
Puerto Rico could be described as America’s own Third World country. It has a per capita income of $15,203 — that’s less than half the level of the poorest state, Mississippi, where it’s $31,046 — and the official unemployment rate is 15.5 percent. Forty-five percent of Puerto Ricans live below the poverty line, and 20 percent of personal income in the commonwealth comes from federal or Puerto Rican public funds. In short, it’s an economy going nowhere.
But it’s Puerto Rico’s massive debt load that makes it resemble another crisis-stricken country that’s been in the news lately: Greece.
Puerto Rico podría describirse como el país tercermundista de los Estados Unidos. Tiene un ingreso per capita de $15,203 — menos de la mitad del nivel del estado más pobre, Mississippi, donde es de $31,046 — y la cifra oficial de desempleo es de 15.5 por ciento. Cuarenta y cinco por ciento de los puertorriqueños viven bajo el nivel de pobreza y 20 por ciento de ingresos personales en la mancomunidad provienen de fondos públicos federales o puertorriqueños. En resumen, es una economía que va a ningún lado.
Pero es la deuda masiva de Puerto Rico lo que hace que se parezca a otro país en crisis que ha estado mucho en los medios últimamente: Grecia.
La motivación para escribir el artículo fue la emisión de bonos municipales hechas por el gobierno de Puerto Rico recientemente, la cual tuvo un éxito sorprendente para Long, ya que, según ella, Puerto Rico podría quedarse insolvente en el futuro debido a que su economía no está creciendo lo suficientemente rápido como para garantizar el cumplimiento de los pagos de su deuda pública a largo plazo.
El analista Sergio Marxuach del Centro para la Nueva Economía [4] [en] concuerda:
At a more fundamental level, neither country has control of monetary policy, so neither can devalue its currency to jumpstart the economy; neither has a strong productive base it can bootstrap to ignite growth; and perhaps more important of all, both economies are economic mirages based on consumption that has been sustained by a monetary illusion, that is, by having access to a stronger currency than their fundamentals warrant. So, in my view, the fundamental similarities outweigh any superficial differences between both countries.
A un nivel más fundamental, ninguno de los dos países controla su política monetaria, así que ninguno puede devaluar su moneda para revitalizar la economía; ninguno tiene una propia base productiva fuerte que pueda utilizar para provocar el crecimiento; y quizás lo más importante, ambas economías son espejismos económicos basadas en el consumo que ha sido sostenido por una ilusión monetaria, es decir, teniendo acceso a una moneda más fuerte que lo que sus aspectos económicos pueden justificar. Así que en mi opinión, las similitudes fundamentales superan cualquier diferencia superficial entre ambos países.
La información no es nada nuevo para los economistas. No obstante, el artículo de Long provocó fuertes reacciones en el ciberespacio. La página Alerta Progresista [5], una de las páginas oficiales de campaña política del Partido Nuevo Progresista, el partido en gobierno liderado por Luis Fortuño, acusó a Cate Long de ser una activista del movimiento Occupy Wall Street, de no ser una verdadera analista financiera y de escribir su artículo por encargo como parte de una agenda en contra de la administración del gobernador Fortuño. Sin embargo, varias personas salieron en defensa de Long en Twitter.
El blog Latino Rebels [6] [en] creó un Storify [7] [en] que resume bien la discusión en las redes sociales.
A Long le sorprendió toda la controversia que causó su artículo y las fuertes reacciones negativas de parte de la administración Fortuño hacia ella. Sin embargo, se dio cuenta de que quienes más atención le prestaron a su artículo fueron personas que no estaban relacionadas al mercado de bonos:
But it turned out the attention my piece was getting was from people outside the bond market. Those who were responding to it were those who love Puerto Rico and are concerned about its future, namely its citizens. They seized on what I wrote and passed it around on Facebook. Newspapers like elnuevodia.com [8] and blogs [9] picked it up and debated the fine points of the island’s unemployment rate and deficit spending. I’ve never seen anything like it in the United States.
Pero resultó que la atención que mi artículo estaba recibiendo venía de personas que estaban fuera del mercado de bonos. Quienes respondían a él eran aquellos que aman a Puerto Rico y a quienes les preocupa su futuro, sus ciudadanos. Se agarraron de lo que escribí y lo compartieron en Facebook. Periódicos como elnuevodia.com [8] y blogs [9] lo tomaron y debatieron sobre las sutilezas de la cifra de desempleo de la isla y los gastos deficitarios. Nunca he visto algo parecido en los Estados Unidos.
Una semana después Long publicó una carta abierta al gobernador de Puerto Rico [10] en la que se reafirma en sus planteamientos originales y expresa su disgusto en relación a los ataques personales que ha recibido. Sin embargo, admite que cometió un error en su primer artículo:
… I made one mistake in that piece, which I did not discover until I read the rating agencies’ reports about the commonwealth. Your constitution requires that bond principal and interest be repaid before your government can make any other expenditures. That means bond repayments take precedence over payments for education, healthcare, government-worker wages and pensions. Bond markets cheer for this, of course, but I’m not sure that your citizens are entirely aware of it.
… Cometí un error en ese artículo, del cual no me percaté hasta que leí los informes de las agencias acreditadoras sobre la mancomuna. Su constitución requiere que el principal y el interés de los bonos se paguen antes de que su gobierno pueda hacer otros gastos. Esto quiere decir que los pagos de bonos adquieren prioridad sobre otros pagos relacionados a la educación, salud, nómina y pensiones. A los mercados de bonos les gusta esto, por supuesto, pero no estoy segura de que sus ciudadanos estén del todo conscientes de ello.
*Foto de portada por Rickymar [11] republicada bajo una Licencia CC BY-2.0 [12].
Article printed from Global Voices: http://globalvoicesonline.org
URL to article: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/03/18/puerto-rico-the-new-greece/
URLs in this post:
[1] @cate_long: https://twitter.com/#!/cate_long
[2] MuniLand: http://blogs.reuters.com/muniland/
[3] article: http://blogs.reuters.com/muniland/2012/03/08/puerto-rico-is-americas-greece/
[4] Center for the New Economy: http://grupocne.org/cneblog/?p=827
[5] Alerta Progresista: http://www.alertaprogresista.com/node/658
[6] Latino Rebels: http://latinorebels.com/2012/03/12/the-latest-luisfortuno51-twitter-war-puerto-rico-and-greece/
[7] Storify: http://storify.com/latinorebels/the-luis-fortuno-campaign-s-twitter-war-with-reute
[8] elnuevodia.com: http://www.elnuevodia.com/puertoricoelgreciadelosestadosunidos-1209161.html
[9] blogs: http://sincomillas.com/2012/03/puerto-rico-es-como-grecia/
[10] an open letter to the Puerto Rican Governor: http://blogs.reuters.com/muniland/2012/03/13/an-open-letter-to-puerto-rican-governor-fortuno/
[11] Rickymar: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricardo_mangual/
[12] CC Licence BY-2.0: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
*
Puerto Rico Primary: Spanish and Politics - DesMoinesRegister.com (blog)
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via puerto rico - Google News on 3/18/12
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via puerto rico - Google News on 3/18/12
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Puerto Rico: Rotten Borough or Real Test?
via Puerto Rico Newswire on 3/18/12
Today's Puerto Rico primary may provide an interesting test for the Republican Party as much as for its rival presidential candidates.
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Puerto Rico votes; GOP candidates battle elsewhere - WRIC
via puerto rico sports - Google News on 3/18/12
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via YouTube Videos matching query: puerto rico by ABCNews on 3/18/12
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Oops! Rick Santorum calls Puerto Rico 'a Spanish-speaking country' - New York Daily News
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Oops! Rick Santorum calls Puerto Rico 'a Spanish-speaking country'
New York Daily News
Rick Santorum, speaks in Illinois as Puerto Rico heads to the polls for Republican primaries. Rick Santorum delivered yet another gaffe about Puerto Rico on Sunday as voters there head to the polls for the Republican primary.
Santorum Woos Puerto Rican Evangelicals - NewsMax.com
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Santorum Woos Puerto Rican Evangelicals
NewsMax.com
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — At El Sendero De La Cruz evangelical church, Rick Santorum sought prayers along with votes. He told the San Juan congregation that he felt “very blessed” to be with people of faith and said he can withstand the demands of ...
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Puerto Rico: The New Greece? - Global Voices Online
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Puerto Rico: The New Greece?
Global Voices Online
The financial analyst Cate Long(@cate_long), a columnist and guest blogger for the news agency Reuters, made some observations about the Puerto Rican economy that were not very reassuring. In her blog MuniLand, she published an article, ...
Delegate allocation in Puerto Rico - NewsOK.com
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Delegate allocation in Puerto Rico
NewsOK.com
In case you're watching the Puerto Rico primaries at home, here's a quick primer in how the 20 delegates are allocated. If a candidate gets a majorty of all votes, he gets all 20 delegates. If not, the 20 delegates are allocated proportionally among ...
Language Log » Rick Santorum and *Puerto Rican* language laws
via puerto rico politics - Google Blog Search by Mark Liberman on 3/18/12
Santorum's general views on English proficiency in Puerto Rico strike me as reasonable ones — watch or read the interview and see what you think — though I believe he does get some of the legal and political history wrong.
Romney, Santorum head to Ill., next battleground - Seattle Post Intelligencer
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Romney, Santorum head to Ill., next battleground
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Photo: Evan Vucci / AP Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign stop on Saturday, March 17, 2012, in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. At left is Puerto Rican Gov. Luis Fortuno, and at right is Ann Romney.
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Santorum downplays Romney's business experience, says conservatives don't want ....
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Santorum downplays Romney's business experience, says conservatives don't want ... - The Hill (blog)
Santorum downplays Romney's business experience, says conservatives don't want ... - The Hill (blog)
Santorum downplays Romney's business experience, says conservatives don't want ...The Hill (blog)By Pete Kasperowicz - 03/18/12 09:56 AM ET Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum downplayed the business experience of GOP front-runner Mitt Romney on Sunday morning, by saying conservatives are not looking to elect a "CEO of America," and ...and more »
Update on the latest news, sports, business and entertainment - NECN
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Update on the latest news, sports, business and entertainment - NECN
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Los Angeles TimesUpdate on the latest news, sports, business and entertainmentNECNBAYAMON, Puerto Rico (AP) — Another critical primary looms Tuesday and Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney left Puerto Rico early for more campaigning in Illinois. Puerto Rico holds its primary today and the debate over statehood in the ...Puerto Ricans Apathetic Ahead of GOP PrimaryFox NewsGOP candidates try to woo Puerto Rico votersLos Angeles TimesRomney defends Sotomayor criticism, underscores GOP struggles...
Businesses are invited to think globally - Green Bay Press Gazette
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Businesses are invited to think globally - Green Bay Press Gazette
Businesses are invited to think globally - Green Bay Press Gazette
Businesses are invited to think globallyGreen Bay Press GazetteHe said less-developed, emerging markets have proved fertile for Northern Labs. "For a small company, just the growth potential is very good," Culea said. "You walk before you run. Start with places like Mexico, Puerto Rico is good, Canada.
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blog.heritage.org | Puerto Rico has long flirted with the idea of becoming the 51st state. This year voters will once again have their choice at the ballot box. And for Gov. Luis Fortuño, the time is right. Fortuño visited the nation's capital last week for a meeting at the White House on increased ...
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Governor Luis Fortuño on Puerto Rico's Future
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Santorum's Puerto Rico English Comments Fodder for Colbert, Romney Supporters
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Toño Bicicleta historic puerto rican crime documentary Jorge L. Chaar Cacho
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Puerto Ricans Apathetic Ahead of GOP Primary
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With no say in November's presidential election, many Puerto Ricans are apathetic about the GOP primary.
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mister tomato chat » Blog Archive » The Tourist’s Guide To Vehicle Rental Booking In Puerto Rico
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Not surprisingly, car rental is massive enterprise in Puerto Rico. Local automobile rental firms such as Dorado Car Rental in Dorado and Pier Automobile Rental in San Juan operate side by side with multina…
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blog.heritage.org | Puerto Rico has long flirted with the idea of becoming the 51st state. This year voters will once again have their choice at the ballot box. And for Gov. Luis Fortuño, the time is right. Fortuño visited the nation's capital last week for a meeting at the White House on increased drug trafficking through the Caribbean. It's one of many challenges facing Puerto Rico.
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Santorum downplays Romney's business experience, says conservatives don't want ....
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Santorum downplays Romney's business experience, says conservatives don't want ... - The Hill (blog)
Santorum downplays Romney's business experience, says conservatives don't want ... - The Hill (blog)
Santorum downplays Romney's business experience, says conservatives don't want ...The Hill (blog)By Pete Kasperowicz - 03/18/12 09:56 AM ET Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum downplayed the business experience of GOP front-runner Mitt Romney on Sunday morning, by saying conservatives are not looking to elect a "CEO of America," and ...and more »
Update on the latest news, sports, business and entertainment - NECN
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Update on the latest news, sports, business and entertainment - NECN
Update on the latest news, sports, business and entertainment - NECN
Los Angeles TimesUpdate on the latest news, sports, business and entertainmentNECNBAYAMON, Puerto Rico (AP) — Another critical primary looms Tuesday and Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney left Puerto Rico early for more campaigning in Illinois. Puerto Rico holds its primary today and the debate over statehood in the ...Puerto Ricans Apathetic Ahead of GOP PrimaryFox NewsGOP candidates try to woo Puerto Rico votersLos Angeles TimesRomney defends Sotomayor criticism, underscores GOP struggles...
Businesses are invited to think globally - Green Bay Press Gazette
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Businesses are invited to think globally - Green Bay Press Gazette
Businesses are invited to think globally - Green Bay Press Gazette
Businesses are invited to think globallyGreen Bay Press GazetteHe said less-developed, emerging markets have proved fertile for Northern Labs. "For a small company, just the growth potential is very good," Culea said. "You walk before you run. Start with places like Mexico, Puerto Rico is good, Canada.
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Posted by Robert Mccarroll
From: Robert Mccarroll
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012 8:18 PM
To: president@nytimes.com
Cc: Robert Mccarroll ; Upfront Yankee
Subject: Heaven & Hell At The San Juan Star by John Marino
Surfing the internet, I came across this excellent report by John Marino on the demise of the original San Juan Star and the role of its publisher Gerardo Angulo in the demise. John Marino is an outstanding journalist now working for Caribbean Business. Doug Zehr is another outstanding former Star journalist and now with Caribbean Business. The fact that all these great journalists are not with the revived San Juan Star and Angulo is its publisher makes you realize why the new San Juan Star is not in the same great journalism tradition of the original Star with its outstanding journalists. It sure ain’t like The New York Times despite the fact it publishes the NYT’s national and international news reports and commentaries. If you want example of unethical journalism read the vindictive, obsessive letters to the editior in the current Star. What is troubling is that the Star publisher allows this to happen. --- Bob
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http://trendmag2.trendoffset.com/display_article.php?id=79220
All translations are provided for your convenience by the Google Translate Tool. The publishers, authors, and digital providers of this publication are not responsible for any errors that may occur during the translation process. If you intend on relying upon the translation for any purpose other than your own casual enjoyment, you should have this publication professionally translated at your own expense.
Heaven & Hell At The San Juan Star
For almost five decades, The San Juan Star was regarded as Puerto Rico’s most reputable newspaper.
Years of mismanagement brought the once mighty paper to a close. Former Star Editor John Marino recounts the daily’s last days of agony.
ON a smoldering Saturday afternoon deep in August, I realized The San Juan Star was finished. In the building’s main hallway, graced with blown-up prints of the best photographs in the newspaper’s storied history, the hulking figures of Star publisher Gerardo Angulo and Union of Journalists, Graphic Artists and Related Occupations chief Nestor Soto stalked each other, hurling insults and threats, oblivious to everything but their mutual intransigence.
The union, known by its Spanish acronym UPAGRA, stopped work Friday night over a broken pledge to ensure sufficient bank funds so all workers could cash their checks when they were paid.
Angulo said his hands were tied until Monday when the banks opened. Soto insisted no work would be done until all checks were cashed. Angulo threatened to shutter the paper for good if it failed to publish on Monday. Soto retorted: “liar.” “Are you telling them that, Nestor?” Angulo screamed. “Your job is to protect workers’ jobs, not endanger them.” “You tell them!” Soto snapped back.
During their face-off, I stared at the worn floors and stained ceilings. For me, this building, clearly buckling under neglect, was a temple of journalism, forever tied to the rigors and satisfactions of a profession that consumed the best years of my life, but had defined it and given it purpose in the process. It was a feeling that was shared by The Star’s newsmen and newswomen, who stayed on despite the increasing certainty that its demise was drawing ever near.
“It was like the death of a friend,” says Assistant Business Editor Michelle Kantrow, of the shuttering of the publication that she joined “as a rookie” in
1995. “It was agony, week after week.
Like seeing somebody on his deathbed.
I always wondered how much longer we could go on like that.” University of Puerto Rico President Antonio García Padilla says The Star’s closing represented a big loss for Puerto Rico.
“It has made extraordinary contributions to the island and to the quality of its journalism,” he said. “This was evidenced not only by The Star’s Pulitzer Prize, but by its daily news coverage and its fostering of a public debate on important issues.” García Padilla, like several other prominent Puerto Ricans, says that as an English-language daily, The Star played an important and unique role in keeping business and government leaders, both on the island and abroad, informed on the important issues of the day. President Jimmy Carter’s top staff read it, and so did Karl Rove, President GeorgeW.
Bush’s top political strategist.
The Star was never a huge moneymaker, and finances have been tight since its inception in 1959, former newsroom executives say. But the newspaper bucked situations from huge expansions to steep cutbacks under Angulo’s reign as publisher.
While the closure may have shocked readers, things had gotten markedly worse over the past year, with signs of trouble everywhere. You did not need access to privileged information to see the ad space shrink, or know that the company was increasingly delinquent in meeting major commitments like payroll, newsprint, ink and power costs. More chilling was that checks to major suppliers as well as payroll checks had begun bouncing—the clearest sign yet that the business was in deep trouble. Bills could only be paid by certified check, and employees cashed their checks at The Star’s bank to circumvent the problem. And the newspaper—either because of press problems, newsprint shortages or union work stoppages—just did not get out some days, or got out to very few places.
The Star would not publish again until Tuesday, Aug. 22 (after Angulo deposited enough money to cover worker paychecks on that Monday). Its last edition would appear that Friday.
A Renowned Name The newspaper’s Hunter S. Thompson and William Kennedy connections kicked its closing to the Associated Press A-wire.
The Star, which opened in November 1959, won fame early through its 1961 Pulitzer Prize for editorials on Roman Catholic bishops interfering in local politics.
Kennedy, the author of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize winning novel ``Ironweed,’’ was one of its first managing editors. Thompson, who used the paper as a setting in his novel “The Rum Diary,” unsuccessfully applied to him for a job, but the rejection sparked a years-long letter writing relationship between the two renowned writers.
The Star’s coverage of the Cerro Maravilla murders, the drive against the Navy in Vieques, and its unbiased political reporting throughout the years are also seen as high water marks. It also had among the finest cultural and business sections on the island. Such reporting earned The Star a loyal following, which included the island’s most influential readership, and it instilled a fierce loyalty among ex-staffers.
“The Star was the only newspaper in Puerto Rico that put the facts together without any slant. If you read it in The Star, it was true,” says Rafael Matos, a 37-year island newspaper veteran.
“The Star represented a kind of journalism that was independent from government and political influences,” adds former managing editor Barbara LeBlanc, who ran the newsroom under Angulo until 2000. “That’s important because in Puerto Rico, the government is the biggest game in town: the biggest advertiser, the biggest supplier, the biggest everything. Political positions are so deeply etched in Puerto Rico. And The Star stood for independent and aggressive reporting that would straddle the divide and not bend to favoritism.”
A. W. Maldonado, a Star staff member at its inception, says the Englishlanguage daily’s impact was immediate And profound. “The Star was a revolution in Puerto Rico,” Maldonado says.
“It was because of William Dorvillier.
He was the absolute journalist.” Maldonado says the exacting founder, editor and publisher set high standards, which was immediately recognized by its 1961 Pulitzer Prize for a series of 20 editorials on the Catholic Church’s intrusion into the 1960 gubernatorial race.
The Star has received its knocks over the years, and been hit with charges of bias. One former newsroom executive says it was criticized when it came out with a Spanish edition while advertising executives aggressively pursued a bigger cut of government advertising during the Rosselló administration because “news coverage was seen through that prism.” But despite its ups and downs over the years, The Star was able to uphold those high standards set at the start until its very final day, according to former staffers. The Star, they say, was not only known for, but also actually marked by, balanced reporting and an attempt at fair mindedness.
Maldonado, who went on to serve as managing editor of El Mundo before founding El Reportero, says the English- language publication played to political and business leaders in San Juan,Washington and elsewhere, making it far more influential than its limited circulation, which exceeded 40,000 in its heyday. And it was still the source for White House and Congressional staffers at its demise. “The Star was it. It was the Bible,” he says.
Doug Zehr, who rose from the copy desk to business reporter and then managing editor, credits The Star with bringing “nonpartisan journalism” to the island. “Even on its worst days, The Star worked a lot harder at being fair and thorough and professional than our competitors. The Star always made an effort to put the story in context,“ he says.
Noting that tradition, Mercy Mc- Closkey, The Star’s last business editor, says: “Its loss was particularly significant two months before the elections because objective reporting was allowed to evaporate.” While editorial resources were slashed back substantially in the last few years, newsroom staff continued to lay claim to the publication’s proud tradition of impartial reporting.
“It was just loving what you did.We were the balancing act,” says Kantrow, who won three major awards in 2008 for her business reporting, including the Overseas Press Club of Puerto Rico’s Teodoro Moscoso Award for Excellence in Business Journalism. “We were allowed to be fair. It was a privilege.
I talked to my peers at other papers, and they get censored. They get told what to write. It was also our ability to analyze issues beyond the press conference.” In recent months, despite dwindling numbers and faltering equipment, the staff was dedicated to remaining a relevant news force in Puerto Rico. The complaints kept piling up: about lousy delivery, cancelled favorite comics and increased misspellings because of a depleted copy editor corps, but the fan base still sent us accolades on our reporting.
It still provided full coverage of the major news events of the day, and also delivered in-depth reporting and feature news stories on issues of top public concern.
“Despite all the handicaps, work at The Star was a heady challenge,” Mc- Closkey says. “It was great fun because we were allowed to cover the news as we saw fit. The aim in covering a story was always to tell both sides with integrity.
Even if the subject could be embarrassing for a friend of the publisher, we could go forward with the story as long as we were sure of it. It was real freedom of the press, the kind that hardly exists anymore because publishing is big business.” Casting Blame Angulo painted the closure as a breakdown in negotiations on proposed benefit and salary cuts as well as a plan to contract out some circulation to a competing newspaper.
“The union is firm in its opinion, and I’m firm in mine,” he tells the Associated Press, adding that he doubted a reopening would happen. “I am not going to subsidize the newspaper anymore.
It has to stand on its own.” Speaking after the shutdown, Angulo continued to blame the union. “The Star had been handicapped for years by the union,” he says, also chastising the “very terrible Department of Labor system, which has allowed employees to behave like you would not expect employees to behave.” Management did have genuine concerns regarding the collective bargaining agreement and legitimate complaints about productivity and accountability.
Economic realities at the end also probably justified a cut in benefits for union employees, as well as other concessions for cost savings.
The union was long seen by management as detrimental to the newspaper’s best interests. A failure in 1993 to reach a collective bargaining agreement was a major factor in the newspaper being put up for sale, according to news reports at the time.
But union leaders also say they had just cause to mistrust Angulo, and had expressed willingness to consider cuts if the publisher shared financial information with them. UPAGRA attorney Miguel Simonet Sierra said the publisher had fallen behind on pension, child support and Social Security payments after deducting them from employee paychecks. Angulo and his chief accountant discussed the closure with former management employees as if it were a bankruptcy, where creditors, including former employees, would have to each make a claim on the company’s remaining assets.
Yet, as Metro San Juan went to press, there had been no bankruptcy protection filing, despite Angulo having acknowledged in recent weeks that The Star’s debt had surged to $20 million.“ I’m not going to comment on that,” Angulo says of a possible bankruptcy filing. “The Star is closed.
It does not have any liquid assets; it owes more money than it has.” Union officials might have overplayed their hand during that final three-day shutdown, if they thought Angulo would remain open without instilling steep cutbacks. But they felt pushed into the action because employee paychecks had been bouncing all year long.
The problem was so acute, that it became a weekly ritual for employees to cash their paychecks at Westernbank branches before depositing the money in their own bank accounts.
And sometimes, employees who had waited too long were unable to cash their checks.
Employees found the experience humiliating, especially because there would only be an hour between when paychecks were distributed and the bank closed. The last minute deposits to payroll accounts, workers openly speculated, were done to avoid seizure from government agencies with which the publication had built up debts.
“That’s one mistake an employer should never make: fail to pay an employee on time,” says industrial psychologist Dr. Belchor Batista, of Management & Psychological Services in Río Piedras. “The effect is devastating and demoralizing. It’s one of the most harmful things that a company can do. It harms the employees, it harms the management, it harms the organization.
It harms everyone.” Batista also says that a company that Begins bouncing paychecks has already allowed its financial problems to fester too long. “That’s a problem that the company has to face up front and deal with ahead of time. It can’t just wait until the problem gets that bad.” But Angulo downplayed the pay issue. “There were problems, but employees were always paid.” He accused UPAGRA of using it as a red herring to harm the company for its recent attempt to increase distribution through non-union handlers and other issues. He said the union had undertaken “17 wildcat strikes” in the days leading up to the three-day shutdown that affected some aspect of the paper’s production or distribution.
“The union has been acting this way for the past year and a half,” Angulo says. “We have been cutting back for some time now to cut costs, and they have been reacting.” When he closed, Angulo stiffed most of the newspaper’s 120 employees (including 90 union workers) out of their last week’s pay, as well as accrued vacation, sick and severance payments mandated by local labor law and the union’s collective bargaining agreement.
Simonet, saying the accrued debts are a substantial sum, and that complaints and requests for arbitration have been filed at the National Labor Relations Board and the local Labor Department. Angulo responded by saying union work stoppages also caused company losses.
Show Me the Money From the time I was put in charge of the editorial department in December 2003, Angulo constantly complained that the newspaper was losing money, a lot of it, and he wanted to stop subsidizing it or shut it down. He said his other firms were supporting The Star and he was forced to invest personal funds. Other newspaper executives also said the newer properties did subsidize the newspaper in later years, often to their own financial detriment.
But it was never clear where Angulo’s money ended and The Star’s began. Funds were allegedly routinely funneled back and forth between his companies, depending on cash flow needs. The Star also is said to have covered payments for Angulo’s and his family’s personal expenses and would also provide him with cash for gas and other necessities. He always justified such payments by saying he did not collect a salary.
While The Star could have plausibly helped finance Angulo’s expansion into other island business properties, he denies that his other companies have anything to do with The Star.
Star debts totaled $20 million, Angulo told management and union officials in the weeks before the shutdown, and, in an interview for this article, he said that debt broke down into $16 million in bank debt and $4 million in other obligations.
Two former executives and a third financial industry source put Angulo’s total debt at about twice that, when that held by his other companies— which run a mail order business, Vea, Teve Guía and San Juan City magazines, among others, and the Spanish Caguas weekly La Semana— are factored in.
“The problem,” one former executive with knowledge of his finances in January 2008, tells me, “is that his companies are not worth that much.” When asked about these estimates, Angulo responded: “Why are you asking about that? My other companies have nothing to do with The Star.” Angulo began racking up The Star’s debt almost immediately, with the newspaper reportedly paying the costly loan he used to finance his purchase of it, according to news reports and legal documents. In summer 1994, he first became known publicly as The Star’s owner after firing the three ex-El Nuevo Día executives who had been running it since his purchase of it in December 1993 from E.W. Scripps Co. For $6 million.
The three executives were popular among employees, known as “The Three Kings” for their arrival during the holiday season and a widespread belief that the paper would have closed had they not bought it. Angulo justified the firing because the executives planned to start up a Spanish edition (something he himself would do in 1997) , which he said at the time would have destroyed the English product.
The executives, however, say they were dismissed after refusing to transfer Star funds to other companies controlled by Angulo. They also say Angulo had initially promised to buy the newspaper with cash, but then used a 15- percent bridge loan to make the purchase, which was paid back out of Star revenues. The only money that was put up for the sale, they say, was the $350,000 they put up to buy a stake in the publication.
Instead, one of Angulo’s firms pocketed it as a commission on the loan extended to buy The Star, according to reports.
The soured partnership was settled in the courts. There would be other court cases, including a costly one against a former partner in his New York investment firm.
Angulo also took out a mortgage on the Star building and received subsequent loans and refinancing. Angulo acknowledged the financing for The Star’s purchase, but noted he used his personal guarantee to get the loan, which was refinanced “once finances stabilized.” It’s not clear whether Angulo’s acknowledged $20 million debt includes the money owed to vendors, which is substantial. Bills only got paid when failure to do so would mean a service shut off. Even then, such payments would usually require personal intervention from a top manager and represented an enormous waste of limited resources. Many thought the Byzantine payment system was purposefully designed that way.
Getting bills paid was always difficult with Angulo, not only in recent years when the newspaper’s financial situation appeared to turn critical, for
former newsroom executives say.
“That kind of thing started happening early on….just not paying people,” says one executive, who was there in the mid 1990s, when Angulo took over. “He used to say ‘Scripps Howard pays their bills on time. They don’t understand cash flow.’ I think Gerry Angulo really bled that paper. Right from the beginning, he was an operator.” But Angulo called such critics “ignorant” for not knowing a thing about the newspaper’s finances. “Anyone who knows The Star, knows it was not a profitable business. It was subsidized by me,” Angulo said.
Lost in Translation In the end, Angulo’s tenure as publisher was marked by his big bet on a Spanish edition and his failure to go on the Internet.
By the time I became editor, Angulo’s eye was off the ball, more directed at his other companies, and we were cutting staff and losing other resources at a steady pace. Angulo says he was focused on other companies from 2003 through 2007.
When he first came down to Puerto Rico, Angulo worked hard at boosting advertising sales at The Star and decided to take the bold step of publishing a Spanish edition in 1997.
It was Angulo’s idea, one aimed more at gaining influence and clout from a marketing perspective, than in serving any editorial end, according to former executives. To make a second edition feasible, Angulo invested in The Star’s first computerized pagination system, an important move, which, unfortunately, was the last significant investment he made in the newspaper.
“We were surprised and a little concerned that he would want to do that.
We had not been prepared for that,” LeBlanc recalls, saying that he had denounced plans to start a Spanish edition by his predecessors as “ruinous” for the English edition.
LeBlanc believes he became convinced of the idea after learning more about the local advertising market. Former newsroom employees also believe that Angulo went Spanish to get a bigger share of the lucrative government advertising market under the Rosselló administration.
Angulo, citing the newspaper’s “credibility and objectivity,” pushed for a faithful translation of the English-language version, a decision most newsroom veterans say killed the venture from the start. Editors had pushed for a smaller translation desk and Spanishlanguage reporters, which they believed Would have given the new edition its own identity and helped both products.
Also, the new edition quickly grew into five, as Arecibo, Mayagüez and Ponce Stars were launched along with the afternoon crime tabloid El Extra. And then the effort ran out of money.
“We had five newspapers instead of one and all of a sudden we had to do it with half the people,” recalls Matos, a former Star paper boy who became managing editor, in between a full career at the Associated Press and other island media.
But the worst aspect of the edition was that it drained resources from the English edition, and harmed it through early deadlines, which especially hurt sports coverage, according to former editors. “The STAR wasted a lot of time and money on publishing a Spanish edition. The effort cost the English-language edition valuable resources as well as staff morale,” McCloskey adds.
While the new edition was initially popular, representing a boon in circulation, the effort fell apart with a loss of focus and further diversification on the Spanish side, which was then strangled of resources. Talk among Star executives was that many Spanish-speaking subscribers switched to the Spanish El San Juan Star, but then, unhappy with the quality of the product, canceled their subscriptions and never returned to the English product.
Yet, it would take years before Angulo would scale back the Spanish operation, which stayed alive for a decade, despite its limited circulation and poor quality. And all the time the English edition was losing reporters and photographers, copy editors and designers through staff cuts. Meanwhile, the publisher failed to invest money in production technology that would have allowed the newspaper to cut staff without hurting quality and would have saved newsroom jobs.
Angulo continues to insist launching a Spanish edition was a good idea, and blames its failure on an AFICA bond issue granted to El Nuevo Día by the Sila Calderón administration that allowed it to refinance its debt at preferential rates.
“That helped our competitors in a way that was difficult to overcome,” he says.
Former newsroom executives, however, say that by the time former Gov. Sila Calderón took office in 2001, the Spanish edition was already a shadow of its former self.
Angulo’s other big decision was to hold off from launching an Internet edition. While newsroom executives in the 1990s said Angulo’s position was part of an ongoing debate over whether a web edition would hurt print sales, by 2000, when Internet costs dropped and ad revenue soared, it became apparently clear it could have bolstered The Star’s credibility, reach and marketing potential. Yet Angulo refused to finance the venture.
Nobody felt the lack more than Star Washington correspondent Robert Friedman. “The Star lost a huge opportunity to play an influential role in Washington on Puerto Rico issues by not going online, where it could have reached a captive English-language readership of members of Congress, their staffers and other federal officials in the nation’s capital,” Friedman says.
“This attitude was symptomatic of the unenlightened and short-sighted way Angulo ran the newspaper…and a bad business decision,” Friedman continues.
“By going online, newspapers reach out to even more readers and build readership. The Star’s owner was, I believe, the only owner of any newspaper of any note anywhere that either did not understand or refused to accept the increasing dependency of newspapers and the Internet on one another.” Star newsroom veterans, to a reporter or editor, acknowledge The Star was never a profitable enterprise, but believe it could have survived if its resources were not diverted into the illfated Spanish venture and it built a strong web presence able to tap into the potential audience of four million stateside Puerto Ricans.
Angulo also expresses regret that he could not keep The Star open. “I’m very sad, but I subsidized it for years.
I’m sad to lose it, and because of that I put a lot of money into it to try to keep it afloat.” Star veterans say that in the end, Angulo, a businessman who knew nothing of the newspaper industry, simply made too many mistakes.
“The Star needed a real publisher who cared about it. He had the best news people in Puerto Rico at his disposal and he did not respect them.
He’s going to be remembered as the guy who closed the best newspaper in town,” Matos says.
Editor’s Note: The San Juan Star’s demise lead a group of former San Juan Star employees to launch a new paper called The Puerto Rico Daily Sun, the first island daily published by a cooperative.
The new English-language daily’s first issue hit newsstands on Oct. 22 with an initial circulation of 15,000 to 20,000 copies.
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Do a movie sequel based on John Marino’s “Heaven & Hell At The San Juan Star”
I wish someone from The New York Times will read the Star’s Viewpoint Letters (Today’s letter, “The Manchurian Contributor,” journalistic outrage is unfairly about me.) – The San Juan Star – March 14, 2012 - Page 15. I also wish someone from the NYT will investigate all areas of the current Star. Pages and pages of every issue contains news reports and contributions from The New York Times. There is insufficient attribution in the Star to identify they come from the NYT and the qualifications of the NYT contributor is lacking compared to the same items covered in the NYT on the internet. A reader of the Star gets the impression that this NYT reporting is done by the Puerto Rico Star instead of the NYT. Does the NYT monitor the Star in any way to assure that the high journalism standards of the NYT is always respected by the Star?
I saw “The Rum Diary” movie and read the book. Johnny Depp should now do a movie sequel based on John Marino’s reporting “Heaven & Hell At The San Juan Star.” It will need updating to cover more recent events such as Gerardo Angulo’s coming out with the second generation Daily(?) San Juan Star which is published only Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays and some Fridays. Most of the Star pages are national and international items from the NYT. Can the Star pick any NYT item and publish it in the Star? I usually have the impression that a great newspaper has a staff of sharp, eager reporters constantly digging for the news. They are usually on a news beat or rapidly typing on their computers breaking news or great insights into events. I wonder if the current Star only has very few reporters or mostly Angulo rehashing news stories from other local publications. Are these couch reporters skillful at giving the appearances that each story was fresh off a reporter’s news beat and digging at several contacts for real latest news.
It’s strange... if you call The San Juan Star, Gerrado Angulo, the publisher, seems to always answer the phone. It appears like a one-man operation or a newsroom with a very small staff. Does this new San Juan Star have a staff of outstanding reporters and pressmen like in the Clark Kent Superman Daily Planet movies. The Star is only delivered to a few newsstands. Walgreen’s and SuperMax carry it but not most stores and newsstands. What is it circulation? I hope checks don’t bounce with this new Star as they did frequently with the old Star when Angulo took over and its demise began.
A great and most appropriate name for a movie sequel would be: “Heaven & Hell At The San Juan Star.” Johnny Depp should get John Marino to work on the script. I strongly urge everyone to read the entire "Heaven and Hell At The San Juan Star" news report by John Marino. Google: “Heaven and Hell At The San Juan Star” and you’ will get several great hits including my recent posting in Puerto Rico News – Topix. John Marino’s outstanding reporting tells the honest factual truths of how mismanagement destroyed a Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper highly respected in both Puerto Rico and the states.
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1:08 PM (5 hours ago)
KEEPINGGOPHONEST
Romney breaks pledge, stands to profit from Bain investment in Chinese surveillance company
- March 16, 2012
Mitt Romney is still making millions from his private equity firm Bain Capital’s financial investments around the world. But, in deciding to run for office, he’s been trying to shed those investments that conflict with his newly-found political principles. For example, when Romney decided to switch his rhetoric and start talking tough towards China, it was reported that his financial advisers “shed all his investments in China, worth as much as $1.5 million.”
In fact, Mitt Romney once declared:
“My trustee has indicated publicly that he will make an effort to make sure that my investments to the extent possible and practical, will conform with my political positions.”
Once again, the facts conflict with Romney’s political rhetoric. The New York Times revealed that Romney’s firm Bain Capital is still investing his money in China—this time, in a Chinese company that manufacturers surveillance systems:
In December, a Bain-run fund in which a Romney family blind trust has holdings purchased the video surveillance division of a Chinese company that claims to be the largest supplier to the government’s Safe Cities program, a highly advanced monitoring system that allows the authorities to watch over university campuses, hospitals, mosques, and movie theaters from centralized command posts.
The Bain-owned company, Uniview Technologies, produces what it calls “infrared antiriot” cameras and software that enable police officials in different jurisdictions to share images in real time through the Internet. Previous projects have included an emergency command center in Tibet.
Financial disclosure forms show that Romney still has a stake of “between $100,000 and $250,000 in the Bain Capital Asia fund that purchased Uniview.” Tax Notes noted that Romney’s retirement agreement with Bain Capital “covers new buyout funds started by his former partners through February 2009,” which means “Romney receives income from profits interests in separate Bain funds that are still running.”
Not only is Mitt Romney’s investment directly conflicting with his pledge, it’s conflicting with his newly-found principles. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Romney attacked President Obama with the false claim that he’s “demurred” on China’s human rights record, allowing a government that “marries aspects of the free market with suppression of political and personal freedom” to become “a widespread and disquieting norm.”
According to human rights activists, the company that Romney stands to profit from makes the very tools that the Chinese government uses “to intimidate and monitor political and religious dissidents.” One Tibetan Buddhist Monk noted that such surveillance cameras “helped the authorities identify and detain nearly 200 monks who participated in a protest” in 2008. “There are video cameras all over our monastery, and their only purpose is to make us feel fear,” he added.
Standing to profit from such a company violates Romney’s past pledge to match his principles with his investments. But this is not the first time he’s broken that pledge. After promising to shed investments the conflict with his party’s positions on Iran, stem cell research, and other issues, Romney’s family still “kept some of those stocks” the conflicted “and repeatedly bought new investments in similar holdings as recently as 2010.”
AttackWatch
KeepingHisWord
KeepingGOPHonest
Copyright © 2012 by Obama for America
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Will the 51st state be in outer space? – Puerto Rico Daily Sun – 12/03/12
I visited Paris often in my younger days. I enjoyed tremendously the many sidewalk cafes in this beautiful city. Americans, other foreign tourists and the French would often have heated discussions about the latest political news. I often wished this tradition of political cafes existed more in New York City and now in my retirement years in San Juan. It has happened. Across from the La Concha in the Condado is an open air café a lot like the ones I knew and enjoyed in Paris. It is known as “Stop and Go" where you can buy great food and drinks to enjoy there or to take out. Many afternoons and evenings, you will find Yankees, Puerto Ricans and tourists from other countries having enthusiastic debates as they enjoy great food and beverages. Sometimes there are no debates as everyone listens to great Puerto Rican music over the great sound system.
I am a very political person and usually instigate heated political debates at “Stop and Go.” A couple days ago, I started a debate or heated discussion about one of our potential Republican Presidential Candidates “grandiose” ideas.
Newt Gingrich promised recently to create a moon colony by 2020 if elected president. "By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon. And it will be American," Gingrich told the crowd of roughly 700, taking them to their feet in applause. The former House speaker said the current space program in the country is a "tragedy" and believes his "grandiose" ideas can help fix it. "I am sick of being told we have to be timid and I'm sick of being told we have to be limited to technologies that are 50 years old," he said, noting that by 2020 he wants to be capable to go to Mars. He even said it was possible to establish an American territory in outer space.
Most of those involved in our discussion at “Stop and Go” were very anti-Gingrich. The common viewpoint of almost everyone except me was that Gingrich does not know what he is talking about. In no way is it possible to put a colony on the moon. It is even more ridicules to suggest an American territory on the moon or Mars. I wanted to heat up the debate. As everyone argued against Gingrich, I stated loudly to make certain everyone would hear me: “ I bet there will be a colony on the moon or Mars before Puerto Rico becomes a state!”
I further suggest that on either the moon or Mars –or both -- there will an American territory. After 2020, when brilliant Puerto Ricans graduate from an island college, they will migrate to the American territories in outer space to realize better career opportunities. A majority of the population in an American Territory on the moon or Mars would be Puerto Rican and other Latinos fluent in both Spanish and English.
It is more likely that the 51st State of the United States will be on the moon or Mars and not on the “Enchanted Island.” Only Puerto Ricans living in Puerto Rico today can prevent this from happening and make Puerto Rico the 51st State of the United States. The future is not only global but will include space. If Puerto Rico insists on remaining insular, it will be lost in the stars.
Robert McCarroll – Carolina, Puerto Rico
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Link to view and post comments on this thread of Puerto Rico News – Topix...
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Cosas de Pepito
WHAT PART OF YOUR BODY GOES TO HEAVEN FIRST?
The nun teaching Sunday school was speaking to her class one morning and she asked the question, "When you die and go to Heaven, which part of your body goes first?"
Suzy raised her hand and said, "I think it's your hands."
"Why do you think it's your hands, Suzy?"
Suzy replied: "Because when you pray, you hold your hands together in front of you and God just takes your hands first."
"What a wonderful answer!", the nun said.
Little Johnny raised his hand and said, "Sister, I think it's your feet."
The nun looked at him with the strangest look on her face. "Now, Johnny, why do you think it would be your feet?"
Johnny said: "Well, I walked into Mom and Dad's bedroom the other night. Mom had her legs straight up in the air and she was saying: 'Oh God! I'm coming!' If Dad hadn't pinned her down, we'd have lost her."
The Nun fainted!
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