TOP STORIES:
Inside Puerto Rico's looming
debt threat - (www.cnbc.com) Representatives of the government of Puerto
Rico talked to investors Tuesday afternoon, as the U.S. commonwealth tried to
assuage market concerns about its ability to repay its massive debt load. The
governor of Puerto Rico told investors, "We will do everything to honor
all our commitments." The comment was the beginning of what was
expected to be an up to three-hour presentation, with 75 PowerPoint slides, all
designed to calm investor worries. The island has more than $70 billion in
debt, much of which has fallen in value as investor concerns have grown. As
part of the presentation, the government announced its budget deficit for
fiscal year 2014 is expected to be $820 million, down from a preliminary
estimate of $1.29 billion in 2013, and $2.38 billion in 2012.
Obamacare
deductibles a dose of sticker shock - (www.chicagotribune.com) Adam Weldzius, a nurse practitioner, considers
himself better informed than most when it comes to the inner workings of health
insurance. But even he wasn't prepared for the pocketbook hit he'll face next
year under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. If the 33-year-old
single father wants the same level of coverage next year as what he has now
with the same insurer and the same network of doctors and hospitals, his
monthly premium of $233 will more than double. If he wants to keep his monthly
payments in check, the Carpentersville resident is looking at an annual
deductible for himself and his 7-year-old daughter of $12,700, a more than
threefold increase from $3,500 today.
Obama
sold voters bill of goods on health care - (www.sfgate.com)
As a candidate for president, Barack Obamasold his signature universal
health care plan with the promise that it would "cut the cost of a typical
family's premium by up to $2,500 a year." Now that the Affordable
Care Act exchanges are open for business, voters are finding that the biggest
problem with Obamacare isn't that some Web sites crashed last week but that the
Obama promise of big savings for the average family was too good to
be true. Now that the exchanges are open for business, people who already
have individual coverage have something new to not like: sticker shock. The
Affordable Care Act isn't affordable after all. Last week, I began hearing
from readers whose individual policy premiums are going up, not down. A local
architect sent me a notice he received from Kaiser informing him that his
individual coverage will increase by $199.95 per month, or 78.9 percent. When
he added his two sons, the percentage increase was even greater. A
freelance journalist told me she made $98,000 last year. But she and her
retired husband, both 51, wouldn't pay $7,200 in premiums for high-deductible
coverage. It's cheaper to pay the fine, she said. Besides, she added,
"we're healthy."
Coal
Slump Leaves Australia Port Half-Used, Lenders at Risk - (www.bloomberg.com) Australia & New Zealand
Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) and Westpac Banking Corp. are among
lenders risking losses on $3 billion of loans backing a coal port in Australia that
will be twice its required size. Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal Pty,
the group comprising the unfinished project’s owners, including Glencore Xstrata Plc and Wesfarmers Ltd., in 2011 borrowed the debt
from 19 banks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. When the port in the
state of Queensland begins shipping in early 2015, only about half of its 27
million metric tons of initial annual export capacity will be used after a
slump in coal demand,
forecaster Wood Mackenzie Ltd. estimates. “There will be more capacity than mines
available to utilize it,” Daniel Morgan, a Sydney-based analyst at UBS AG said
in a phone interview. “It may result in the banking syndicate having to
renegotiate the terms or the price, or taking a write-down on their position.”
Time
to take bets on Frexit and the French franc? - (www.telegraph.co.uk) We have a minor earthquake in France. A party
committed to withdrawal from the euro, the restoration of French franc, and the
complete destruction of monetary union has just defeated the establishment in
the Brignoles run-off election. It is threatening Frexit as well, which rather
alters the political chemistry of Britain's EU referendum. Marine Le Pen's
Front National won 54pc of the vote. It was a bad defeat for the Gaulliste UMP,
a party at risk of disintegration unless it can find a leader in short order. President
Hollande's Socialists were knocked out in the first round, due to mass
defection to the Front National by the working-class Socialist base. The
Socialists thought the Front worked to their advantage by splitting the Right.
They have at last woken up to the enormous political danger.
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