Madagascar Development

Puerto Rico's governor turned over the reins of his government's finances to a federal control board and outlined what he considers priorities during a televised address Thursday to prepare the U.S. territory for a historic change. Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said his administration had tried everything to ameliorate a decade-long  economic crisis  before accepting that the creation of a federal control board was necessary. "We should all be aware of the repercussions of this process that starts now," he said. "Like many of you, I didn't agree either with the excessive power granted to the board, and with some of the people named to it. But the truth is we had no alternative." Established by U.S. legislation enacted in June, the seven-member board is scheduled to have its first meeting Friday in New York. It is expected to choose its president as well as outline the first steps it will take to help restructure a portion of a nearly $70 billion p...

The Obama administration announced Wednesday (August 31) the members of the federal oversight board established by the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act, aka  PROMESA . The seven members of this board are charged with mapping Puerto Rico’s path forward. As we wrote when  PROMESA  was passed, the establishment of this board has the potential to be the Act’s greatest strength. Four members of the board were on lists developed by the Republican leadership in Congress, two were on lists developed by the Democratic leadership in Congress and one was chosen by the President himself. The President selected six members from the legislative lists. The members chosen from the Republicans’ lists are as follows: Andrew G. Biggs, who is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute ( AEI ), a non-partisan public policy think tank. Biggs, who in 2014 was named one of the 40 most influential people in the retirement world by Institutional In...