Forget Greece; Puerto Rico Is The Debtor Americans Need To Watch

People celebrate the outcome of the bailout deal referendum at Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece, July 5. (Eirini Vourloumis / The New York Times)

Greece is in the headlines today, after voters there rejected the “austerity” measures other European nations had demanded in exchange for yet another bailout of the debt-riddled nation. The 61% to 39% result, supporting the position of the country’s relatively new left-wing government, leaves little doubt as to the Greeks’ stance on the measures and a great deal of doubt as to whether the country can remain in the euro currency zone or even the European Union.

Closer to home, we have an all-too-similar situation that is of less geopolitical importance, although it could have much more impact on how the United States handles what is shaping up world-wide as a century of reckoning with overly generous past promises as they come due.

That situation is…