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U.S. Poised to Force Russian Debt Default

The U.S. will close the last avenue for Russia to pay its billions in debt back to international investors on Wednesday, making a Russian default on its debts for the first time since the Bolshevik Revolution all but inevitable.

Inflation Banks - GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - NOVEMBER 03: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen take

CA Liberals’ Demand to Shut Power Plants Risks New Energy Crisis

The Los Angeles Times reports a new effort to shut down local natural gas power plants due to the possibility of a 21 percent electrical capacity glut by 2020. But shrinking the surplus generation cushion runs the risk of launching another energy crisis like the one that caused Governor Gray Davis’ recall.

California natural gas (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

Obama Appoints Puerto Rico Control Board after Bond Default

The Obama administration has picked seven people to serve on a financial control board overseeing the restructuring of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico’s $70 billion debt burden and $43 billion unfunded pension liability. Under congressional legislation signed after the island

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Conservatives Blast Puerto Rico $33B Debt Forgiveness

Although House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) warned that Congress needs to “bring order to the chaos” in Puerto Rico, conservative House Republicans are giving the cold shoulder to a plan that would let Puerto Rico wipe out $33 billion of its $73 billion debt in bankruptcy.

Puerto Rico bailout (Kathy Willens / Associated Press)

Greek Meltdown Watch: Yanis Varoufakis Resigns as Finance Minister

As Greece breaks apart on the rocky shores of the European Union, the man who did so much to run his nation’s finances aground has decided to call it quits. The New York Times sees the sudden resignation of “combative” Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis as a gesture of “conciliation” between the socialist Syriza government and a thoroughly fed-up European Union, but it might be premature to talk about Greece making peace with its creditors.

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