While its nothing new that Argentina has defaulted on national debt (8 times throughout history and twice since 2002), whats new is the measure its creditors have taken to collect that debt. To make a very long story short, Argentina owes United States billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer 1.5 billion dollars. And while other creditors have accepted repayment deals for 30 cents on the dollar, Singer has decided to hold out and collect in full. So whats Singer done to collect that is completely unheard of? A financial firm tied to Singer managed to get the country of Ghana to detain an Argentinian naval vessel, the Libertad, or Freedom, as collateral. It was only after 2 months that the United Nations ended up stepping in and ordering Ghana to release the boat. While the end result of this case is yet to be determined there is a chilling fact that remains; one US billionaire has the ability to more or less hold a sovereign nation of 40 million people hostage.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 19:12:40 +0000