There is never a perfect time to announce you are virtually bankrupt. For Puerto Rico, however, this week was a better moment than most. On Sunday, the island’s government released a long-planned economic report written by Anne Krueger, a former World Bank chief economist, which declared that the territory was in fiscal crisis. As governor Alejandro García Padilla put it, the island’s $72bn debts are now “not payable”.

无论什么时间宣布你事实上已破产都不合适。然而，对波多黎各而言，早宣布或许更好。不久前，该岛政府公布了由世界银行(World Bank)前首席经济学家安妮•克鲁格(Anne Krueger)撰写的一份准备已久的经济报告，报告宣布这块美国领地陷入了财政危机。正如波多黎各总督亚历杭德罗•加西亚•帕迪利亚(Alejandro García Padilla)所言，该岛目前有720亿美元债务“无法偿还”。

But instead of sowing widespread fear, debt prices only wobbled. For with Greece in full-blown financial crisis, and the Chinese markets tumbling, Puerto Rico’s revelation seems almost a sideshow. Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to ignore what is happening in Puerto Rico. For Professor Krueger’s report highlights two important points. First, Greece is not the only place grappling with excess debt, poor governance and opaque finances. Second, America, like Europe, badly needs to become more imaginative — and practical — in dealing with excess public sector debt.

然而，结果只是债务价格出现了波动，而没有激起广泛的恐慌。因为希腊爆发全面金融危机、中国股市大跌，波多黎各的境况似乎成了小事一桩。然而，忽略波多黎各事态将犯下错误。克鲁格教授的报告强调了两个重要问题。第一，希腊不是唯一正在努力应对债务过高、治理不善和财政不透明等问题的地方。第二，像欧洲一样，美国在应对公共部门债务过高方面，也急需变得更有想象力、更务实。

For the problem bedevilling Puerto Rico is not simply its $72bn debt pile, but the fact that it lacks any obvious mechanism to restructure it. The island could be in for a choppy time in the municipal debt markets. Other debt-laden entities, such as the state of Illinois, might soon be caught in the storm.

困扰波多黎各的问题不仅仅在于其720亿美元债务，还在于它缺乏显而易见的债务重组机制。该岛的市政债市场可能开始进入一个动荡阶段。其他债务缠身的实体，比如伊利诺伊州，可能不久后也将卷入风暴。

To understand this, look at Puerto Rico’s numbers. A couple of decades ago, this US territory of 3.5m people enjoyed a healthy rate of growth, driven by a large American military presence and tax breaks that attracted mainland businesses. But since then, tax breaks have ended and military budgets have been cut. Output has shrunk by around 10 per cent in real terms since 2005.

要理解这一点，不妨看一下波多黎各的数据。二三十年前，这块拥有350万人口的美国领地的经济增长率相当可观，这是因为大规模的美国军事存在，加上税收优惠吸引来了美洲大陆的企业。但后来，税收优惠终止了，军事预算削减了。自2005年以来，按实际值计算，经济产出减少了约10%。

Normally, this might cause creditors to panic. But since global markets have been flush with liquidity, and municipal bonds offer tax breaks for American investors, money has instead flooded in. That has enabled the government to maintain a generous welfare state, and a governance culture that is (at best) inefficient and (at worst) rife with cronyism. Meanwhile, the debt-to-output ratio has surged above 100 per cent — or 150 per cent if unfunded liabilities, such as pensions, are included.

通常情况下，这或许会令债权人感到惊慌。但由于全球市场流动性充裕，市政债对美国投资者提供税收优惠，资金反而大规模涌入。这让波多黎各政府得以维持高福利政策，以及一种低效（往好里说）和裙带关系盛行（往坏里说）的治理文化。同时，债务与产出之比猛增至逾100%——如果计入养老金等无资金准备的债务，则为150%。

This pattern is unsustainable. So Prof Krueger — entirely sensibly — proposes two initiatives: Puerto Rico must implement structural reforms, such as cutting welfare payments and labour costs; but it also needs to restructure the debt to a more sustainable level.