I am a 55-year old saving for retirement. I find "A" rated Puerto Rican Municipal Bonds offering about 5 percent in double tax free income. So I buy them.

We find out later that the agency that issued them may have known they were technically bankrupt and could not pay that money back. We also find out that the rating agencies may have known the government agency was bankrupt but was willing to issue good credit ratings anyway. We also find out later that the banks may have known all this, but still sell these junk bonds to unsuspecting investors as a safe investment.

We have four participants: the issuing agencies, the rating agencies, the banks and me, the buyer of the bonds. Pretty simple transaction.

Our legislators see things differently than me. They see the issuing agency as a victim. They see the bond buyers (me) as greedy, selfish individuals. It seems that no one is allowed to bring up what the rating agencies and banks may have done. There may be too much Wall Street money going into the legislator's campaign accounts to allow any accountability for the rating agencies and banks.

So our legislators, aided by their friends in the press convince everyone that the 55-year old saving for retirement is the real villain and not only should they lose 50 percent of their investment in these bonds to market forces, but if there is anything left, that money should go to government pensions because the participant who issued the bonds never funded their government pensions.

What about my retirement? I feel like someone just stole much of it.

How do both political parties get to a place that allows them to support this nonsense? What the heck did I do wrong to get punished like this? I was responsible.

When a person fails to pay their home mortgage they have more cash on hand for gas, groceries and medical care. I have been reading the papers and every nonsensical press release that comes out of Puerto Rico stating the island does not have money for medical services or there are people starving in the streets is picked up by our press immediately. Maybe our reporters are just lazy or lack any common sense or maybe the stories being floated just fit their preconceived biases. Puerto Rico has more cash on hand then they have had in a decade. They are not paying their debt, there is lots of cash on the island. If Puerto Rico is not providing essential services, it is being done on purpose to promote the false narrative that they are the victims and a sense of urgency to push folks into making decisions without better understanding what is really happening to the bond holders.

I personally don't get it. In a few years the Municipal Bond Market will cease to function. Municipalities will not be able to raise any money because people, like me, will learn from their experience and stop buying them.

Richard Lawless is a former senior banker who has a Master's Degree in Finance from the University of San Diego. He actively writes for a number of finance publications.