Unlike Latin American governments, some of whom are recidivist bad debtors, Caribbean countries, with stable currencies and democracies, until recently looked like good risks.

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They contain, among other things, controversial proposals to speed up bankruptcy proceedings and make it easier for creditors to foreclose on bad debtors' assets.

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One reason that the banks got into such a mess was that the law made it hard to secure collateral for loans and to chase bad debtors.

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By announcing minimum prices at which it would buy bank debt, the agency gave banks little incentive to pursue bad debtors, even though they continued to manage their loans.

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UFJ's abominable collection of bad debtors.

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Their bad debts will rise, as many larger debtors (whose loans remain in dollars) default.

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Judgment creditor plaintiffs generally do not throw good money after bad by going around seeking to enforce their foreign judgments in jurisdictions in which their judgment debtors do not have assets.

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