[dennisw]

Very interesting. You know your bonds. The bond explosion of the last 30 years has enabled all these counties, municipalities and other governmental entities (such as this hospital districts) to borrow much more than they should have.

This explosion in bonding was facilitated by Wall Street bond underwriters. They promoted the explosion in borrowing and bribed the Gov’t officials who chose their firm

[rdcbn]

True but you missed a point. Much of the money that financed the bond expansion came from Institutional investors who were controlling pension and retirement funds. A large of portion of peoples pension and retirement funds are invested in munis because of what should be their low risk.

Irresponsible and unsustainable municipal hiring and compensation packages are destroying the finances of the municipalities. In effect, they are damaging their own retirements savings

To complete the circle of disaster, the very same government employees who are destroying the finances of the municipalities, which will lead to bond defaults, have much of their pensions tied up in munis

[FromLori]

Conflict of interest in the ratings of MBS’s fraud in the Muni’s you can’t trust the ratings agency’s or the banks...

Bank of America Muni Bid Rigging Payments May Be `Tip of the Iceberg’

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-08/bank-of-america-deal-in-muni-case-may-be-tip-of-the-iceberg-.html

Ex-Bank of America Muni Broker Enters Guilty Plea in Fraud Case

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-10/ex-bank-of-america-muni-broker-enters-guilty-plea-in-fraud-case.html

Credit-rating agencies at fault, senator says

“Sen. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, said hearings likely this fall may look into possible conflicts of interest, since the agencies are paid by the same banks whose debts they rate for resale.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/aug/21/credit-rating-agencies-at-fault-senator-says/