A Municipal Bonds Blog

Casino Muni Bond Defaults Because “The People Got Fed Up”

A federal court actually allowed an American Indian tribe to get out of a $50 million bond it owed to a private investor, raising concerns among other tribal-casino lenders. The…

Muni Default Risk To Get Worse Before It Gets Better

Take a look at this WSJ video with Bob DiMella, manager of the Mainstay Tax Free Fund. In summary he says:

Harrisburg Bonds May Incinerate Value ( 41473EFH9 )

Buffet says ” when the tide goes out, you get to see who is swimming naked”.

Muni Bond Defaults Need A louder Alarm

Less than a month before the $43.4 million municipal bond default of Boston based Crosstown Center , some unsuspecting retail buyer purchased $100,000 of the now defaulted bonds. Whats troubling…

AMBAC Lives Another Day

It seems for now that AMBAC may win its fight to survive, unless a few muni defaults of AMBAC insured bonds bankrupts them. The insurer can at least rely on…

AMBAC Bites The Dust…?

About 10 years ago my muni bond broker said the “day insurers of muni bonds cant pay off a defaulted bond you will have bigger problems on your hands” ,…

Special Assessment Bonds Trigger 2009 Muni Defaults

Muni bond defaults moved past $4 billion from January thru September 2009  driven partly by the bursting of the real estate bubble which in turn  triggered  defaults in “Special Assessment”…

Legacy Credit Ratings Don’t Jive With Market Reality

In mid August, the bond section of the Charles Schwab brokerage Web site said a representative ten-year, single-A muni yielded 5.9%, and a ten-year, triple-A yielded 4.1%. But when you…

Don’t sweat ratings downgrades on GOs?

In terms of safety, governors and state treasurers argue, GO state debt should be equivalent to Treasury bonds, or at least triple-A-rated corporate bonds. Although states can’t print their own…

Critics Complain of Bond Raters’ Conflicts at US Congress Hearings

Reading thru  Jeffrey R. Kosnett column from Kiplinger  “Beyond bond ratings”, (Oct 7, 2009 )