podcasts

 

Bailout Shaming

I have been reading about how we have the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression even though it has moderated a bit recently. I also await the revisiting of the estimate of the decrease in GDP for the first quarter this Thursday. The reading of down 5%...

Are Caps Necessary?

  It has been a long time, but I have started to experience that strange feeling that we might try out some techniques that have not worked so well in the past. The 1970s were noteworthy in this regard. At the first suggestion that there should be imposed a cap...

Select School Bond Support Programs

A brief discussion of school support programs in select states with Tom Hession of Riverbend Capital Advisors and John Hallacy of John Hallacy Consulting LLC. These programs are well entrenched and have withstood the test of time in many different business and credit...

New Era of Cooperation?

6/04/2020 The recent dual stresses of Covid-19 and tragic violence and strained racial relations have me wondering if there will be more cooperation in society and in government.  The political parties are so far apart from an ideological perspective and in many other...

The Trillion Dollar Question

One fact that has become abundantly clear is that Covid-19 will not stop imposing its will on state and local finance for some time. The damage done in the last quarter only really took place in the last month of March. All parties agree that this quarter is when the...

Revenue Bond Creditworthiness

The definition of a revenue bond is simply a bond that is repaid from a revenue stream. Revenue bonds until the pandemic breakout have represented about two thirds of the issuance in the municipal market each year. General Obligation bonds account for most of the...