State Muni Bonds

I cannot recall the Fed being in the muni marketplace I inhabited “back in the day” . . . and thank goodness. Seems to me more buyers means lower YTMs. Not a good thing at all for other players.

The Fed is ruining everything.

In this case the Fed is actually trying to save everything.

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Yes, trying . . . . and failing.

Powell made it clear that he couldn’t care less about savers. His answer to marketwatch reporter was crystal clear: "I think for the overall good of the economy, low interest rates are a good thing. And that’s not to say they’re good for every single person, but that shouldn’t stop us from doing what we think is good for the whole. "

So take one for the team savers. :partying_face:

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I hear shinobi screaming “damn socialists!”

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The interest rate paid on cash left uninvested in Fidelity and E*Trade trading accounts was down to 0.01%. I received the princely sums of $0.01 - $0.02. Just waiting to be charged a fee instead for those uninvested moneys.

IL looking bad. Some discussion of the debt negotiation tactics coming up, unless of course Nov sees a Democrat sweep and a bailout of the imprudent states by the federal printing press.

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Bailing states out regardless of mismanagement and/or quasi-corrupt policies would be terrible. There are states with over bloated public pension systems that need to be fixed rather than bailed out.

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Perhaps the pandemic is bringing things to a head. IL has been a fiscal disaster for many years.

My memories are so different. Our corporate HQ was in the Chicagoland region. I was there a lot. There were responsible Republican administrations back in those days. The great Everett Dirksen, of a proud Illinois, was so prominent in the United States Senate. Illinois in those days enjoyed well deserved respect.

Today Illinois is a basket case. But you know, I’ll bet the southern portion of the state still is pretty terrific. It’s just that Chicago now is a catastrophe.

Oh, and IL bonds today? I would not own 'em if you paid me!

The once great Land of Lincoln has become the land of high taxes, broken dreams, and shootings.

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Yeah that is scary stuff. If states see others behave irresponsibly and get a bailout from the Federal Government then they are going to think they were suckers for running balanced budgets.

Everyone will start acting irresponsibly like Illinois so that they get their piece of the bailouts.

That is a very dangerous road to go down in my opinion. It could lead to responsible states wanting to leave the union because they don’t want to pickup the bill for the irresponsible.

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Illinois is getting a day of reckoning. Anyone remember when Fatwallet moved their offices out of Illinois and into Wisconsin because the taxes and regulations were killing their business model?

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I would. Worse than can happen is they are worth $0 but still I’d get paid to own them so I’m good with that. :wink: BUT you’d have to pay me ridiculous money to make me move to Illinois considering the situation.

Also, I really hope it does not end up in a federal bailout. A bailout would set a really bad precedent encouraging other States to fiscal irresponsibility. Plus it’d be throwing good money after bad rather than solving the issue in the first place. I’ll certainly be in touch with my Representatives and senators if this comes up for debate in Congress.

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I ran across some interesting taxable munis.

WEST CONTRA COSTA CALIF UNI SCH DIST GO BDS
PRIM/SECNDRY ED ULT G.O. ALL BONDS Ser 2010D-1, Non Callable, Subject to Income Tax, Mandatory Sinking Fund, Extraordinary Redemption Provisions CUSIP: 952347WQ1

These bonds mature 08/01/2024 and are priced to yield 3.74% to maturity. They are rated A1/AA.

The bonds are for certain federally taxable, and are probably also taxable in California, but I’m honestly not sure of that. Ten bonds are available at this writing.

There is also one other taxable muni offering I’m seeing:

CAMDEN CNTY N J IMPT AUTH REV LOAN REV BDS
GEN PURP/PUB IMPT DBL-BARRELED ALL BONDS Ser 2010A-1, Non Callable, Subject to Income Tax, Mandatory Sinking Fund, Extraordinary Redemption Provisions, Recovery Zone Econ Dev Build America Bond Dir Pay CUSIP: 13281NMJ8

These bonds are rated Aa1/AA (double barreled backing, after all). They mature 02/15/2025 and offer a yield to maturity of 3.1%. Five bonds are available at this writing.

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