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Moody's Downgrades Chicago Debt to Junk.

Are they rated the same or worse than Greece?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102650351

Comments

  • @Ted Your city is a mess. Now that you've "retired," and have achieved financial independence from just about everything, don't you feel a compulsion to offer your unique talents in service to your community, in its time of dire needs?:)
  • edited May 2015
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  • I think Ted went out to buy a new bulletproof vest now that he will have more time to spend outside.
  • @heezsafe: "don't you feel a compulsion to offer your unique talents in service to your community, in its time of dire needs?" No ! Let them eat cake !
    Regards,
    Ted
  • @John Chisum: Now that we have the Obama Library we will be saved.
    Regards,
    Ted
  • edited May 2015
    Ted said:

    @John Chisum: Now that we have the Obama Library we will be saved.
    Regards,
    Ted

    Maybe Chicago could sell the rights to their parking meters and get a really bad price for it. Oh, wait, they already did that.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/04/city-state-governments-privatization-contracting-backlash/361016/

    "But there was little recourse: The city had leased its 36,000 meters to a private Morgan Stanley-led consortium in exchange for $1.2 billion in up-front revenue. The length of the lease: 75 years.

    If the meter situation seemed like a bad deal for Chicago's parkers, it would soon become clear that it was an even worse one for the city's taxpayers.

    An inspector general's report found that the deal was worth at least $974 million more than the city had gotten for it. Not only would the city never have a chance to recoup that money or reap new meter revenue for three-quarters of a century, clauses buried in the contract required it to reimburse the company for lost meter revenue. The city was billed for allowing construction of new parking garages, for handing out disabled parking placards, for closing the streets for festivals. The current bill stands at $61 million, though Mayor Rahm Emanuel has refused to pay and taken the case to arbitration instead."

    I'm sure QE4 will involve hoovering up other junk like Chicago bonds.
  • Ted said:

    @John Chisum: Now that we have the Obama Library we will be saved.
    Regards,
    Ted

    ;-)
  • http://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=15022

    Moody's would appear to be less than optimistic. The downgrade was almost Matrix-like; prosecuted ahead of time for the crime you're just thinking of committing.
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