[NormsRevenge]

Ten Years After.. great old rock band too.. ;-]

[NormsRevenge]

The public has forgotten, forgiven (EXCERPT)

http://ocregister.com/ocr/2004/12/05/sections/commentary/article_332437.php

By Mark Baldassare
Author of "When Government Fails: The Orange County Bankruptcy"


A decade ago, Orange County entered the record books by becoming the largest municipal government in U.S. history to declare bankruptcy. This crisis stemmed from the county's inability to pay back billions of dollars in debts incurred by the county treasurer. A risky investment strategy that was supposed to provide interest income for cash-starved local governments had badly backfired. Left without viable alternatives - and with both state and federal officials ignoring their pleas for help - Orange County government officials decided to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy on Dec. 6, 1994.

What followed was a roller-coaster ride for county residents. They faced the threat of massive layoffs of public employees and disruptions of essential local services and watched the county's credit rating fall to junk status on Wall Street. A county previously known for its affluent lifestyle and fiscal conservatism suffered a body blow to its sterling reputation and became the object of jokes and ridicule in the national media.

One year later, a bankruptcy escape plan was filed in court. Orange County government officially emerged from U.S. bankruptcy court protection on June 12, 1996.

What are the repercussions of this traumatic episode on the county's psyche? First, there is collective amnesia when it comes to recollections of this painful event. Today, eight in 10 county residents say they remember little or nothing about the dark days of the 1994 county government bankruptcy, according to our latest Orange County annual survey taken last month. Even the long-time, older residents have mostly dim memories of this fiscal fiasco.

[Clemenza]

Orange County is bankrupt in more than a fiscal sense. I don't care that they voted for Bush. The place s-cks.

[redheadtoo]

Reporters tend to echo the status-quo view

As I recall John Moorlock went to the Los Angles Times to tell his story. The Times then reported that they thoroughly investigated the charges and found them to be false. Citron was voted back into office and then it all fell apart. Two things learned from the bankruptcy, don't vote for senile, old democrats and don't listen to the Los Angles Times.

[TheDon]

I remember a Demorat fellow worker mentioning at the time that it was funny that Republican Orange County would go bankrupt. I joked the treasurer was probably a Demorat.

[Pelham]

The article refers to "Citron's scheme" as having brought on the bankruptcy. The scheme actually came from a Merrill Lynch rep who was advising Citron. Citron didn't know squat about the derivatives he was allowing OC's funds to be invested in, and he lacked the good sense to avoid what he didn't understand. His vanity overruled what little good judgment he had. All he cared about was being able to brag about the big return he was getting on the funds he was responsible for investing. LA County had a treasurer who had good sense as well as a financial education, and when he was offered the same "inverse rate floaters" he wanted no part of them.