Posted on 08/04/2018 10:01:48 AM PDT by Libloather
But you'd get what the GM bondholders got, and Rahm would get what the UAW got, and tell you to Rahm it.
“””The idea is to issue bonds at relatively low interest rates and use the money to reduce the city’s $28 billion in pension debt. The pension funds would invest the bond proceeds and ideally earn returns that outpace the interest the city would have to pay on the bond debt”””
Let’s see now. The SMART people who ran the Chicago government into a $28 billion pension debt are now saying the taxpayers should believe they have the SMARTNESS to invest a multi-billion bond issue in stocks and other investments.
The taxpayers who have any sense left should be packing up and getting out of Chicago ASAP.
In the US the monetary system is legally under the control of the politicians. And I believe it’s that way everywhere in the world.
The Bretton Woods system was a partial gold standard that applied to foreign currency exchange, but the politicians found a way to cheat, so that failed. If you try to use an honest permanent gold standard that backs all currency you won’t have enough gold.
The only long term solution is a currency backed by goods and services combined with a well informed citizenry that holds politicians accountable.
What could possibly go wrong?
Isn't that a bit like getting a second mortgage on my house and ‘investing’ the money in the stock market?
Sounds like a great idea, why didn't I think of that before? I'll get started Monday...:^)
Setting aside the obvious attempt by the city to dodge its financial obligations, this is madness. Anyone with more than two functional brain cells understands that you never borrow money to gamble. You would think that people would have gotten that lesson down hard after 1929.
There ought to be a law against something like this . . .
= = = = = = = = = = = = =
Unless you are government, there is.
Have to use the ‘parable’ about the debt ceiling ‘solution’.
YOU go home and your sewer line exploded and is filling your basement with all kinds of crap.
DO YOU
A. Call a plumber, repair the line, pump out your basement, and repair the damage (SELL!!!!!!!)
B. Call a contractor to jack up the floor of your living room to allow more room for sewage to amass in your basement while you are BS’n your wife and family about looking for a solution.
> Big Al would have kept Chicago solvent at least. <
The old Mafia dons were ruthless criminals. But they did have standards of a sort. So I don’t think Al would have liked seeing little children being killed by stray bullets. Messages would be sent.
> Isn’t that a bit like getting a second mortgage on my house and ‘investing’ the money in the stock market? <
Your analogy would be even better if your house was falling apart - holes in the roof, water in the basement, wiring problems, etc. No sane bank would issue a second mortgage on such a house.
Or, our Social Security System.
The difference is you can opt out of a Ponzi scheme. -tom
So how much is "enough?"
The entire point is the discipline of being tied to a commodity bankers and politicians can't create at will. Or, if they print notes based on this commodity, there is an ever-present threat their notes (and debt based on it) will collapse when they go too far.
Quibble all you want - but our present system of completely printed money, controlled by bankers and a few politicians, where ever-more debt and printed money are used to replace political will, buy votes, and paper-over failed progressive schemes, WILL blow up, and take America's middle class with it.
Setting aside the obvious attempt by the city to dodge its financial obligations, this is madness.
Chicago could be saved even more simply. Eliminate welfare in Chicago. Force anybody who wants welfare to move elsewhere. If the only people in Chicago were those who worked for a living, Chicago would be solvent.
Like taking out a loan from one credit card company to pay off another one then the cycle continues.
Maybe I should take advantage of all the offers to borrow money that I get, and shrewdly invest it, and get more back than I would have to pay back, and be ahead of the game?
Why didn't I think of that until reading this? - Tom
Borrow money for the Mob to invest. Isn’t that what Hoffa and the Teamsters did?
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s financial team is considering borrowing billions of dollars to pour into Chicago’s ailing pension funds — a move they contend could save future taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars but experts say comes with risk
He is kicking the can down the road hoping he will be long gone before the bill comes due
Perhaps the SEIU, Teamsters, and Teachers retirement funds should invest in this deal.
A bonus investor might also include CalPERS.
/mega-sarc
So how much is “enough?”
...
Enough to cover all the goods and services in the economy, which is impossible unless the entire economy is nothing but gold.
Gold can be used temporarily to restore confidence in a currency, but that’s it.
There is no substitute for an informed citizenry holding the politicians accountable.
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