Good Morning "HR" Readers!
What if I said our states ability to bond is about to become severely compromised? Well, our first point of reference would be the Tobacco Settlement Bonds from last year which failed to find a buyer. (No revenue available to pay them back...sound familiar?) This year, we have a new, emerging dilemma which may prove to make matters worse. Senate file 376 is going to hurt your brain to read...but the short version is, your State Senate just approved a measure to sell $179 million in bonds which don't legally have to be paid back! Now let me be clear, the Republicans in the Senate all opposed this bill, which at face value is unconstitutional. Iowa law requires a referendum in order to issue any new debt over $250,000. We're told the file language authorizes bonds which on their face state the bondholder cannot "enforce" collection of the bond against the state of Iowa. This is not an Iowa value and our AAA credit rating may be at risk, even if we don't borrow or bond. It's behavior such as this that captures the attention of bond rating services and I'm sure they're all watching carefully as our state budget continues to throw wasteful spending into the abyss of bureaucracy.
Well it gets worse now...even the highly respected Cato Institute has weighed in on Iowa's plan to bond $750 Million for Culver's infrastructure plan. Take a peek at what they have to say...
"The more you can keep states away from debt the better," said Tad DeHaven, a budget analyst for Cato. "Because it is a political operation, it's so easy to pawn the problem off on future taxpayers and let the mess be some other politician's problem." You can read the full article in the Register here.
The White House "lays an egg!" The decades old tradition of waiting in line for tickets to the annual Easter Egg Roll was thrown out this year for "being too unfair" to good people who shouldn't have to wait in line. The process was wrapped into an Internet ticketing site which ultimately failed and only those who were lucky enough to enter their information before the "session time-out" were able to get tickets. Trouble is, the poor residents of D.C. who have always appreciated and enjoyed this event were completely shut out. (They don't own computers or have Internet service) Once again our administration shows more ego than common sense.
Since I wasn't able to offer Friday funnies last week...I have a great You-Tube video for you to enjoy on your Monday morning. Sometimes we all need to remember just how good we have it!!
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