Category Archives: CAB scams

Kicking debt down the road

Posted on May 3, 2012 by hro50ta1

It’s hard to persuade people to vote for school construction that costs property owners, say, four bucks on a thousand dollars of their property’s value. But tell them the cost will be a buck and hey! Nobody begrudges the cost … Continue reading →

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Take the money and run!

Posted on May 2, 2012 by hro50ta1

Hello, California! You are victims of the same foul money-grinding apparatus that almost capsized Michigan schools 19 years ago. Michigan legislators awakened to the danger and banned the blight of Capital Appreciation Bonds back in 1993. In 1988, one man … Continue reading →

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CABs = compound trouble for California

Posted on May 1, 2012 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell The arcane name for the financial parasites compounding California school debt is “Capital Appreciation Bond.” The California Senate’s Commerce and Finance Committee will consider a ban on CABs at its May 9 meeting. Let’s hope the California … Continue reading →

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Dead in Michigan, CAB scam dogs California

Posted on April 30, 2012 by hro50ta1

The bond industry calls them CABs, for “Capital Appreciation Bonds.” To lay people, the meaning is not easy to parse. The result for taxpayers is simple: CABs are a sleeping monster waiting to gouge property owners 10, 15 or 20 … Continue reading →

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Michigan killed CABs; California can do it, too!

Posted on April 28, 2012 by hro50ta1

          By Joel Thurtell Note: The Michigan Legislature banned CABs in 1994, not 1993. California public schools and the taxpayers who support them are facing a financial disaster that could force some — maybe many — … Continue reading →

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Muni bomb ticks in California

Posted on April 27, 2012 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell I was sipping coffee and reflecting on the ignorance displayed for all the world to read in a New York Times article. It was January 9, 2009. The Times story claimed to offer “a rare glimpse into … Continue reading →

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Muni ripoffs — same old same old

Posted on January 9, 2009 by admin

By Joel Thurtell I was perplexed this morning, January 9, 2009,  as I read a New York Times story claiming to offer “a rare glimpse into a long-simmering investigation of…wrongdoing throughout the municipal bond business.” The practice of bond sales … Continue reading →

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