I love this missive from the SEC this afternoon. So, not only are politicians great at kowtowing to special interests and spending taxpayers money wastefully, they're also right in there in decieving investors --- right along with those Wall Street fat cats.
The Obama administration recently bought off/bailed out teachers and public (unionized) employees, despite the fact that public employees earn more than private economy employees. And then we get this bit of news from the SEC regarding the sale of munis by the People's Republic of New Jersey:
"According to the SEC’s order, New Jersey offered and sold more than $26 billion worth of municipal bonds in 79 offerings between August 2001 and April 2007. The offering documents for these securities created the false impression that the Teachers’ Pension and Annuity Fund (TPAF) and the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) were being adequately funded, masking the fact that New Jersey was unable to make contributions to TPAF and PERS without raising taxes, cutting other services or otherwise affecting its budget. As a result, investors were not provided adequate information to evaluate the state’s ability to fund the pensions or assess their impact on the state’s financial condition."