Latest / The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
Why Your City's Budget Is Probably Bond-Rated Wrong
Municipal bonds are the building blocks of American infrastructure, but the credit ratings on them are often surprisingly misleading. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into a 2025 paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showing that roughly 40 percent of all muni bonds carry a split rating from Moody's and S&P Global, and that the divergence can cost a medium-sized city hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra interest — year after year. They walk through the case of Jefferson County, Alabama's sewer debt debacle, how pension underfunding distorts ratings, and why the SEC…
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