Rot Of Empire: Moody’s Downgrades Chicago To Junk Bond Status

I thought junk bonds were ‘high risk – high return’ whereas I’d have thought Chicago was more ‘high risk – no return. Not so much junk bonds, just junk. Reader comment from ‘Mike’
It’s doubtful that Warren Buffet’s Moody’s Investor Services will face the same wrath from Obama that Obama inflicted on S&P after S&P downgraded the U. S. Government debt rating from triple-A to double-A. After all, Warren Buffet owns Obama.
The outlook on all long term ratings remains negative (LINK)
But recall that Moody’s did not downgrade Enron to junk status until Enron hit the wall. While I’m not suggesting that Chicago will hit the wall anytime in the next few weeks, it does suggest that the White House is probably evaluating bail-out ideas.
I’m not sure how Obama thinks he can smooth this one by all Federal taxpayers outside of the State of Illinois (which itself is running something like an admitted $21 billion budget deficit). But, then again, something like 45% of registered Democrats have expressed voting support for a criminal (Hillary Clinton), so anything is possible in this Orwellian paradise.
Here’s a summary of Moody’s downgrade ‘rationale:’

This post was published at Investment Research Dynamics on May 13, 2015.