By Rachel Goldfarb, originally published on Next New Deal
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Is Wall Street Making a Killing Off Cities’ Debt? (Next City)
In an illustrated essay, Susie Cagle shows how Wall Street profits off swap deals tied to cities' municipal bonds. Roosevelt Institute Fellow Saqib Bhatti explains pension obligation bonds which he says "were sold as a way to catch up quickly if you’ve taken big holidays [from contributing to pension funds] in the past."
When cities found their bottom lines still wanting, some gambled on interest rate swaps in an attempt to make up even more of the difference even more quickly. Essentially, they bet that the market where they’d invested their pension funds would continue to perform well, keeping interest rates high, so they traded their variable interest rates for fixed rates offered in new contracts by financial institutions that promised low risk and high savings.
The market crashed, and so did those invested pension funds. “So all the times that instead of putting the money toward the pension you put it somewhere else — now there was a huge shortfall,” says Bhatti.
Follow below the fold for more.
Will the UN’s New Development Goals Downplay the Need for Gender Equality? (The Nation)
Barbara Crossette questions if reproductive rights will be given sufficient emphasis, drawing on the Roosevelt Institute's Women and Girls Rising Conference for female leaders' opinions.
Tax Cuts Uber Alles (Slate)
Jamelle Bouie explains why Paul Ryan needs a pretty unreliable mathematical model, known as dynamic scoring, to sell his proposed tax cuts as good for the economy.
Embrace the Irony (New Yorker)
Lawrence Lessig is attempting to destroy big money's influence in politics. All he needs, writes Evans Osnos, is for 50 billionaires to fund his SuperPAC.
Wages Should be Growing Faster, But They’re Not. Here’s Why. (WaPo)
Jared Bernstein suggests that raising wages is no longer part of American employers' model, and that wages won't increase until the labor market is much tighter.
SRC Cancels Teachers' Contract (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Kristen Graham and Martha Woodall report on the Philadelphia School Reform Commission's unexpected decision to unilaterally cancel the teachers' union contract.
New on Next New Deal
At NextGen IL Conference, Young People Set the Agenda for Their State
As attendees of the conference, the Campus Network's Midwestern Regional Team found themselves in a policy space where the goals and agenda were shaped entirely by their peers.