Long bonds

Very interesting article in the NYT about a dull-as-a-doornail topic: Municipal Bonds. Munis are one of those invisible things upon which so much depends but about which very few people care to know. Unfortunately to get a broker's license, you have to understand them even if you never deal with them professionally. When I joined Lehman Brothers, I destroyed a summer learning the nuances.

Anyway, these bonds were issued by two towns in Westchester County, NY, 135 years ago to build roads. The towns no longer exist since they were swallowed up by the Bronx and became part of New York City. Still, the City has been paying interest without missing a beat all these years and is now prepared to pay off the bondholders - if any actually show up with the original paper bond, that is.