Tag Archives: fraud

Stacy Summary:  Where are Bob and Bono?  Oh yeah, Bono’s private equity fund probably has a stake in one of these schemes.

• Public financing in the dark leaves Americans paying odious debts

Underwriters — banks or securities firms that guarantee the purchase of debt issuers’ bonds — have an interest in keeping prices low, and yields high, because it means higher returns for them and the first investors, Langbein said.

Many Build America bonds traded at higher prices immediately after agencies sold them, a sign that taxpayers lost, he said.

“They’re suffering from Stockholm syndrome,” he said, referring to the psychological phenomenon in which hostages begin to identify with and grow sympathetic to their captors. “They are being held hostage by their investment bank.”