Investing in the High Yield Municipal Market: How to Profit from the Current Municipal Credit Crisis and Earn Attractive Tax-Exempt Interest Income

CHAPTER 13

High Yield Investing in the Post–Bond Insurance Era

We have now come full circle, back to the teaser line on the cover of this book. How does an investor take advantage of the current municipal credit crisis and earn attractive tax-exempt income? For that, we start with a quote from Dr. Carl Sagan, “You have to know the past to understand the present,” itself a take-off on George Santayana’s famous line, “Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.”

For an industry as opaque as the high yield municipal market is (at least to the average investor), knowing the past is an all-important first step in understanding both the promises and pitfalls of this important sector. Having the proper historical perspective allows one to put current credit opportunities in the proper context.