We are a nation of states with differing political cultures and leaders. Loud leaders and quiet leaders.
The loud ones get most of the attention. Do financial markets reward the loud ones too? Not always it seems.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie gets a lot of attention for his approach to governing. And has garnered a lot of political interest for his full-on attack on his state’s municipal unions. See the video above for an example.
But financial markets aren’t rewarding New Jersey.
In fact municipal CDS for New Jersey, or the cost to insure its bonds for default, is ~50% higher than neighbor New York. [New Jersey 149 bps and New York 98 bps]
Bloomberg’s Michael McDonald details Governor Christie’s approach to managing his state’s affairs.
