To bond, or not to bond: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler for the State to suffer
The slings and arrows of daily misfortune,
Or to take on debt to fight a sea of troubles.

Bonding has been much in the news lately.  On the one hand, West Virginia School Building Authority executive director Mark Manchin has proposed a “bond anticipation sale” to generate funds for public school building construction and renovations. Otherwise, the School Building Authority will not be able to dole out its usual largesse because none of its current bonds mature before 2014.  On the other hand, the West Virginia Parkways Authority is struggling to structure a bond deal to complete the new four-lane U.S. Route 35 to West Virginia’s border with Ohio and in the process establish a toll road.

Bonding is one of the most important things a government can do; yet I have never seen a thoughtful and thorough-going discussion of the topic outside of Robert Caro’s non-fiction masterpiece The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York. One reason: People think bonding (like technology) is far more complicated than it really is.  Another reason: Certain powerful individuals and organizations have little incentive to educate you about bonding and its mega-winners and losers.

Fortunately for you, I was never bamboozled by the man behind the bonding curtain, nor am I financially dependent upon any of bonding’s mega-winners.  (This has not always been the case.)  So let’s set sail for a sea of troubles….