New Jersey uses bond to shave pension costs

Issuer: State of New Jersey

Issuer: State of New Jersey

Amount: $2.75 billion

Issue type: Global bond

Launched: June 25

Lead manager: Merrill Lynch

US state governments that are worried about their unfunded pension liabilities and unwilling to risk being kicked out of office by raising taxes to pay for them have found a solution: borrow the money at today’s low rates and let future administrations worry about any problems that crop up. After all, that’s not unlike the position of today’s state leaders, who inherited the cost of generous retirement plans voted in during the 1960s and 1970s.

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