Why does Palm Beach County government own $700 million of the Israeli government’s bonds? From John Helmer at johnhelmer.net:
Just days before Iran and Arab forces launched their October 1 operation to expose Israel’s military vulnerabilities, four Palestinian Americans launched the most serious threat to Israel’s survival in the economic war that is under way in parallel.
On September 24 they filed an 89-page brief in a Florida state court to declare illegal US financing of Israel’s war against Palestine through the purchase of Israeli government bonds with American taxpayer money. Their target is $700 million worth of Israel bonds purchased by the Palm Beach County treasury of Florida on the order of a single man, the county’s chief financial officer Joseph Abruzzo.
Starting in September 2023, one month before Hamas launched its break-out from Gaza, Abruzzo signed a purchase of $40 million in Israel bonds. Then from October 10 through March 2024 Abruzzo used county taxpayer funds to buy $660 million worth of securities the Israeli government was issuing to cover its warfighting costs.
Altogether, the Israeli plan is to raise at least $58 billion in new debt this year, with an increasing proportion of this debt to be covered from the US where Goldman Sachs and Bank of America are placing the bonds with small-town officials like Abruzzo.
In Abruzzo’s case, the court papers relate, “Palm Beach County is currently the world’s largest investor in Israel Bonds due to the Defendant’s [Abruzzo] $700 million dollar investment in Israel bonds. These $700 million dollars, sourced from Palm Beach County taxpayers’ property taxes, are being poured into a foreign economy that has an increased risk of default. Defendant purchased $700 million dollars of Israel Bonds amidst a housing crisis in Palm Beach County, an education crisis, and a funding shortfall of $732 million dollars in Palm Beach County’s budget that is leading to several capital-improvement projects such as athletic centers, parks, animal shelters, and bridges to be either delayed or cancelled. At the time the $732 million dollar shortfall in Palm Beach County’s budget was announced, Defendant had already invested $160 million dollars in Israel Bonds.”
From a purely financial perspective, investing in Israel Bonds was a good deal. They were paying a very high rate compared to US Treasury Bonds and before the war, the risk was minimal. The bonds have since been downgraded slightly, but they still pay a high rate compared to US Treasuries and are still a good deal financially. My guess is that the City could finance the capital projects that they have by floating their own city bonds at a lower rate than they are getting from lending money to Israel. The only thing that I don’t see wise about this investment is the creep of the amount lent to Israel from 5% to 10% to 15% of the City’s investment portfolio, “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
You’ll own nothing and like it.
Your landlords BlackRock Vanguard will send a FACT CHEKA squad over to make sure you own nothing.
Guess who bought Bro’s suburban hovel after 30 years and the first one to move in there?
You already know.
The Fundamental Transformation got to be too much and he knew that glaring at the Sack-N-Save or trash talk will escalate.
Replacements moved right in on all sides courtesy of mommygov and the landlords.
WAR comes home to the big bad Warmaster state as it always does.
Netanyahu stated, “I wrote a book in 1995 — and I said that if the West doesn’t wake up to the suicidal nature of militant Islam, the next thing you will see is militant Islam bringing down the World Trade Center.”
This just in from Animal Mother:
We get to be the Indians now.