Scott Walker: Buy My Bonds! (MUB)

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is pleading with investors to buy the state's municipal bonds, as he vowed yesterday to never compromise on the core of his plan to curb the power of public unions.

Walker was interviewed by Reuters Insider, and said that local governments need to cut costs.

"I want to be different. I want to be unique. I want to be an innovator here and give my local governments the ability to manage their own budgets. On that part, we can't compromise," Walker said.

Despite his tough stance on government spending, he said that he was willing to talk to Democrats about "the process." He did not clarify further on what he meant, although there are reports that the 14 Democrats who left the state's Senate have begun a dialogue.

Yesterday, Walker said that unless this group of 14 returned back to the state, Walker had 1,500 pink slips ready for state workers in order to get the states budget down. Walker said it was "outrageous" that the Democrats left the state. "The crisis that is occurring is for one reason and one reason only -- because the 14 left and abandoned their jobs."

"Unfortunately, they go back to their caucus, and extremists in their caucus pull them back to Illinois. We need to find a way for them to break free of that and ultimately come back to the capital," Walker said.

Republicans need just one Democratic senator to return in order to have a floor vote on the proposal.

"We made the tough decisions to make the point to the investor that while it was tough doing it, we actually had the courage of our convictions," Walker said. "This is exactly the place you want to invest in because it is rock solid. There's nothing that is going to shake us."

"If they (Democrats) came back tomorrow, for example, we'd still try and see if we could talk to our bank and see if we could push this (refinancing) forward because its much better than losing $165 million in savings," he said.

If investors believe that Wisconsin can get its fiscal house in order, perhaps buying shares of iShares S&P Natl AMTFr Mncpl Bd Fd ETF MUB may be in order. The thesis behind this is if Wisconsin can get its fiscal house in shape, then other states will be willing to make the necessary tough cuts to keep budgets in line, which would cut fears of state and municipal defaults.

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