He and Mousseau, who was director of municipal bond investments at Lord Abbett, bring decades of experience to the book, which is organized into analytical pieces they have written since the recession. Mousseau’s analysis of Detroit and Illinois are spot on.

Comes, the youngest co-author, emerges at the end of the book as a perceptive observer chastened by his own experience, having joined Cumberland in 2008 just in time for all the fun to start. By 2014, Comes is finding “green shoots” as many regional economies finally find the problems caused by the recession are starting to recede in the rearview mirror. But as he and other members of the trio are all too aware, the problems facing some municipalities remain implacable.

The book is a fascinating read for people interested in both fixed-income investing and municipal governance. As a New Jersey resident convinced that the moment of impending doom caused by the Garden State’s grossly underfunded public pension isn’t a question of “if” but “when,” some of the commentaries give me a glimmer of hope that the ultimate resolution of the state’s problems may not be as bloody as I’ve imagined.

First « 1 2 » Next