Tobacco Bonds and the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement

[VWFringe]

I was looking for elderly transportation, which in our area says they're partly funded by Tobacco Settlement Revenues. Wondering what that was all about I found a wikipedia page Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA)LINK

So, it turns out that the States get all the settlement money that can be gotten out of the tobacco companies, and will receive payments forever to help with treating tobacco related illnesses. And, they've been selling bonds based on these revenues, but sometimes backed by state revenues.

I wonder if this might create reluctance among our politicians to promote Swedish Snus, which is proven to not cause cancer.

I gotta quit smoking again, if just to stop supporting these mother-^&%$^&'s,

Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) was entered in November 1998, originally between the four largest US tobacco companies and the attorneys general of 46 states. The states settled their Medicaid lawsuits against the tobacco industry for recovery of their tobacco-related, health-care costs, and also exempted the companies from private tort liability regarding harm caused by tobacco use.[1]:25 In exchange, the companies agreed to curtail or cease certain tobacco marketing practices, as well as to pay, in perpetuity, various annual payments to the states to compensate them for some of the medical costs of caring for persons with smoking-related illnesses. The money also funds a new anti-smoking advocacy group, called the American Legacy Foundation, that is responsible for such campaigns as The Truth. The settlement also dissolved the tobacco industry groups Tobacco Institute, the Center for Indoor Air Research, and the Council for Tobacco Research. In the MSA, the OPMs (Original Participating Manufacturers) agreed to pay a minimum of $206 billion over the first twenty-five years of the agreement.

and the subsection called Securitization points out that our State governments are selling bonds which in a way puts them in bed with Big Tobacco forever...

Securitization

In the ten years following the settlement, many state and local governments have opted to sell so-called "tobacco bonds." They are a form of securitization. In many cases the bonds permit state and local governments to transfer the risk of declines in future master settlement agreement payments to bondholders. In some cases, however, the bonds are backed by secondary pledges of state or local revenues, which creates what some see as a perverse incentive to support the tobacco industry, on whom they are now dependent for future payments against this debt.[53]

 

[Legalize-then-capitalize.]

Well, that is more disturbing news about the U.S


...



God Bless America!