October 5, 2010
I believe that the SEC has to completely change the way that Municipal Bonds are bought and sold. Presently, when you buy a bond, you are not told what the broker paid for the bond or what the most recent purchases of the bond cost so you are buying completely in the dark. When you sell a bond, you are given an offer but that offer is made by a brokerage house who then sells the bond to another broker at a profit and then offers it to their customers at a profit...all in the same day. What you were paid for the bond is NOT the real value of the bond so you are not given a fair price. There is no way to market the bond to the real purchasers of the bonds, the public. So the public over pays for the bond and you are underpaid for your bond. The is unfair to everyone EXCEPT the brokerage houses which mark up the bonds and make profits along the way.