--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Public borrowing is costly these days…" description: "\"Public borrowing is costly these days, true, but interest rates on municipal bonds are still considerably lower than those borne by corporate debt.\" — ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/241/thomas-frank-4078_borrowing_public-borrowing-is-costly-these-days-tr_1893822.png" --- # Public borrowing is costly these days, true, but interest… ![“Public borrowing is costly these days, true, but interest rates on municipal bonds are still considerably lower than those borne by corporate debt.” quote by Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/241/thomas-frank-4078_borrowing_public-borrowing-is-costly-these-days-tr_1893822.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/241/thomas-frank-4078_borrowing_public-borrowing-is-costly-these-days-tr_1893822.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/241/thomas-frank-4078_borrowing_public-borrowing-is-costly-these-days-tr_1893822.png) > “Public borrowing is costly these days, true, but interest rates on municipal bonds are still considerably lower than those borne by corporate debt.” [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Municipal bonds remain cheaper than corporate debt despite overall high borrowing costs. **In simple terms:** City loans cost less than company loans. Key Takeaway Consider municipal bonds for financing. Themes finance public policy interest rates Mood analytical cautious Type informative analytical When to use this quote - city infrastructure projects - municipal budgeting - investment portfolios - debt management Key Concepts Fiscal economics bond markets Questions to Reflect On - Should you prioritize cost over flexibility? - How do you assess risk in public vs private borrowing? A Different Perspective Corporate debt may be more flexible. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Borrowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/borrowing/) [Borrowing Costly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/borrowing-costly-2753301/) [Corporate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/corporate/) [Corporate Debt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/corporate-debt-2753303/) [Days](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/days/) [Debt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/debt/) [Interest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interest/) [Interest rate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interest-rate/) [Municipal Bonds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/municipal-bonds-830111/) [Public Borrowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/public-borrowing-2753302/) [Rate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rate/) [Rates Municipal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rates-municipal-2753304/) [Stills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stills/) [These days](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/these-days/) [True](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/true/) ## Related quotes > [I filed the MSRB Reform Act, along with Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Doug Jones, because the board that oversees the muni-bond market is too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kennedy/i-filed-the-msrb-reform-act-along-with-sens-elizabeth-warren-and-doug/) [John Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kennedy/) > [Enacted in 1994, the first of the MSRB rules bars employees of firms that underwrite state and municipal bonds from donating to any official…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-kornacki/enacted-in-1994-the-first-of-the-msrb-rules-bars-employees-of-firms/) [Steve Kornacki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-kornacki/) > [ The tax-exempt privilege is a feature always reflected in the market price of \[municipal\] bonds. The investor pays for it. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-d-brandeis/the-tax-exempt-privilege-is-a-feature-always-reflected-in-the-market/) [Louis D. 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Long-term interest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mario-draghi/the-insurance-companies-do-not-refer-to-the-key-policy-rate-when-they/) [Mario Draghi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mario-draghi/) > [I think we have a bubble in the US in government bonds, because of the quantitative easing and the negative real interest rates, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-thiel/i-think-we-have-a-bubble-in-the-us-in-government-bonds-because-of-the/) [Peter Thiel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-thiel/) > [Why, just a couple of economic seasons ago, was idle cash considered an indication of bad management or lazy management? Because it meant that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-forbes/why-just-a-couple-of-economic-seasons-ago-was-idle-cash-considered-an/) [Malcolm Forbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-forbes/) > [At times of recession, running a budget deficit is highly desirable. Once the economy begins to recover, you have to balance the budget. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-soros/at-times-of-recession-running-a-budget-deficit-is-highly-desirable/) [George Soros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-soros/) > [Right now we're concerned about budget. Right now we're concerned about the prospect of interest rate rise. We're concerned about government corruption, government handing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amity-shlaes/right-now-we-re-concerned-about-budget-right-now-we-re-concerned/) [Amity Shlaes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amity-shlaes/) ## More by Thomas Frank > [I was in a bad mood when I wrote that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/i-was-in-a-bad-mood-when-i-wrote-that/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [“above all, intellectual. Anti-intellectualism is one of the grand unifying themes of the backlash, the mutant strain of class war that underpins so many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/above-all-intellectual-anti-intellectualism-is-one-of-the-grand/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [The only truly individualistic health-care choice - where you receive care that is unpolluted by anyone else's funds - is to forgo insurance altogether,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/the-only-truly-individualistic-health-care-choice-where-you-receive/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [Conservatism is not a doctrine of contentment. Not a doctrine for the satisfied and the smug. It's a politics that's at war with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/conservatism-is-not-a-doctrine-of-contentment-not-a-doctrine-for-the/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [A president aiming for 'Great' or 'Near Great' status must do more. He must give lots of interviews, make records accessible, and heap the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/a-president-aiming-for-great-or-near-great-status-must-do-more-he/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [“Innovation liberalism is "a liberalism of the rich," to use the straightforward phrase of local labor leader Harris Gruman. 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At the beginning of the 20th century, socialism looked like it was going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/a-lot-of-populists-after-populism-died-just-became-socialists-at-the/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [“And so the catastrophe of 1929–33 did to the certainties of laissez-faire economics what science did to nineteenth-century religion and what the slaughter of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/and-so-the-catastrophe-of-1929-33-did-to-the-certainties-of-laissez/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [Vibrancy is so universally desirable, so totemic in its powers, that even though we aren't sure what the word means, we know the quality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/vibrancy-is-so-universally-desirable-so-totemic-in-its-powers-that/) [Thomas Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/) > [Under the administration of George W. 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Flynn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-t-flynn/) > [By taking out a loan, I am committing myself to years of interest repayments, and therefore to years of wage slavery. And the UK…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hodgkinson/by-taking-out-a-loan-i-am-committing-myself-to-years-of-interest/) [Tom Hodgkinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hodgkinson/) > [Perhaps art criticism cannot be reformed in a logical sense because it was never well-formed in the first place. Art criticism has long been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-elkins/perhaps-art-criticism-cannot-be-reformed-in-a-logical-sense-because/) [James Elkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-elkins/) > [It’s always going to be easy to live like others or other’s life, because creating or innovating something of own is always difficult in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anuj/it-s-always-going-to-be-easy-to-live-like-others-or-other-s-life/) [Anuj](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anuj/) > [A poet ought not to pick nature's pocket. Let him borrow, and so borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing. Examine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/a-poet-ought-not-to-pick-nature-s-pocket-let-him-borrow-and-so-borrow/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [Several southern actors are coming to Mumbai. Likewise, many Bollywood actors are appearing down South or borrowing ideas from southern films.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ram-charan/several-southern-actors-are-coming-to-mumbai-likewise-many-bollywood/) [Ram Charan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ram-charan/) > [As for borrowing Mr. Whistler's ideas about art, the only thoroughly original ideas I have heard him express have had reference to his own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/as-for-borrowing-mr-whistler-s-ideas-about-art-the-only-thoroughly/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Saints and ordinary folks are the same from the start. Inquiring about a difference is like asking to borrow string when you've got a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hsu-yun/saints-and-ordinary-folks-are-the-same-from-the-start-inquiring-about/) [Hsu Yun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hsu-yun/) > [Borrowing money on what's called 'easy terms,' is a one-way ticket to the Poor House. 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We're borrowing a million dollars a minute.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rand-paul/we-do-not-project-power-from-bankruptcy-court-we-re-borrowing-a/) [Rand Paul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rand-paul/) [Browse all 303 Borrowing quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/borrowing/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Public borrowing is costly these days, true, but interest rates on municipal bonds are still considerably lower than those borne by corporate debt.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Frank" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/public-borrowing-is-costly-these-days-true-but-interest-rates-on/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Borrowing" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/public-borrowing-is-costly-these-days-true-but-interest-rates-on/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/241/thomas-frank-4078_borrowing_public-borrowing-is-costly-these-days-tr_1893822.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/241/thomas-frank-4078_borrowing_public-borrowing-is-costly-these-days-tr_1893822.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/241/thomas-frank-4078_borrowing_public-borrowing-is-costly-these-days-tr_1893822.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Public borrowing is costly these days, true, but interest rates on municipal bonds are still considerably…” — Thomas Frank", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Thomas Frank", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-frank/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Public borrowing is costly these days,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/public-borrowing-is-costly-these-days-true-but-interest-rates-on/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-frank/public-borrowing-is-costly-these-days-true-but-interest-rates-on/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```