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General Obligation Bond
Crucial (and complicated) concepts in public money explained.
The gold standard of bonds, these are issued directly by state or local governments or their agencies to meet essential government functions (e.g. infrastructure funding). These bonds are backed by the full faith and taxing power of the issuing government and, as such, are considered the bonds least likely to be subject to a default. A government’s credit rating usually refers to its GO bond rating.
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