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Girard Miller

Girard Miller

Finance Columnist

Girard Miller is the finance columnist for Governing. He is a retired investment and public finance professional and the author of “Enlightened Public Finance” (2019). Miller brings 30 years of experience in public finance and investments as a former Governmental Accounting Standards Board member and ICMA Retirement Corp. president.

Miller writes Governing's bi-weekly newsletter on public finance, which you can sign up for here.

He can be reached at millergirard@yahoo.com. 

State and local finance teams need game plans for two divergent outcomes of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to wring inflation out of the economy: a soft-landing slowdown or a more severe downturn.
If stocks keep declining, the outlook for pension obligation bonds improves. State and local financial teams should prepare now for a cyclical opportunity.
Recent investment losses have highlighted provisions that are missing from most municipal money management contracts: full disclosure of the downside and stronger risk controls.
Mass shootings are costing governments, schools and families billions. Those who sell, buy and harbor AR-15-style firearms and other pseudo-military killing machines should bear the financial burden.
Rising interest rates have triggered substantial market losses from Golden State treasurers’ untimely investments of idle cash. It’s time for reforms wherever similar portfolios are now bleeding red ink.
If autocracy is moving the world toward deglobalization, geopolitical investment principles should complement environmental, social and governance factors. There’s a lot for pension boards and investment managers to keep in mind.
With the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, the yields on money market funds, state investment pools and bank accounts lag the payouts on safe securities. Staff needs to do its upside/downside homework.
Government workers are going to press for wage increases that — at a minimum — catch them up to rising prices. Budgeters and labor negotiators need to be careful not to lock in terms that put them in a fiscal squeeze in the future.
The White House has taken the first step. It’s time for our governments at every level to underwrite a public-private “solidarity bridge” to host many more: up to a million refugees and wartime orphans.
Many want to sanction Putin and Co. at every turn, but it’s a mistake to move too quickly. Pension funds actually don’t hold that much in Russian assets, and they're sitting ducks for crafty, amoral traders.