My PACTs and Their Fictions, 3. Clueless Kay. And the Caymans.

Clueless Kay

Gag me with a spoon, as the Valley Girls used to say.

Here’s some noxious bits by Michele Gerlach in her story “Ivey brings folksy charm to keynote speech”   published on January 14, 2009 in the Andalusia Star-News:

During her keynote speech at the Andalusia Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet Tuesday night, Alabama Treasurer Kay Ivey encouraged local residents to check unclaimed property lists, save for their children’s education and to network. …

The treasurer’s office also administers the state’s two college savings programs, the Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (PACT) program, and the state’s 529 Fund, she said, adding that Andalusia’s Ricky Jones serves as vice president of the state board for college savings programs.

“There are 160 students in Covington County enrolled in the PACT program,” Ivey said. “Y’all have got mo’ chil’en than that,” she said, asking those present to encourage parents and grandparents to participate in the program.

Analysis time: On January 13, 2009, less than two months before the Montgomery meeting, Kay Ivey was encouraging purchases of PACTS. She’s either evil or an idiot. Surely Callan Associates or one of the nine managers — that group of professionals who in 2007 collectively billed the program the equivalent of 613 kids’ tuition for a year at UA — should have hinted to her that the program was in trouble, even if it never occurred to this Treasury Secretary during the last six months’ barrage of reports of collapsing financial infrastructures to look into the matter herself.

How did I happen upon this? It was one of the few mentions I could find of Ricky Jones, one of the esteemed board members, who couldn’t be bothered to make the 92- mile trip from Andalusia to Montgomery.

Oh, and Clueless Kay, I’m sure you will be delighted to know that Alabamians are indeed networking. Just take a peek at http://www.leftinalabama.com/

Off to the Cayman Islands

No, I’m not talking about spring break, folks.  Just something that struck me looking at the 2007 Financial Report and the 2006 Financial Report . Page 12 of the 2007 report has a list of 18 fixed maturity international investments with total value of $18,654,973 and cost of $20,236,521. Page 13 in 2006 listed 10 nations, with value/cost of $4,510,806/$4,427,515.

That’s a big leap in one year, and the biggest was in the Cayman Islands, which went from value/cost in 2006 of $339,354/$340,651 to $10,054,400/$11,571,854 in 2007.

Now I may have this all wrong, but don’t you want to see higher numbers in the Value than in the Cost column?

In 2006,  Canada and the Caymans were the only 2 of the 10 that had lower figures in their Value than in their Cost columns. In 2007, Canada’s  Value/Cost was $568,869/$579,651.

But the Caymans — now that’s the one with the biggest difference, with a Cost $1,517,454 greater than its Total Value.

Why the Caymans?  Please, someone with finance expertise step in here.

What I have found at Wikipedia is that it has the ”largest value of AUM in offshore funds, and is also the strongest presence in the U.S. securitisation market.”

It was also one of 15 countries on the first FATF Blacklist [Financial Action Task Force] compiled in 2000. Appearance on the list was awarded to those nations deemed less than cooperative in efforts against money laundering.

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