Would You Buy a $1.5 BN Bond from This Guy?

Buy a $5,000 bond, earn up to 6% interest and help fix state government's budget deficit.

That's the appeal state officials will make this week in newspaper ads trying to mass market $1.52 billion in bonds to individual investors - bonds that must sell by July 1 or the budget shortfall will grow.

The old way of selling government bonds - brokers and dealers packaging them for big customers such as insurance companies and mutual and pension funds - has broken down, as those large investors reel from the recession, officials said.

"The old way...has broken down."

Really?

Or do all those 'large investors' know something that you don't?