Beverly Hills Capitalist

Edward Jay Esptein presented a reasonably accurate historical account of one of the most important corporate-finance developments of the past several decades (“The Junk-Bond King’s Next Move,” Aug. 30). Where Epstein errs is in his implication that today’s high-yield bond market is in large part a creation of Michael Milken’s salesmanship and that its stability and future are dependent almost exclusively on him or his firm, Drexel Burnham Lambert. The high-yield market has grown exponentially because it serves one of our nation’s greatest economic needs: providing affordable capital on flexible terms to the sector that is fueling the largest proportion of our economic growth.

David K. Aylward

Alliance for Capital Access

Washington, D.C.