Image by Renegade98 via FlickrRead related » The Looming Crisis in the StatesIf you happen to be a typical free-lunch liberal who takes his marching orders from the New York Times (All the news that comfortably fits!), I have a question for you: Have you had your plateful of crazy this morning? If so, you might be well advised to read your bible's recent opinion piece (excerpted above) as an antidote that, nevertheless, may not be very effective at this late date.
[This related article is recommended in its entirety.]
“It is no way to run the nation’s fifth largest state [Illinois], and it is not even clear that investors will agree, but these kinds of shaky deals are likely to become increasingly common as the states try to cope with the greatest fiscal drought since the Great Depression. Starved for revenue and accustomed to decades of overspending, many states have been overwhelmed. They are facing shortfalls of $140 billion next year. Even before the downturn, states jeopardized their futures by accumulating trillions in debt that they swept into some far-off future. But that future is not so distant, and the crushing debt has made recovery far more difficult to achieve. As The Times reported, Illinois, California and several other states are at increasing risk of being the first states to default since the 1930s. The city of Prichard, Ala., has stopped sending out its pension checks, breaking state law and shocking its employees.”
— NYT Editorial, December 25, 2010 (nytimes.com)
And for those of you who think you are smarter than the average free-luncher (i.e., those who advocate free-lunch for the huddled masses yearning for another plateful) and stash the bulk of your net-worth into tax-free municipal bonds, you might want to re-assess your sanctimonious socio-political mantra, as well as your net-worth and your intelligence quotient.
If the party isn't actually over, consider "last call" having been announced. If you STFU for a minute and listen carefully, you might hear the fat lady clearing her throat.
Post 1,527 A Plateful of Crazy
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