william the wie
Gold Member
- Nov 18, 2009
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The NJ bond downgrade this week got me wondering. I know IL has been in default of some of its unbonded debt for more than a decade and it has the worst bond rating of any state in the country. CA has been in serious trouble since before the 2001 Enron crisis. What I am wondering about is how fast state and local finances are hitting the wall?
So, here is the problem I see, everyone is focused on Obamacare instead of state and local finances causing great blind side risk. But according to a lawyer I know and talked to today no private lawsuits for denial of care, criminal negligence by navigators and similar screw ups have reached the courts, state or federal. He was not even aware of a filing of such a case, which struck both of us as suspicious. Lawsuits and criminal complaints over handing out five dollar bills to all comers were purportedly seen during time of war in this country as a test of how to market war bonds. I have not found a primary source for the claim that this happened in Philadelphia during WWII but lawsuits and criminal complaints about anything and everything the federal and state governments do is a commonplace event in this country.
If such complaints are being quickly settled then some level of government is racking up huge bills at a fast pace and not reporting those expenses to the relevant authorities. If, as seems likely, such settlements are primarily a blue state event then state default becomes a more likely and more blue event. What would be the likely political result?
So, here is the problem I see, everyone is focused on Obamacare instead of state and local finances causing great blind side risk. But according to a lawyer I know and talked to today no private lawsuits for denial of care, criminal negligence by navigators and similar screw ups have reached the courts, state or federal. He was not even aware of a filing of such a case, which struck both of us as suspicious. Lawsuits and criminal complaints over handing out five dollar bills to all comers were purportedly seen during time of war in this country as a test of how to market war bonds. I have not found a primary source for the claim that this happened in Philadelphia during WWII but lawsuits and criminal complaints about anything and everything the federal and state governments do is a commonplace event in this country.
If such complaints are being quickly settled then some level of government is racking up huge bills at a fast pace and not reporting those expenses to the relevant authorities. If, as seems likely, such settlements are primarily a blue state event then state default becomes a more likely and more blue event. What would be the likely political result?
