[quote=FlyerInHi]CAr, you,re conflating everything and it’s not helpful in solving problems.
Some municipalities mismanaged their finances and deserve to go bankrupt. There is a process for that.
The state is a sovereign and cannot to bankrupt. But the state can change the laws and redo contracts.
If in the process bond holders lose money, then they’ll be more careful lending in the future. i don’t support raising taxes to pay for past budgets.[/quote]
Brian, I’m not conflating anything. Multiple people have suggested making it easier to allow cities and states to go BK. As a sidenote, BG already pointed out that a city’s going BK does not guarantee that pensions would be renegotiated. It’s even more likely that bondholders would take the primary hit, so borrowing costs would become extremely burdensome if BK were made easier. And it’s possible to allow states to go BK, but that would require Congress to amend the federal BK code. Of course, the issues with access to capital and borrowing costs would apply to the states, as well.
I guess the question is more about whether or not someone is actually concerned about the financial health of government entities, or if they are more concerned about “getting revenge” on those who organized and fought for their rights as workers, while the private sector employees bought the propaganda about unions being a negative thing and global competition/free trade a good thing, and lost a tremendous amount of economic and political power as a result.
