When States Default: 2011, Meet 1841
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on January 5th, 2011 5:31 am by HL
When States Default: 2011, Meet 1841
Dennis Berman, Wall Street Journal
Land values soared. States splurged on new programs. Then it all went bust, bringing down banks and state governments with them. This wasn't America in 2011, it was America in 1841, when a now-forgotten depression pushed eight states and a desolate territory called Florida into the unthinkable: They defaulted on debts.Deputy Money & Investing Editor Dennis Berman explains to WSJ's Evan Newmark why history shows higher taxes are highly probable as states cope with defaults on their loans.This was an incredible step, even then. Fledgling U.S. states like Indiana and Illinois were…
Federal Gov’t Must Rediscover Constitution’s Limits
Roger Pilon, WSJ
If the new Congress to be sworn in on Wednesday is the tea party's cardinal achievement so far, its most symbolic achievement will come on Thursday, when the first order of business in the House will be a reading, aloud, of the Constitution. That event alone will not bring us any closer to limited government. But it will help get a debate going that for too long has been dormant.Already, House Democrats are lining up to ridicule a closely related rule that the Republican majority has said it will adopt, requiring members to cite the specific constitutional authority for any bill they…
Shield Bill a Clear Danger to Free Speech
Geoffrey Stone, New York Times
THE so-called Shield bill, which was recently introduced in both houses of Congress in response to the WikiLeaks disclosures, would amend the Espionage Act of 1917 to make it a crime for any person knowingly and willfully to disseminate, “in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States,” any classified information “concerning the human intelligence activities of the United States.”
What We Learned in 2010
George Will, Newsweek
Except for the ongoing saga of Brett Favre, the recidivist retirer who became the world's first intergalactic bore, 2010 was more stimulating than the Obama administration's stimulus has been. Although fueled by a $535Â million stimulus loan, and blessed by a presidential visit in May, California's Solyndra, Inc., which manufactures solar panels, announced in November that it was closing a factory and laying off workers.
