What Does the Future Hold?
For all the heat and smoke generated by the debate over state bankruptcy, itโs hard to tell if thereโs any fire.
Three days after Gingrich announced that the state bankruptcy bill would be introduced, the leader of Gingrichโs own party in the House, Virginia Republican Eric Cantor, declared the idea dead on arrival.
โI donโt think that that is necessary, because state governments have at their disposal the requisite tools to address their fiscal ills,โ Cantor told Reuters.
Some have dismissed the entire debate as an effort by Gingrich to win headlines as he mulls a campaign for president in 2012.
[Resource: Credit Cards with Good Intentions]
โThis is a cynical proposal intended to incite a panicked response to a phony crisis,โ California Treasurer Bill Lockyer, a Democrat told the San Francisco Chronicle, comparing the proposal to scares about aliens and killer bees. โNo state wants to or would declare bankruptcy. It would severely injure the economy, local businesses, investors and taxpayers.โ
โAll presidential candidates like to be associated with polices that gain the nationโs attention,โ says Neiman. โAnd I think [Gingrich] is scapegoating public employees to exploit public angerโ over the recession. Though the proposal appears stalled at the moment, conservative activists say they plan to continue pushing for it.
โWith the dire financial situation of many states today,โ Haley says, โGingrich is merely proposing that states should have the same flexibility to restructure their finances.โ
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