[ghein]

The guarantees - constitutional in some states - are what will cause the problem to be bigger.

When you can't resolve unsustainable debt without bankruptcy, then you will go bankrupt and credit rating be damned.

Detroit, Chicago, Illinois are just warm ups for the big battles over the next few decades.

[betterunix2]

I am not convinced that things are hopeless. If we continue to avoid the problem then eventually it will become unsolvable, but we still have a chance to fix this. Step 1 is finding leaders who "tell it like it is" (not the idiotic version that our president practices, but the version where you give people a clear and honest assessment of the situation they face) and are prepared to make hard decisions that might risk their political aspirations. We might also take a moment to reexamine the seemingly religious devotion some politicians have to cutting taxes and accept the fact that sometimes higher taxes are necessary to prevent even costlier outcomes (in NJ we pay more to repair the damage potholes do to our cars than we would pay in higher taxes to properly maintain our roads -- somehow people have trouble connecting the dots).