Archive - Mar 30, 2010 - Blog entry

California, New York and other states are showing many of the same signs of debt overload that recently took Greece to the brink — budgets that will not balance, accounting that masks debt, the use of derivatives to plug holes, and armies of retired public workers who are counting on benefits that are proving harder and harder to pay. Goldman Sachs, in a research report last week, acknowledged the pension issue but concluded the states were very unlikely to default on their debt and noted the states had 30 years to close pension shortfalls. Others, including me, disagree with Goldman's benign assessment, fearing Greek-style debt woes are already upon us.

The headline should have been "Consumers had to dip into savings to buy the necessities of life: food and clothing." Instead we are given the cheery headline that consumer spending rose for a fifth month. Check out the real story.

It's got a reassuring name and a nice, sugary taste ... but there's no real medicine in it.