I’m getting e-mails from all over. It’s not just New York. Maryland? “Everyone knows the state is busted, but they have kicked the can down the road until after the election.” Illinois? “You can (not quite) double your statements for IL. The thieves here have us $13 Billion in the hole.” California? Don’t ask.

The Upper Midwest is looking pretty good right now. Is the Bureau of Land Management hiring?

I hang out with financial types every chance I get. For months they’ve all been telling me the same thing. Précis: “The feds will try everything. They’ll raise taxes, issue bonds, cook the books — everything they can think of, except of course downsizing. Then, when none of it works any more, they’ll just print the [expletive] money.”

Too bad states don’t have that option.

Okay, mid-afternoon break. I’m going to switch off for a few minutes & just watch the debt clock. Very soothing.