January 19, 2009
Columnist in Boston Herald Discusses the Debt and Pension Crises in States
By Eric Fehrnstrom
According to the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation, Massachusetts' per capita debt of $10,154 already far exceeds that of our neighbors New York ($5,464), Connecticut ($6,885), Rhode Island ($6,544) and New Hampshire ($5,685). Heck, we beat California ($3,029), which is the poster boy for fiscal basket cases. Given our dubious lead, why do we feel we have to run up the score? Because legislators constantly parade in and out of the governor's office clutching a long list of capital projects for their district. As the fiscal crisis imposes much-needed discipline in other parts of state government, we ought to re-examine our borrowing addiction, and get back to saying "no" more often.
