As we’ve discussed in prior posts, the states are broke.  Their budget deficits are at crisis levels, and long-term pension and health liabilities make many of them technically bankrupt.  With traditional sources of revenue—such as income and property taxes—drying up, it’s not surprising at all to see the states looking a different direction:

“States Give Gambling a Closer Look” Read the rest of this entry »

John Steele Gordon is a renown and surprisingly entertaining economic historian.  As we write this blog post, his Empire of Wealth , The Epic History of American Economic Power sits prominently on the bookshelf behind us.   Mr. Gordon regularly writes for both Barron’s and the Wall Street Journal, and we found his essay in today’s Journal, “A Short History of the National Debt,” to be well worth the read.

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