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.
And states are responding in sometimes desperate ways, raising concerns that they, too, could face a debt crisis.
New Hampshire was recently ordered by its State Supreme Court to put back $110 million that it took from a medical malpractice insurance pool to balance its budget.
Full story: Payback Time – States’ Debt Woes Grow Too Big to Camouflage – NYTimes.com