More bubbles than a bath tub

"There are a raft of cities and states who have gotten themselves in a similar debt pickle. They also would love to have Uncle Sam give them a hand out (or as they say in DC lingo, a carve out)."

I swear, if it is not one thing it is another. It seems that the good politicians in Minnesota are not the only ones who have a penchant for spending money. Currently the issue of what to do with Puerto Rico is being debated in Congress. And not the first time. It seems this tiny country has a large appetite for spending. So much so, it is in dire need of a bailout from Uncle Sam. And the tab for that bailout would be about $165B. 

One pundit I was listening to had a very good point on this potential bailout. There are a raft of cities and states who have gotten themselves in a similar debt pickle. They also would love to have Uncle Sam give them a hand out (or as they say in DC lingo, a carve out). How big of a bailout would it be if all states went to Washington with their hands out? About $4T! And for you folks who have Moonbeam as your Governor, California holds about 15% of that total $4T debt. 

There is yet another bubble which is looming on the horizon. Student debt. And it is a whopper. Guess what is happening with a large portion of the student debt right now? It is being defaulted on. The amount in student loans under the federal student loan program is now north of $1T. And (get ready for this one), about 10% of those loans are being defaulted on two years after leaving college. According to my math, that is $100B that taxpayers are being stuck for. 

One more. The Society of Civil Engineers was asked how much it would cost to bring our nation's infrastructure up to "world class". The number they came up with is $3T - and the longer we put off doing it, the bigger the number will become. This is an expense which seems to always get swept under the rug. That is until something awful happens, and then it becomes an emergency.

Some in Washington are saying we need to belly up to the bar. Spend the money. Put it on our national debt credit card. Bail out everyone who needs to be bailed out. There is however, one small problem with that. We would become so debt riddled, we would need to find someone to bail us out. And the beat goes on...