Gov. Chris Christie among others was interviewed on last night’s “60 Minutes.” The subject was the coming collapse of state governments across the nation. Weighed down by over the top spending and out of control public sector unions, many states are facing bankruptcy.

Reuters has an interesting piece today about a possible secret GOP plan to smash public sector unions in the next Congress.

Congressional Republicans appear to be quietly but methodically executing a plan that would a) avoid a federal bailout of spendthrift states and b) cripple public employee unions by pushing cash-strapped states such as California and Illinois to declare bankruptcy. This may be the biggest political battle in Washington, my Capitol Hill sources tell me, of 2011.

That’s why the most intriguing aspect of President Barack Obama’s tax deal with Republicans is what the compromise fails to include — a provision to continue the Build America Bonds program.  BABs now account for more than 20 percent of new debt sold by states and local governments thanks to a federal rebate equal to 35 percent of interest costs on the bonds. The subsidy program ends on Dec. 31.  And my Reuters colleagues report that a GOP congressional aide said Republicans “have a very firm line on BABS — we are not going to allow them to be included.”

In short, the lack of a BAB program would make it harder for states to borrow to cover a $140 billion budgetary shortfall next year, as estimated by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. The long-term numbers are even scarier. Estimates of states’ unfunded liabilities to pay for retiree benefits range from $750 billion to more than $3 trillion.

To make the plan work, Republicans have to amend bankruptcy laws to allow states to declare bankruptcy. Legislation is currently in the works.

Indeed, legislation  amending federal bankruptcy law is currently being prepared by congressional Republicans. Local municipalities do declare bankruptcy from time to time, most famously California’s Orange County in 1994. But states can’t. Allowing them the same ability to renegotiate obligations could enable them to slash public employees’ lavish benefits, a big factor in their financial woes.

I hope this is true. Crushing public sector unions is the only way for bankrupt states to recover.

According to Bloomberg, GM is speeding up plans for bankruptcy even as the board prepares another restructuring plan for Obama. GM is going to end up going into bankruptcy, because they still have the albatross around their neck called the UAW. The union has destroyed the American car industry and no amount of “restructuring” by the Obama administration is going to cure that.

The fastest way for the American auto industry to become profitable and competitive again is to get the hell away from unions. That’s never going to happen especially under this administration, therefore the auto companies are destined for bankruptcy.

The left has many slimy tactics when it comes to smearing republicans, but what they’re doing to Sarah Palin is unconscionable.

According to NRO, Palin’s enemies in Alaska have been trying to get revenge on her ever since she returned from the presidential campaign.

The left’s weapon of choice — bankruptcy. They’ve filed more than 10 ethics complaints against her and more than 150 Freedom of Information Act requests. The ethics complaints are frivolous and petty designed to do her financial damage more than anything else.

The newest ethics complaint stems from her husband’s participation in the Iron Dog snow machine race. Sarah Palin wore a jacket advertising her husband’s sponsor, Arctic Cat Inc, while “in her official duties” as governor” when she served as official “starter” for the race.

Another complaint was because she spoke to the media (Greta Van Susteren) about the presidential campaign while sitting in her office.

The result of these ridiculous complaints on Palin herself are legal fees totaling more than $500,000 which is more than four times her salary. She says she may be forced to create a legal defense fund if this keeps up.

So the intention here is clear. Not only is the left trying desperately to destroy her reputation nationwide, but also destroy her financially. This is how the left always plays the game. It’s never enough to defeat someone politically, they aim to destroy lives.

-Chris Jones

Barney Frank is in favor of bailing out the auto industry largely because bankruptcy might “bust” the auto unions. What Barney doesn’t get is that the only way to make the U.S. auto industry a viable industry again is to do just that.

The unions have absolutely crippled the auto industry to the point of near extinction. It’s impossible to stay competitive or get anywhere near competitive when unions have a choke hold on things. It costs an average of $73 an hour to employee a union auto worker. Contrast that with the $43 an hour for the non-union auto workers of Japanese car companies in the U.S.

In a free market system if your business doesn’t generate a profit — you go out of business. The only reason the big 3 auto makers didn’t go bankrupt years ago is because we keep propping them up.

We can give the auto industry 25 billion or 50 billion and it won’t matter. In a few months, they’ll be standing before Congress with their hands out again. Their current business model is simply unsustainable. To keep it going artificially simply for he seek of greedy unions is an outrage.

The fact that Barney Frank is still a member of congress is also an outrage given his responsibility in the Fannie/Freddie mess — but that’s for another day.

-Chris Jones