Meredith Whitney Slams States As The New Systemic Risks
By: Meredith Whitney is out with a new report that says the states' out of control spending and over-leveraging pose the biggest systemic threat to the U.S. economy.
"The similarities between the states and the banks are to the extreme to the extent that, the states have been spending dramatically, growing leverage dramatically, muni debt has doubled since 2000, but spending has also grown way faster than revenue," Whitney said.
Whitney said her latest report, entitled "Trajedy of The Commons," ranks the top 15 states. The report came after Whitney realized there was limited clear information out there that gave insight into the states' fiscal situations.
"The state situation reminded me so much of the banks pre-crisis that we just kept working at it, we couldnt find anything that gave us a clear story, we couldn't find any information that was transparent and so we did it ourselves."
So who is the worst state? You guessed it, California.
Texas comes in at number one, according to Whitney's report. » Read More at CNBC.com
