WSJ OpEd: Obama Jobs Package Really a Blue State Bailout

Portions of President Barack Obama's $447 billion jobs package are really designed to bail out weak finances in Democratic states, a new study finds.

The plan seeks funds for infrastructure, education and other projects that states should fund but cannot.

Many blue states have run up state debts, as nationwide, state debt is running around $3 trillion — tack on another trillion or even more if unfunded pension liabilities are factored in.

"These vast contributions to the coffers of state and local governments, though pitched as a jobs bill, are in reality the latest in a series of bailouts for debt-ridden state and local governments," Paul E. Peterson and Daniel Nadler, both Harvard academics, write in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

"They are of special benefit to states in the blue regions of the country where the president's most fervent supporters reside."

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