It's one thing to say the federal government shouldn't be helping out states in a time of fiscal need. That's a legitimate argument. But it's a long and crazy leap from there to say bankruptcy is the solution. States are sovereign entities that can cut spending and raise taxes. None are anywhere close to defaulting on their obligations.

So what's going on here? Beyond the possiblity of self-enrichment, some proponents of this bankruptcy idea are seeking to score political points by noting the problems of states such as California, Illinois and New York -- all big Democratic states. Here's another thing about those states that state bankruptcy proponents don't mention -- those states are all big net donors to the federal government, which is to say: their taxpayers send far more to Washington than they get back in services.

For all the mindless talk about bailouts and redistribution, the real bailout and redistribution have been the steady stream of billions going from these big states to smaller, mostly red states. If Newt Gingrich thinks California (where I live) is such a potential burden, there's a better way than this bankruptcy idea to make sure we don't get a bailout from the feds. Let us secede from the union and become our own country. Such a change would be great for California -- we could print our own money, and would no longer have to subsidize the other states.

And we wouldn't have to listen to red-state welfare cases spin tall tales about our supposed bankruptcy.