LETTERS

Re: Tom Petruno’s markets column “Should the U.S. bail Out California?” April 18:

Federally provided municipal bond insurance will not address the root cause of California’s junk credit rating. Years of unwillingness to correct obvious and long-standing imbalances in expenditures and revenues are why the rating agencies look upon California’s debt with a jaundiced eye.

Until the state can present a clear and cogent case that it is politically and fiscally prepared to meet its financial obligations without annual budgetary gymnastics and financial sleight of hand, investors will demand higher interest rates and California taxpayers will continue to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in additional and unnecessary debt service.

Richard G. Little,

Director

USC’s Keston Institute for Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy