State of Despair

Said an expert in public finances,
When asked for his view of the chances
If, for federal largesse,
California would press:
"Uncle Sam's no more likely than France is."  

Here we take poetic license with the words of Dr. Alan Auerbach, professor of economics and law at UC Berkeley, who spoke at a panel discussion on the US federal deficit at the American Economic Association annual meeting.  Dr. Auerbach actually said that "Germany is more likely to bail out Greece than the US is to bail out any of the states."  He went on to note that the federal government could help the states by reducing unfunded healthcare mandates.