Just as we all used to follow the form of horses – think the Great Depression and the success of Seabiscuit to see we all love a champion – the latest form book covers the race among US states to balance their budgets. Of course, everyone has been focussing on California with Arnold Schwarzenegger leading the charge to the winning post on getting the budget signed into law. He has enough strength for arm twisting and ‘gator wrassling to bulldoze the bill through. But Pennsylvania is just as interesting with the Governor’s office matching California’s use of IOUs by refusing to pay funds to the four state universities. Probably someone somewhere is running a book on which US state will be the first to declare itself bankrupt. These would be the front runners among an alarming number of states lacking initial prudence and the political will to raise taxes, to cut spending, or both.

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It used to be so easy when issues were black and white. Alcohol is a wonderful example. If lawmakers decide alcohol is a bad thing, we can have Prohibition. They tried to do this in North America and failed. It continues to be successfully applied in Islamic countries where the public consumption of all alcoholic products is strictly prohibited. But as we have moved through the 20th Century in the modern world, too many people see shades of gray. Now there are two sides to every issue and this drives the way our media report the news. Everyone here has his own opinion. Respect is the new game in town.

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