Balloon Payment Tell me again that a gas tax hike would go for infrastructure rather than to debt service:

State Administration and Finance Undersecretary Jay Gonzalez told lawmakers Thursday he believes it’s “quite likely” that the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority’s bond insurer’s credit rating will be lowered further, which would leave the fiscally ailing agency on the hook for a balloon payment valued on Wednesday at $363 million.

This is just nuts that we've allowed fiscal neglect and structural neglect to go on so long. And now, at the worst time in our economy in may decades, we are going to have to dig deep to pay down the state's credit cards because we legally cannot run a deficit. This debt service, especially stupidly avoidable stuff like balloon payments, eats cash, lowering the amount of money that will actually go into the real-world economy. Friggin' brilliant.

(Link via BMG)  ¶ 8:32 AM