Donald Trump did it...

and so did President Grant.  Benedict Arnold did it too.  Orange County did it.  San Bernardino and Stockton have done it.  Now one person has suggested that the United States do it too and I'm wondering, is it a good idea or not.

Bankruptcy.  For individuals like us, there is Chapter 11.  That's a reorganization.  Chapter 13.  That's a payment plan where you pay off part or what you owe over a defined period of time.  Chapter 7.  that's where your debts are wiped out, with those assets of yours that aren't protected by law from being liquidated being sold off with the proceeds being divided up among your creditors.

Then there's Chapter 9.  That's for "municipalities".  The Federal Government probably doesn't meet the definition as currently written, but Congress could fix that.  Imagine wiping out all of the nation's debts with the stroke of a pen.  $16 trillion in obligations wiped out. 

Is that a good idea?  You tell me.

* * * * *

Things I'm pondering this morning:

How do you date exclusively on-line?  Do you watch the same movie streaming on Netflix at the same time and chat about it in another window?  Do you really go public as a public figure that you're dating someone you've never met?  Seems to call your judgment into question.

Famke Janssen is a gorgeous actress.  They're going to uglify (if that's a word) her for a role.  Do actors and actresses choose to play those kind of roles to show that they're more than a pretty face?

Hockey starts today.  Nearly half of the season was missed.  Why didn't the stupid owners and the stupid player's association just get the deal done before the season began?  Did things end up a lot different than a compromise they could have reached then?

Multiplex theaters make most of their money from concession sales, not bargain matinee ticket sales.  So why do they worry so much about people "sneaking" into a second movie, particularly if they're visiting the concession stand between films?

If a bear shits in the woods and there is no one there, does it still stink?  I ask why animals don't need toilet paper, since they have even more hair around you know where than human do, but I don't want to get too gross this morning.

Today is a wonderful day for us L.A. Kings fans.  We get to watch the Stanley Cup banner going up.  I don't own an interest in the Kings.  My family stopped holding season tickets for them almost 30 years ago.  So why does it matter so much to me that they won the Cup?  I'm a fan but I'm an adult.  Is it that we all have a little child in us when it comes to being fans of our sports teams?

The Air Force did inspections of "public areas" and confiscated thousands of items it considered "offensive" or "pornographic".  One of the items taken down was a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader calendar.  So it's okay for the televisions in the common room of an Air Force barracks (they call it a dayroom) to show Cowboy football games where they sneak in gratuitous shots of the cheerleaders, but a calendar isn't acceptable?

* * * * *

No This Date in History Today.  It will return tomorrow.