Moody's, one of those debt-rating agencies politicians love to hate, has slapped a warning of possible rating cuts on five U.S. states - Maryland, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and New Mexico - that depend heavily on federal money to help meet their own budgetary needs. The trigger for downgrades would be a failure in Washington to resolve the debt ceiling crisis soon.
By sheer coincidence, two of those states, South Carolina and Tennessee, are among a dozen cited Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as having obesity rates of 30 per cent or higher. No wonder their health costs are soaring. Most of the fatter states are also firmly in the Republican camp. Now that they know the risks if the debt limit isn't raised, maybe chubby voters and worried state treasurers will start leaning on their Washington colleagues to do something about it.