Whalen: `California Will Default'

``Municipal bonds have plummeted in recent days, as investors have suddenly focused on huge state and city budget deficits that there's no easy way to fix. Nowhere has this collapse been more visible than California, which faces a massive $25 billion shortfall and red ink for as far as the eye can see... Whalen thinks that California will default on its debt--hammering all the pension funds and other investors who have loaded up on apparently safe state bonds.''

Whalen thinks that the Republicans controlling Congress will prevent a bailout. I'm not so sure. Republicans have always caved on bailouts in this crisis... why stop now? Will the "Tea Party" class have enough clout to do so? I'm not holding my breath.