- The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that cities & counties are not allowed to repudiate their debts.
A matter taken for granted today apparently that was not always so.
We may see this issue of debt repudiation again, if, oh say, certain, ahem... states were to declare, ah, disunion... - Perhaps the most famous personality of the time, Charles Dickens, is now considering a second visit to the United States.
His first visit in 1842 did not go so well -- Dickens felt defrauded & cheated by Americans and it left a bad taste in his mouth that never really left him.
So now the media breathlessly reports he's planning a second visit, and sincerely hopes we'll be able to make up to him what we did wrong the last time.
Dickens at his desk, 1858:
Here is what Dickens thought of us in 1842:
- "First and most serious is slavery.
Apart from its corruption of both whites and blacks in slave states, the free states are complicit in the system.
In particular, he is horrified by the physical violence vented on both male and female slaves. - "Next, he places violence.
The ideals of liberty and equality seem to include the freedom to shoot or knife any other American. - "Third, he cites what he calls universal distrust, the extreme individualism that leads people to suspect others and to seek advantage over them.
With a few exceptions, the scandal-seeking press contributes by undermining private life and destroying confidence in public life. - "Allied to this is the overriding commercialism, with the urge to pull off a smart deal and the idolisation of successful businessmen.
In this capitalist jungle, he finds most people far too serious and puritanical, lacking humour and a wider perspective. - "Finally, in too many places he finds standards of personal cleanliness and public health still very primitive and is particularly disgusted by the almost universal habit of spitting."
- "As for the politicians, Dickens concluded that, like everyone else in America, they were motivated by money, not ideals.
'I am disappointed,' he wrote in a famous letter.
'This is not the republic of my imagination.'
Washington, Dickens blasted in American Notes, was the home of: 'Despicable trickery at elections; under-handed tamperings with public officers; and cowardly attacks upon opponents, with scurrilous newspapers for shields, and hired pens for daggers'. "
And to top it all: Americans stole money from Dickens by refusing to pay him royalties for printing his works.
Fair to say, Dickens was p*ss*ed as h*ll at us, and would take an opportunity, should it present itself, to seek revenge.
So naturally, Americans loved Dickens, a love which Dickens will not return until near the end of his life...