meredith whitney is predicting that we could see 50 to 100 jurisdictions go broke.is your reaction to that number and the fear that it may have stoked in the investors? >> my reaction, and my reaction is one that is echoed by many, many municipal analysts that are experts in our business is that we just can't figure out where that number is coming from. now let's put that in perspective for a moment. if you look back at the number of defaults, from 1970 to 2009, there were four cities and states that declared bankruptcy. and clearly we had some very significant recessions over that time. not as great as now. and even if you look at the number of total bankruptcies in municipals, which includes revenue bonds, backed by a specific project, that number goes up to about 54. by comparison, you had 1700 corporate defaults. so the numbers don't make sense if you look at the percentages of debt that they have outstanding, the percentage of budgets to debts, it just doesn't add up. now the fear clearly has now been stoked. and we have seen that since november. >> jim, let me

meredith whitney who foresaw the mortgage crisis predicts 50-100 cities could default in 2011. this could cost billions of dollars of bond defaults and warrants this is the most important issue and the biggest threat to the economy. and many states are in deep fiscal trouble also. there is the potential we could see some defaults at the state level. i heard what is said about the municipal bond markets not showing any imminent signs of crisis. do you agree this is a serious issue that needs to be confronted? abouton't have a forecast default risk. i think that sounds like a pessimistic view, but something we need to pay close attention to. a lot of cities are under a lot of financial stress. it is something we need to pay attention to because it will have spillover effects. like thatee anything happening. cities will need to take strong measures to avoid default. it is only a short-term solution for local governments because it will be difficult to get back into the market. they will have to pay a higher interest rate. it will be in their interest to avoid default. while there