An IOU scam
By the time you read this, the state of California may already have started issuing IOU's in lieu of negotiable checks. The promise-of-payment certificates won't come due until Oct. 1, assuming the state has the money then -- certainly no sure thing.
The state controller hopes that banks and other public and private institutions will accept IOU's as a negotiable form of payment, but the Board of Equalization has already indicated that it not so inclined.
To review: One branch of state government wants you to accept its post-dated checks, but another branch wants cash on the barrel.
Give us a break. If IOU's are good enough on one hand, they should be good enough on the other. Banks can't be compelled to honor IOU's, but the issuing party -- the state of California -- ought to be. Taxpayers have suffered enough. The state ought to be willing to transfer its own IOU's from the left pocket to the right.
