"I'd like to get your perspective on what your assumptions are, because obviously things could get a lot worse here."

That was the question put to the CEO of Fannie Mae, the huge government-sponsored mortgage lender, in November 2007 about mortgage assumptions.

The CEO's response:"[T] here's a fundamentally sound business...

During the current state budget crisis we've heard a lot about "kicking the can down the road." Of course, everyone knows what that phrase means in the traditional sense -- "to put off" -- but not everyone understands what it means in a fiscal sense.

It boils down to...