THE HANDOUT SOCIETY – AT 9:08 P.M. ET:  First the cities, and then it will be the states.  The script is certain.  From Fox:

Grappling with a brutal economic climate, more than 200 of the nation's mayors have descended upon Washington to urge President Obama to help cities out of the fiscal morass they find themselves in as state and federal aid dries up.

Several mayors, attending the annual National Conference of Mayors, met behind closed doors with the president and Vice President Biden on Thursday afternoon. Job creation is high on the agenda as the local executives push the administration to help find work in America's cities and townships, where 85 percent of the nation's population resides.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the group had a "great meeting" in which the president said he would focus on economic development and "the need for the federal government to partner with cities."

"What was clear to me, this is a president who is focused on our cities," Villaraigosa said after the meeting.

More than one-third of the nation's 363 metro areas are expected to have unemployment rates higher than 10 percent at the end of 2011, according to a report released by the conference and Global Insight.

COMMENT:  I don't think there's any chance the House will vote for handouts for cities, especially those known to be profligate.  The question is whether the president has the power to use funds artfully by directing them to cities, in the absence of a specific law preventing it. 

Don't be shocked if state governments follow the mayors to D.C.  California is against the wall, New York is pinned to the wall, and Illinois is through the wall. 

The answer, of course, is twofold:  1) make the economy grow; 2) cut government spending.  There are some signs that both New York State and New York City are starting to confront the demands of public-service unions.  That's nice, but I want to read the fine print in any contracts that are signed.

January 20, 2011