The New York Times interviewed Shafir for an article on how individuals who are deep in debt worsen their problems by borrowing more money at even higher interest rates.

"The psychological burden of debt not only saps intellectual resources, it also reinforces the reckless behavior, and quickly, Dr. Shafir and other experts said," the New York Times reported.

"Millions of Americans have been keeping the lights on through hard times with borrowed money, running a kind of shell game to keep bill collectors away.

"The average debt for households earning $20,000 a year or less more than doubled to $26,000 between 2001 and 2010, according to the Urban Institute. The averages for households in slightly higher brackets grew by 50 to 90 percent in the same period."

Just as individuals get caught up in the borrow-and-spend cycle, so has our federal government.

It's time for an intervention.

***

AMERICANS remain shell-shocked over the slaughter of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, Conn. But many mass slayings receive scant notice nationally.

Consider the murder of Steven Hendrix, his girlfriend Amber Martin, and Hendrix's two children Dakota, 6, and Kaylee, 4, who were found naked and shot to death in Nicholas County in May. Officials blame a dispute over a drug debt.

Police charged James Roy Belknap, 27, of Leivasy, with the murders, and three other people with four counts each of accessory after the fact.

Chicago's homicide rate is four times the national rate despite the fact that Illinois had the nation's toughest gun laws in 2012. Chicago also has the highest percentage of young men who are gang members, and the drug trade finances most of these gangs.

As the nation ponders what to do to deter mass shootings, it's obvious to many that figuring out how to deter drug-related violence belongs on the list.

***

THE state Supreme Court declined this week to hear a motion to order the reinstatement of Jorea Marple as state school superintendent because the state Board of Education violated the state's open meetings law when it voted to fire her on Nov. 15.

Mountain State Justice, a so-called public interest law firm, filed its motion under "emergency" status. It wanted the high court to intervene immediately to nullify the board's action.

Such actions are usually filed in circuit court and wind up in the high court only later.

Had the state Supreme Court agreed, the law firm would have end-run all the other interested parties in this kerfuffle - including the state Board of Education - and allowed a fringe law firm to shape state policy instead.

The justices seem to have declined to do that.

The state Board of Education, unused to assertiveness, did muff the firing of the superintendent, a will-and-pleasure employee. The board reconvened to correct its inadvertent violation of the open meetings law, as state law allows.

Supreme Court justices declined to serve the contention that the interests of the former superintendent are the most important interests at stake.

In fact, they are not.

***

WHILE West Virginia painstakingly chips away at its corporate net income tax, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has proposed eliminating his state's corporate income tax - and its personal income tax as well.

Jindal wants his state to attract more investment.

Louisiana is right next door to Texas, which has no personal income tax, and Louisiana competes for tourists with Florida, another state that shuns personal income taxes.

Liberals complain that Jindal's plan involves offsetting the revenue loss by raising the state sales tax to 7 percent.

Consider West Virginia's situation. Not only does the state have a personal income tax and a corporate net income tax, but it has a 6 percent sales tax.

Louisiana ranked 44th in median household income in 2011. West Virginia trailed at 49th.

If Jindal's plan goes through, look for Louisiana's income to rise. Some states are not afraid of success.