Who doesn't have their hand out these days?

Between the banks, auto makers and the mothers of high-profile multiple births, we've got more people looking for public assistance than Venezuela.

Sorry if I sound a little annoyed, but I thought we reformed welfare back during Clinton's first term. The latest? Seems the Florida insurance commissioner -- apparently killing time until hurricane season -- is in D.C. this week looking for his slice of the federal bailout pie.

Commissioner Kevin McCarty hit Capitol Hill yesterday, telling anyone who'd listen that he needed (and I'm not making this up) an unlimited line of credit to shore up the state's hurricane catastrophe fund. Yeah, while the rest of us debate the latest federal stimulus plan, McCarty's looking for a blank check.

According to a press release from the nonprofit Competitive Enterprise Institute, Florida's CAT fund, "which imposes a potential $32 billion liability on the state of Florida, has only $2.8 billion in hard assets and plans to issue bonds to cover other liabilities. Given that no state has ever sold more than $11 billion in bonds all at the same time, however, it appears unlikely that Florida could even come close to paying the Cat Fund's debts."

So, like the overextended homebuyers, greedy mortgage brokers and rock star spending lenders that got us into this mix, we have entire states sidling up to the public trough.

I'm not necessarily a big think tank fan - not enough action for me -- but I've gotta agree with Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer, who directs CEI's Washington-based Insurance Project: "This is a really, really bad idea."

Public assistance as public policy will put us all in public housing.

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