Yet some municipalities are in so bad a state that no neighbour would dream of an alliance with them.

ECONOMIST: It's an old folks' home out there

The proportion of pupils educated in schools which are in a poor or bad state fell by more than half over the same period, from 37% of pupils in 2007 to 16% in 2012.

BBC: Small rise in primary one to three class sizes

If we measure the wealth of a place by its GDP (not a bad although not a perfect way) then the US state of Mississippi, the poorest in the US, is richer than the average of the European Union as a whole.

FORBES: Mississippi Is Richer Than the European Union

Four of the soldiers were in "a real bad state" with serious swelling on their faces and hands, police said.

BBC: Bees swarm India paramilitary troops in Chhattisgarh

Dr. HERMIETTA EDENBURG (Physician, Doctors Without Borders Hospital, Dubea, Democratic Republic of Congo): The history is that there is diarrhea for a couple of days, so what happens is, in that she is severely dehydrated, and she came in in a really bad state with hardly no pulse or heart action anymore, because of the dehydration.

NPR: Congo Violence Creates Medical Crisis

Law professor Dan Tokaji from Ohio State University says it is not such a bad thing to clarify the rules in advance of the elections.

NPR: In Ohio, Voter Registration Conflict Is Brewing

In states like Mississippi, which respondents to ATRA's survey described as particularly hostile to class-action defendants, local business defendants often have a home-field advantage, whereas other states like New Jersey--home to many of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, and highlighted as a bad place for them to get sued--treat in-state defendants as roughly as out-of-state defendants.

FORBES: The Worst Places To Get Sued In America

And I think it's important, particularly for business leaders here, to understand that fact, that if you see a complete collapse in state and local government spending on basic needs, that that could create a very bad business climate for all of you.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Closes Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth