The winners and the losers

Winner: One of the most ridiculous bills to emerge from the Legislature this year was HB208, which would allow undocumented students to continue attending Utah state colleges with in-state tuition rates only if they promised not to work while doing so. Thankfully, the House rejected this latest attempt to throw roadblocks in the way of these students, many of whom are children of undocumented workers who are here through no fault of their own. Without an education, they would have little chance to succeed and eventually would cost society in a number of ways.

Loser: Utahns like to pride themselves on their hard work and thrift, but it turns out they were not much different than anyone else during the recent economic boom that came to an abrupt halt. A new report from the Utah Foundation shows that Utah has the 19th highest median mortgage debt in the nation and that non-revolving debt here jumped by $4,300 per household from 1980 to 2007. During that time, debt grew faster than income. People can blame a lot of factors that contributed to this trend, but in the end they can really blame only themselves.

Loser: North Korea just won't play nice, and the worldwide economic downturn is likely making the nation more determined to get attention. Now, the regime seems set on testing a missile that some experts believe could have the range to reach the United States. This could provide an early test for the Obama administration and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A good response would be to shoot the thing off its launching pad.