> That money has already been spent. If cigarette smoking rates (and thus, profits) drop too much, they have to pay back the money. I don't believe there was a

> That money has already been spent. If cigarette smoking rates (and thus, profits) drop too much, they have to pay back the money. I don't believe there was a clawback provision when the states securitized their MSA claims into Tobacco Bonds. These bonds aren't general obligation bonds and therefore cannot tap into the states general fund. That being said, the states would like to avoid the bad publicity of a default, and thus some states have pledged additional tax revenue as a restructuring plan. In short, there is some incentive on the states end but its not as strong as you implied.