Would someone please fix the government?

As an armchair economist, I get seriously miffed when I read things like this article:
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/careers/articles/0,15114,781000,00.html?cnn=yes

First trade deficits. Then budget deficits. And then there's the national debt. Followed by a plummeting dollar. And now this. I wonder, from a purely academic point of view, what would happen if the union completely dissolved. If left with the total responsibility of self-government, which states would succeed? Which states would fail? I'm thinking Alabama would be toast...