California

Over at Forbes is an article, an equal opportunity condemnation, on the situation in California.  The author condemns both the current Governor and his predecessor.  He uses analogies to the late Soviet era to suggest that the leaders in California don't yet understand how serious the situation is.

He does make the point that the voters are ahead of the political leaders.  For example, talking about the planned high-speed♠ rail line down the Central Valley, he notes:

The most recent LA Times poll currently finds nearly three in five California voters would like to see the project scrapped.

Then there is the fact that two cities voted last week to reform pensions for city civil servants:

The most auspicious sign of grassroots support for perestroika was last week’s smack down of public employee unions in San Jose and San Diego.  For the first time in recent memory, the unions suffered a humiliating defeat — the measures passed by a margin greater than two to one — as voters endorsed deep reform of the pension burdens bringing these cities to the brink of bankruptcy.  Backed by its Democratic mayor, Chuck Reed, San Jose’s measure B aims to reduce pension benefits for both future and current hires.  Unsurprisingly, the public employee have threatened to sue.

I love[d] California, from being a resident for over three decades, but I would not like to have to give tax money to DC so that the Congress could bail out a failing California.  But, we wouldn't have much choice, would we?

Hat tip to the Instapundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  At 220 mph it is actually in the "high speed" area.  But, it is not on the bleeding edge of technology, as one might expect from California.