CALIFORNIA'S BUDGET TROUBLES

By William Shughart
Senior Fellow at The Independent Institute

"The fundamental problem here is that governments at every level overspent when economic times were good. Now that the recession has brought the chickens home to roost, all are engaged in desperate attempts to shift the burden of paying for past extravagances onto others' shoulders. A more principled response – although not one which should be expected from self-serving politicians – would be to cut government down to a size that taxpayers can afford and to supply the public goods and services for which they are willing to pay." Read more.