Here's a story about the budget crisis in California but it could be about any state, now or in the future. It's a pretty simple story: Citizens in the abstract want the budget balanced and spending slashed…but they don't want to give up any services or see their taxes go up. Take note of this 'graph…
Political figures often campaign on the notion that budgets can be brought swiftly into line by curbing waste, fraud or abuse. Schwarzenegger himself argued that he would find billions in savings that way — only to recant after he was elected and few easy cuts could be found.
That's kind of the way it is everywhere these days. People and politicians believe there's all this massive waste that can be pruned but once they have to identify it, it's suddenly impossible to find. One of the reasons I liked Jerry Brown for the governor job is that he may get us to the core of this problem. If he can't find cuts, nobody can.