Los Angeles
Gov. Gray Davis warned last week that California would have to slash health and education spending, and lay off thousands of workers to close a budget gap that could reach $25 billion over the next 18 months. States across the U.S. are suffering their worst fiscal crisis since World War II. California lost a fortune in taxes on stock gains when the dot-com bubble burst, making its deficit the biggest of all. Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson Jr., a Democrat, said it was “mathematically impossible” to balance the books without raising taxes. “If we fired every single person on the state payroll—every park ranger, every college professor, and every Highway Patrol officer—we would still be more than $6 billion short.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
The Finest Summer Flavours -
Today's political cartoons - May 20, 2024Cartoons Monday's cartoons - flags flipped, Diddy dunked, and more
-
Diddy admits to beating girlfriend after videoSpeed Read Though he previously denied allegations of abuse, Combs apologized for abusing Cassie Ventura following the release of new CCTV footage
