JOEL KOTKIN ON CALIFORNIA’S BUDGET CRISIS:

Everything was looking good, based on enormous growth in capital gains in tech stocks and property, and some in Sacramento assumed the bounty would last — until it didn’t. The latest bad news is the evaporation of the state budget surplus that is now rapidly turning into a deficit that could run as high as $22 billion to $40 billion, particularly if there’s a recession.

There already is a recession. Notably, Texas and Florida are in surplus. So is Tennessee.