Talk About "Bad Debt"

This morning’s New York Times story on some Republican governors supporting the Obama administration’s stimulus plan—specifically, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, Gov. Jim Douglas of Vermont, Gov. M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut and Gov. Charlie Christ—is certainly written by reporter Jackie Calmes with a certain villain in mind: House Republicans who voted against the bill.

Well, we suppose that is one way to look at it; through the prism of who won the news day, who’s up, who’s down. But let’s take a step back and look closer at one of those states: California.

The Golden State has no budget. Its unemployment is at 9.3 percent. The governor today will layoff up to 20,000 state employees and suspect 275 public works projects already underway. Only a weak—or deliberately partisan—mind would fault the Republicans in Congress, and seven Democrats, who think the president’s bill is the wrong way to stimulate the economy.

A much more sophisticated analysis would delve into how California’s leaders have so mismanaged the state’s finances that it needs an emergency $42 billion to stay afloat. And they’re not alone. Forty states in the U.S. are unable to balance their budgets. What could the leaders of these states have been doing over the past few years to create such a toxic economic environment?