[SmithL]

But our politicians keep telling us that bonds are free money.

[A_Former_Democrat]

And that we should continue to encourage illegals coming here and give them support and amnesty . . .

[coloradan]

If every state had the fiscal (ir)responsibility of CA, the aggregated state debt would be a cool $25 trillion, in addition to the federal amount. It makes Obama look like a tightwad.

[immadashell]

The impending burst of the public debt bubble will make the mortgage debacle look like a walk in the park. Who could have caused that?...hmmm...may have something to do with earmarks, pork and other reelection insurance policies.

[Lancey Howard]

The biggest chunks of debt, however, are the unfunded obligations for pensions and health care of retired public employees.

Yep. The scumbag politicians, with all their patronage pork and circle-jerking, have raped the place dry.
Congratulations, California.

[Deo volente]

In 2008, the silly voters in California approved a $10 billion bond issue to build a 220-mph "bullet train" between L.A. and the Bay area. Actual cost estimates are around $40 billion. Who knows what the final cost will truly be?

[Oldpuppymax]

Hey, take it easy on the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia. It’s political elites are very, very busy importing Mexican gang members and putting them on welfare while forcing law abiding citizens to provide fingerprints for the purchase of ammunition! The leftists-in-charge are taking care of the IMPORTANT things!

[Logical me]

Environmentalists are responsible for much of California's debt. They drove business by the thousands out of this State with regulations that have no scientific reason. Protect little fish and dried up millions of acres of farms as only one small example. Add this to the constant spending of monies that the State did not have. And another drain is the millions spend on illegals.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Q: Just how deeply in debt are our state and local governments?
A: No one knows for certain, since debt is scattered through myriad agencies in many forms, but well over a half-trillion dollars is a fair estimate.

Sounds like the state is run by the CRU over at East Anglia University. They probably moved offices and threw away the original data.

How the hell could a State NOT know how much money it owes? Where are the accounting agencies? This is outrageous.

[pointsal]

Hmmmmm.... what an opportunity for forensic accounting, journalism, public service, university economist...the list goes on.... What's the tally?

Surely, some under-employed dot.com database guru has a few lines of Filemaker available to start the running tally. Post a website, so the grassroots folks can input local debt and watch the list grow!

[votemout]

...................and please more services to illegals.

[cranked]

Impending Implosion ..... impending.....implosion.

[BAW]

But . . but . . save the bullet train. //sarc//

[Lou Budvis]

You know its bad when Bill Lockyer (dim) is the voice of fiscal sanity.

[Soothesayer9]

And the porn industry has done such wonders for California.

Just sayin.

[Clintonfatigued]

California is in even worse shape than I thought. I’m glad I got out of there.

[airborne]

“Will you take a check for that, or can I just use a credit card?” ;^)

[Enchante]

"The biggest chunks of debt, however, are the unfunded obligations for pensions and health care of retired public employees"
aka "socialist vote-buying funds at taxpayer expense"

[Fresh Wind]

But our politicians keep telling us that bonds are free money.

They also tell us that debt is wealth.

War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.

[rbosque]

They have been issuing bonds lately. It’s all worthless paper.