[OldDeckHand]

"No real way of solving it? Hardly. Fire half of state workers and slash the salaries of all of the rest. Simple. "

Right. Well, that's the solution, but because of some California laws, that may not be possible without first amending the laws, and perhaps the Constitution. Some of these social programs - programs which require employees to operate them - are Constitutionally protected. That's the problem, or at least one of the problems.

[JasonC]

lol. Of course it takes law. All spending does. That's what the bleeding legislature is for.

The problem is entirely different. The legislature doesn't want to solve the problem. They created it.