[SauronOfMordor]

They could fire every state employee and still be $6 billion in the hole. Fixing this will require major tax increases.

Raising taxes would result in an exodus of businesses and the middle-class. Remember the NYC experience

The only real way out for California is to terminate the Welfare State. If they made a real effort to assist the INS in deporting all illegal immigrants found on the welfare rolls or in the public schools, the budget would be balanced in a couple of months

[Thud]

Welfare is mostly an unfunded federal mandate, especially for medical care, and we're being creamed by illegal immigrants too just from school enrollment. Reimbursement for those federally inflicted problems would resolve about half the deficit. California is disproportionately affected by those two issues compared to the average for other states.

The other half of the deficit is definitely our responsibility alone, but it would be a lot more manageable then.