<p>Numerology is the pseudoscience that seeks occult meanings in numbers, but one needn't be an adherent to find significance in the recurring appearance of $8 billion in the state's budget crisis.</p>
<p>That was how much, more or less, Gov. Gray Davis and the Legislature foolishly spent out of a one-time windfall of income taxes three years ago. And that's roughly how much out of balance the state budget has been every year since.</p>
