<p>Gov. Gray Davis will sign the budget the Assembly passed on Tuesday. It's either that or consign the state to chaos.</p>
<p>What different budget could Davis hope to push through, having seen legislators reject his two previous proposals?</p>
<p>If only the extra time had produced a better outcome. The new budget confirms every joke ever made about the quality of work produced by a committee. Instead of facing up the state's fiscal problems, it ducks most of them. Almost $11 billion will be borrowed. Already the next budget is reckoned to be $8 billion short.</p>