If there was a pullback from temporary job losses there would have to be some budget cuts but they would only sting and not fatally wound. The idea that real estate could lose value and on such a grand scale apparently didn’t occur to anyone. That’s another little piece of magical reasoning.

State governments weren’t putting any of the excess money earned during the fat years into an account to create an ample reserve to pay for the vital services during the lean years. Instead they were spending down to the bone while creating an expectation for a longer list of services and a belief that the government is the ultimate safety net.

As it is, most of the states had to include bailout money also known as federal stimulus money in order to create a budget that lawmakers were willing to approve. However, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities most of these states will end up in the same predicament as California with new shortfalls too large to be ignored. The combined expected deficit is $166 billion dollars.

Legislators who want to create any kind of real change ought to be out telling their constituents the bleak truth right now and creating town forums to come up with creative alternatives. Any politician who fails to take action isn’t doing their job.

Inaction won’t put off the deletion of education programs or additional firefighters or a long list of other services. But getting everyone to accept the reality of our current economic condition could result in the beginning of a solution.

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