About Brown, Budgets, and Prisons

Governor Brown unveiled a "balanced budget" which has not yet knocked down the "wall of debt". In other words, a balanced budget which is anything but.

Now Brown wants to spend more money on poorly performing schools, when the money directed to schools often goes to lavish pensions and benefits and unnecessary, excessive administration.

Now he wants to remove the cap on the California prison inmate populations, citing that the prison healthcare system has improved enough to remove federal control.

The disjunction between the appearance of fiscal solvency and reality of looming bankruptcy could not be better illustrated than in The Times' headline "Brown says state is in the black" followed by a subheading which reads "billions in debt and uncertainties remain."

Perhaps Governor "Moonbeam" has been hanging out in the sun too long, or assumes that voters are completely in the dark. Either way, California remains in the red.