[cured]

Arnold isn't that bad actually, he's just up against a machine that doesn't like being tinkered with. California has a lot of budgetary problems, much of it has to do with union money-grabbing in terms of outrageous salaries for some sectors and incredibly inflated pensions in others. The voters take a lot of the blame for passing a lot of the propositions that come along during election night. People don't understand (as was the case with me) that the propositions aren't covered in any part of the budget; if passed, the assembly has to find ways to pay for them. So we borrowed for awhile but we just can't do it anymore.

Housing is a different issue; a much more systematic issue. Responsible home-buyers were really screwed when the market inflated only to come crashing down. There's a lot of people out there with negative equity who have never missed a house payment. It's sickening.