Just a year or so ago Governor Hairgel of California was boasting about California’s budget surplus.

Never mind. It’s vanished.

Independent budget analysts recently pegged the state’s deficit at $73 billion, up from $58 billion just last January. Of reserves, the state has available (about $24 billion).

Jesse Gabriel, chair of the Assembly’s budget committee, “We are saying our prayers and lighting our candles and lighting our incense and hoping that… our revenues come in better than expected.”

That isn’t likely.  California’s employment growth was revised downward last week. Previous estimates had job growth in the tech and professional sectors at 0.9 percent last year, the new estimate showed employment down 1.5 percent.  Job growth was clustered in government jobs and health care, where a majority of spending comes from the government.

What is astonishing is that California is number one or number two in the country in the highest income tax, highest business tax, highest sales tax, and highest gas tax And it still can’t pay its bills. We’re fairly sure that Gavin Newsom will come up with something new to tax. What happens, Governor, when there are no rich people left in the state to tax?

That’s progressivism for you.