Nearly every state faces a budget shortfall these days, one that will have to be made up with higher taxes, reduced services, or a bailout from Washington. California, with a $21 billion budget gap, is in the worst shape of all...

California Stops Dreaming

Uncle Sam can print the cash
To fill his ev'ry need,
But states must tax or cut way back
When revenue streams bleed.

So now we see a sorry sight
As states to Sam go begging
To keep their fiscal boats afloat
While not on debt reneging.

Remember when we all aspired
To California dreaming?
The golden state's now much changed fate: 
A wake up call demeaning.

*****

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"Nowadays, you can't turn on the TV without some talking head telling you about the economy. Yet, in a world overrun by 'analysts,' only one man has the guts, the brains, and, quite frankly, the poetry to put it all in perspective.That man is Michael Silverstein... Silverstein is a true intellectual." — Gersh Kuntzman, The New York Post

"Few people have found much to laugh about in the stock market this year. Michael Silverstein is the exception. The Bard of the Bourse can find humor in losing money, globalization and stock options." — USA Today

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