A warning shot in California:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to permanently fix California's "broken budget system." But three times now he has tried and failed to smooth out the state's roller coaster revenues.
Voters on Tuesday resoundingly rejected his latest effort, a package of budget-balancing measures that he promised would provide a short-term patch for the current financial crisis and prevent further catastrophe in the future.
Instead, he now faces a $21.3 billion budget deficit and a budget system that has not changed a bit since he took office nearly six years ago.
California, in the words of the Atlantic's Megan McArdle, "is completely, totally, irreparably hosed." The state will eventually "figure out whether it wants higher taxes or lower spending." The whole country needs to figure that one out, and
