"...government made more promises than its economy can easily support."

As this column notes, California is having problems that are repeating at the national level. Do YOU think our Elected CongressWeasels pay any attention to that at all?

Robert J. Samuelson:
Here's the national lesson. There's a collision between high and rising demands for government services and the capacity of the economy to produce the income and tax revenue to pay for those demands. That's true of California, where poor immigrants and their children have increased pressures for more government services. It's also true of the nation, where an aging population raises Social Security and Medicare spending. California is leading the transformation of politics into a form of collective torture: pay more (higher taxes), get less (lower services).