As Goes California.....

According to this article from Yahoo Finance, the state of California is attempting to impose minimum wages on more than 200,000 state workers. That means lowering their pay to $7.25 per hour.

I'm guessing that will make it dang near impossible for those 200,000+ workers to keep making payments on their houses, cars, etc...

If that happens, then you are going to have 200,000+ more houses in foreclosure AND 200,000+ more workers trying to attach themselves to the CA welfare system....which also is hopelessly broke.

It sure appears that CA may be starting into a downward spiral.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Some California state workers are preparing to tap into their savings while others already are cutting expenses as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's minimum wage order moved one step closer to reality.

On Friday, the Schwarzenegger administration won an appellate court ruling saying it has the authority to impose the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour on more than 200,000 state workers as California wrestles with its latest budget crisis. It was not immediately clear if the state controller, who cuts state paychecks on a decades-old payroll system, will comply. The office says its computers are unable to make the change until an upgrade is completed in two years.

The effect, however, was chilling for state government workers, many of whom say they have to prepare as if the pay cut will happen.

"I feel like we have a target on our backs," said Robert Blanche, a 20-year state worker in the disability division of the Employment Development Department. "My wife stays at home with the kids. This is our sole source of income. And people are going to lose their homes, lose their cars."

See it here; http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Calif-state-workers-brace-for-apf-1034411212.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=4&asset=&ccode=

California may be representative of what is coming for many, many states. They simply made way too many programs and spent way too much money when times were good.....never even entertaining the thoughts of how they would pay for them when times got bad.

Remember, CA has already gone to the Federal Government to ask for a bail out. (free money) And of course the answer from Team Obama will be, "California is simply too big to let it fail." So they will have no choice but to print some more money and pretend that the free paper money will somehow magically turn California around.

So what about New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Nevada? Will free paper be able to turn them all around when they come looking for a bailout?

How long can we pretend that the emperor has clothes....when we know full well that he doesn't?

How long can the Wizard of Oz keep pulling levers pretending that he controls all of Oz?