As Goes California,

So goes the nation ?

California's unemployment rate surged to 9.3 percent in December as employers cut 78,200 jobs, pushing joblessness to a level not seen since 1994, the state Employment Development Department said Friday.
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"Economically we're in uncharted waters," Haveman said. "We haven't seen anything like this certainly since the end of World War II and maybe since the Great Depression."

Besides being ground zero for the housing bubble, California is essentially ungovernable now. Tax raises require a 2/3 vote , and state finances are tied up in a number of proposition measures that were passed by referendum.