How bad are things in California?

Well, the Golden State is on the brink of insolvency. Victor Davis Hansen writes of, "Abandoned farms, Third World living conditions, pervasive public assistance -- welcome to the once-thriving Central Valley."

Over a hundred-mile stretch, when I stopped in San Joaquin for a bottled water, or drove through Orange Cove, or got gas in Parlier, or went to a corner market in southwestern Selma, my home town, I was the only non-Hispanic — there were no Asians, no blacks, no other whites. We may speak of the richness of “diversity,” but those who cherish that ideal simply have no idea that there are now countless inland communities that have become near-apartheid societies, where Spanish is the first language, the schools are not at all diverse, and the federal and state governments are either the main employers or at least the chief sources of income — whether through emergency rooms, rural health clinics, public schools, or social-service offices. An observer from Mars might conclude that our elites and masses have given up on the ideal of integration and assimilation, perhaps in the wake of the arrival of 11 to 15 million illegal aliens.

But the elites always take of themselves.

This financial crisis is forcing California State and local agencies to make some tough decisions. If things continue for much longer, there's a real risk that we may have to lay off Jose.