No fair share for California

If you're looking for the Tuesday Hotsheet, it's here, a couple of posts back. Excuse me for ducking in....

As you know, rarely do banks do any kind of critical thinking well, and so often their timing is just plain bad---but yesterday, against the backdrop of a dry, smouldering Southern California, City National put out a press release that should make the southland's leaders burn a little hotter too.

I'll quote in part:

An overwhelming majority of California voters disapprove of the fact that the state's taxpayers send $52 billion a year more to Washington, D.C. than they receive in federal benefits, according to a statewide poll commissioned by City National Bank. The results released today also show that California voters want presidential candidates to address this issue during the 2008 election campaign.

Everyone has a general sense that California doesn't get a fair federal share, but to demonstrate how much of a deficit $52 billion is---well, for starters, that would be the low estimate of roughly the same amount that bond investors will lose off the subprime fiasco---you know, the one that's threatening global economic stability. The only difference is, that's a one-time hit to the globe, but California ships $52 billion or thereabouts out of state to pointless highway projects in Vermont and gravy trains in New Mexico every damn year.