Bloomberg.com describes the condition of state debt across the U.S. With private business unemployment reaching new heights (along with state debt), state governments remain resistant to reducing state pensions and laying off state employees: the two biggest causes of state debt. In some cases the government even continues to add jobs while the public sector struggles to stay afloat.

Click Here to read the article.

This article in the L.A. Times describes how the national recession will continue to shrink state budgets in 2010. For California, this means not just budget cuts, which failed to balance the budget in '09, but possibly eliminating entire, state-wide programs like CalWORKS (California's main welfare program) as well as possible tax increases.

Click Here to read the article.