It could be worse…

For as bad as Wisconsin’s 5.4 billion dollar budget deficit is, things could be worse, as evidenced by California’s massive budget deficit:

The state faces a $28 billion budget shortfall over the next two years. If nothing is done, nearly $5 billion in public-works projects could be halted in little more than a week for lack of bond sales – everything from bridge replacements to a new highway tunnel and billions of dollars’ worth of school construction, according to state Treasurer Bill Lockyer.

Now a 28 billion dollar budget shortfall is bad, but the news gets worse:

The picture worsens next spring if legislators don’t pass some plan to increase revenues or cut spending or both. California will run out of operating cash in March, state controller John Chiang told the lawmakers. The recession has severely squeezed state tax revenues.

Lawmakers in California and Wisconsin have blamed the economic downturn for worsening the budget deficits in both states, but I’m just glad I don’t live in California, considering the fact that there’s been no talk of Wisconsin running out of operating cash at any point in the near future.