You're only $16 billion in the hole right now. Give it another 6 weeks, and it'll be another $500 million, or so.

Yeah, yeah, chump change...

Spent a few hours in Malibu yesterday afternoon. The misty light was like Heaven, only with with better ocean/mountain views. The South of France is for wimps.

There were a couple 20-ish kids in the park on motorized skateboards. They had footstraps like snowboards, battery packs, individual servos for each wheel, and wireless remotes that the guys held in their hands (that looked kind of like power drills) for steering (along with skateboard style-leaning).

"Whaddya call those?," I asked. "Motorized skateboards!," he said. "We built 'em ourselves!"

I told him that when I was kid, California used to be known for that kind of innovation. I worried that it was a matter of time before the government demanded some kind of license and ruined it for everyone. He said yeah, with four wheels, he was afraid they'd be categorized as cars... Top speed was 30 MPH, which wasn't much much slower the the world's finest BMW's were doing on the nearby Pacific Coast Highway.

At 53, my bones are probably too brittle and my reflexes too slow, but Good God it looked like they were having fun. He didn't have a website yet, but I gave him a card and asked to be put on the mailing list... I should have offered to invested in R&D. It would be a fun way to commute to work.

Our city is better than your city.

I think part of the problem is that people look at the federal debt, and compared to that, California's $16B looks like lunch money. It's a perception thing. Of course, a big difference is that, barring some extraordinary shenanigans from Washington (and I'm not totally discounting the possibility), the state of California is not authorized to print its own money. The CA legislature doesn't seem to get that.

California will just find some way to confiscate Steve Jobs estate for every penny. That will pay off the bills.

It smells like jasmine here, and I didn't have to pay $700k for my house!

It's lilac smelling time in my neck of the woods. I grew up in AZ and I really miss the year-round sunshine (not the ass blistering heat, though).

              California
         38   Population (Millions)
             
   $ 16,000   Deficit this year (Millions)
      $ 424   Per Capita
    $ 1,698   Per family of 4
             
    265,000   Total Debt (Millions)
    $ 7,029   Per Capita
   $ 28,117   Per family of 4

Tweet & tweet.

Nonetheless, we have better sexual intercourse out here than you have back there.

Clearer, more-eager foreplay; sharper, more-focused climax; warmer, more-languid afterglow.

So we've got THAT going for us.

Which is nice.

Also, at least on the west (wet) side of the 405, Amy's correct: It smells nice.

I have a Granny Smith apple tree about 10 feet from my office window that is flowering out, buzzing with about a hundred black superball sized honey bees and purple moths.

You've just summed up why it is that CA can be so far in debt.

No one believes you can be broke in the sunshine.

Haiti and Cuba also have great weather, and benighted governments.

Drove through the Shenandoah Mountains yesterday, taking youngest daughter to an orchestra event at a college in the western part of the state. Brilliant sunny weather, light traffic, green and forested all over -- I do like my Virginia.

Although I sure would have liked to have seen those powered skateboards.