The state budget picture is much, much worse. From the Financial Times:

Once the US’s richest state, California now has the dubious distinction of having the worst credit rating in the country....

California’s fiscal year ends on Wednesday but as the state’s cash reserves are empty, IOUs will be issued to a range of creditors, including contractors, such as information technology companies and the food service groups that cater for prisons.

ALSO: An unrelated tech note. We've had some reports of RSS feed problems, which we think we'v now got fixed. If you're having problems, please shoot me an e-mail.

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