I always find it curious when policymakers repeatedly ignore unambiguous historical data in the hopes that somehow things will be different this time.  I've detailed several examples in previous posts.  I have not, for the most part, touched on the states and how their experiences are regularly disregarded by federal officials.

Within our union we have 50 examples of various courses of action and their resulting assortment of outcomes.  It's correct that the states are not truly independent units; they are impacted by a variety of federal and other external stimuli.  Nevertheless, you'd think there's still much to be learned by comparing and contrasting the way in which their individual economies are managed.

It is not coincidental that the states who consistently find themselves in the most fiscal difficulty are the ones who are a study in governmental excess.

There are many examples, but California is the prototype.  As someone who lived there for over six years, I can comment first hand.  The not so invisible and extremely heavy hand of Republican and Democrat rule has left the state in shambles.  Isn't it amazing that people are surprised when the combination of ridiculously excessive individual and corporate taxes, coupled with egregious over-regulation of everything regulateable, has led to massive budget deficits, a dramatic outflow of capital—human and business, and striking levels of inequality?

As Californians frequently remind us, all major trends start there.  Congress, as well as our current and past President, are certainly doing their destructive best to make sure that axiom holds true.

California is now faced with a budget deficit expected to exceed $42 billion.  In the legislature's collective effort to grapple with the situation, they are actually contemplating tax increases.  That's right, in order to protect their absurd culture of spending on entitlement programs and far out of the mainstream causes, they may find it "necessary" to raise an individual income tax already near or above 10%; a corporate tax that can exceed 10%; a sales tax rate among the highest in the country; excise/luxury taxes that are mind boggling, and a host of other fees and taxes.

Of course, the kicker is, that despite all of this spending, CA still has substandard infrastructure and public services, and the eighth worst income inequality gap in the country.

Sounds peachy, doesn't it?  Hope so, because it's coming all of our way.  The outrageous fiscal irresponsibility of the federal government has only just begun.  There are several more massive spending initiatives queuing up.

It simply won't work.  It never has.  We'll continue to be in deep and deepening trouble until our "leaders" stop impeding our quasi free market system from working its magic.  The path to shared prosperity is not lined with government spending.