Spreading the Addiction

The Obama Adminstration and the Democrats in Congress have been spending money by the truckload, money that didn't exist up until a few weeks ago. They're not getting it from taxes, they're getting it from the Fed, who is simply conjuring it up out of thin air. It's like crack cocaine for these people. It's completely addictive because it allows them to throw money all over the place and not have to propose tax hikes.

Now California, long the perfect laboratory for progressive policies, wants in on the act.

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer asked U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday to authorize assistance for his state from the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program, warning that depressed tax revenues may cut into basic services and halt the building of infrastructure.

In a letter, Lockyer asked Geithner for TARP assistance for California and "other financially strapped states and local governments which face a severe cash flow crunch."

"If we cannot obtain our usual short-term cash-flow borrowings, there could be devastating impacts on the ability of the State or other governments to provide essential services to their citizens," Lockyer wrote.

Rather than confront their problems, the California Legislature is turning to the Federal government to hand them crack cocaine money out of thin air.