California budget The Viking takes a crack the latest Paul Krugman piece on the California budget and impending recall election. I, like the VP, will defer to the already on the case Krugman Truth Squad, with Mathew Hoy taking the lead. But I did like this sentence.

Thanks to the end of the tech boom and the bursting of the tech bubble — with an assist from energy price gouging — California's budget has plunged into deficit.

1. Why is "the end of the tech boom and the bursting of the tech bubble" never blamed for the economic decline and rising deficits nationwide, at least when Krugman is doing the ananlysis? It's always tax cuts.

2. Oh sure, "energy price gouging" is to blame. Whatever.