I’ve been writing for several weeks about the dangerous budget shortfalls threatening services provided by state and local government, but even I’m shocked by the projections released today. The Sacramento Bee reported that state government faces an operating deficit of $27.8 billion in the next 20 months alone – with additional shortfalls in future years.

The projections were supplied by the state’s new Legislative Analyst, Mac Taylor, who described the situation as “truly awful” and “dire.” Californians are conditioned to bad financial news from Sacramento, but this is the worst yet.