"I wouldn't give your troubles to a monkey on a rock."
Late night talk show host David Letterman sometimes says that about celebrities embroiled in scandal.
But it could just as well apply to the state of California, where the latest evidence of financial turmoil is an unemployment trust fund that leads the nation in the size of its shortfall.
The California Manufacturing & Technology Association reported last week that California's Legislative Analyst office has forecast an $18.4 billion deficit for the fund by the end of 2010. To date, the state has borrowed $6 billion from the federal government in order to cut unemployment checks, and it will probably borrow more, according to the article.
This should be a sobering warning to Washington lawmakers who are considering adding more benefits to a system that's under considerable strain as a result of continued high unemployment.
For the moment, Washington's unemployment trust fund is in relatively good shape. It's in the minority of U.S. unemployment funds not already in the red or forecast to soon be broke, according to this analysis by Pro Publica.
Washington lawmakers would be wise to protect our state's endangered status.
We don't want to end up like California or Oregon.
Or a monkey on a rock.
