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Peter Robinson at the corner has posted more California budget stats from Michael New of the CATO Institute:

I've found that if California had limited expenditure increases to the inflation rate plus population growth, then the state would have saved $58 billion since 1998. This could eliminate the $38 billion deficit and leave $20 billion for tax cuts. My calculations run as follows:

Year Population Actual spending Limited Spending Savings plus inflation

1998 0.0% $52.9 billion $52.9 billion $0

1999 3.7% $57.8 bilion $54.9 billion $2.9 billion

2000 9.0% $66.5 billion $57.7 billion $8.8 billion

2001 13.9% $78.1 billion $60.3 billion $17.8 billion

2002 17.6% $76.8 billion $62.2 billion $14.6 billion

2003 21.5% $7.81 billion $64.4 billion $13.8 billion

Total savings: $57.9 billion