Jobs down the drain

As our economy drifts off into the dark night, states and educational systems will find themselves more and more like this story from Sacramento.

Sacramento County is sending another 700-plus workers to the unemployment line.

That news came Thursday with the Board of Supervisors' passage of a fiscal year 2010-11 budget, a $1.94 billion general fund spending plan that will mean widespread reductions in programs and services countywide.

The severity of the layoffs will hurt the area's still-reeling economy, experts say.

"It's a significant loss of jobs and a significant loss of income," said Jeff Michael, director of the Business Forecasting Center at the University of the Pacific. "If it were a factory laying off 800 people this would be a major story, and it's no different with county government."

The good times are over for teachers and government workers. The money is all gone.

Margaret Thatcher once said that "The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."

It's all over but the shouting and the shouting will be substantial.