The headline, rushed online yesterday by news outlets looking for a scoop, makes it clear the state's budget woes aren't getting better. Maybe even worse.

But deeper inside the new in-depth analysis of the Legislative Analyst's Office are examples of a government budget system that's evaporating faster than the polar icecaps.
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The second and final day of then-versus-now comparisons by the venerable Field Poll makes it easy to see how the seeds of discontent and disagreement have flowered among partisan voters in California these last three decades.

In short: Democrats are more liberal, Republicans are more conservative, and hot button issues have little chance of striking consensus. And some of the only unanimity is found in pessimism.
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