CALIFORNIA COLLAPSES AGAIN: NEWSOM’S SOCIALIST SPENDING SPREE DRIVES STATE INTO ANOTHER $18 BILLION DEFICIT

California—the once-great engine of American prosperity—is sliding deeper into fiscal ruin, and the latest numbers make one thing painfully clear: Gavin Newsom’s far-left experiment is bleeding the state dry.

The state’s own nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) delivered a stunning warning on November 19, projecting that California will face another massive deficit next year, nearly $18 billion, marking the fourth consecutive year in the red. The LAO didn’t sugarcoat it, describing the state’s financial condition as “relatively weak.”

Despite a short-term bump in personal-income tax revenue driven by the AI boom—wealth generated almost entirely by the private sector, not Sacramento’s bureaucrats—California’s overall economic indicators paint a grim picture. Slowing growth, rising obligations, and shrinking fiscal tools expose a widening gap between what the government promises and what it can actually afford.

Legislative analyst Gabriel Petek admitted what conservatives have warned for years: “The budget condition right now has become relatively weak.” Translation? Newsom’s runaway spending, radical climate mandates, sanctuary-state policies, and endless welfare programs have pushed the state to the brink.

California’s decline isn’t an accident. It’s the predictable result of left-wing economics—tax the workers, punish the businesses, reward illegal immigration, then pretend everything’s fine.

While families flee to red states in record numbers, Newsom continues promoting himself as a national leader. But if this is leadership, America should take note: California is the warning sign of what happens when socialism takes root.

And now, with a projected $18 billion hole and no serious plan to fix it, the Golden State is starting to look more like a failed state than a model for the nation.