Let me tell it like it is: California is bankrupt. Government workers unions have taken control of the Legislature, just as the UAW took control of the auto industry, and both systems are now bankrupt because greedy people always kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Government workers unions are forcing those Sacramento legislators to raise our taxes to prop up their salaries, their benefits and their pensions so they won't lose one penny during this current national economic crisis. But everybody else in the USA has taken a 40-50 percent hit on their pension funds, and God knows how much on their salaries and benefits. Why should government workers be spared from all that, and why should they be allowed to crowbar this huge gift from us?

The good news is Chapter 9 bankruptcy shines the light at the end of the tunnel, because it allows a federal judge to make those decisions which elected officials are no longer able to make. A federal judge is a temporary dictator who is (usually) benign. We need a temporary dictator because even if the wisest, most capable candidate ran for office today he or she could never get elected or reelected.

Everybody already knows what to do: Besides reducing the vast entitlements, we have to cut back on government employee salaries, healthcare benefits and their outrageous pensions.

But nobody running on that platform can get elected or reelected because the unions have taken over 51 percent or more of the Legislature. So Chapter 9 is the place to go.

On a historical note, the Romans—who endured for more than 2,000 years—always turned to a temporary dictator whenever they were in deep trouble and their elected officials couldn't make the decisions needed to save them. I'm hoping Californians can act more like the Romans and take back their government. John Barchilon Thousand Oaks