A big pie makes lots of slices.

California’s budget problem has been common knowledge for some time. But at a press conference on Friday, Governor Schwarzenegger stated that the situation is basically on the verge of disaster — and that CA legislators should plan to stay in Sacramento for Christmas, in order to work, rather than going home to their families.

Sure, a Republican governor comments that his Dem-majority legislators should stay in the state capitol and do their jobs, because they refuse to pass his pet plan; actually, this sort of thing happens a lot. But, at this point, it’s beyond partisan gamesmanship; the financial stakes are incredibly high in California.

I suspect that we’ll see the Governator go to DC in January after the inauguration, and ask President Obama to help him convince Timothy Geithner to release some of the $700B Paulson-led bailout money, in order to aid California. The state is the eighth-largest economy in the world, and they are flat broke… something has to give.

People have recession fatigue. Now that Americans have swallowed (however reluctantly) giving almost a trillion taxpayer dollars to the U.S. government to distribute however it sees fit in the name of financial rescue, getting them adjusted to the idea of giving some of it back to beleaguered state governments is an easy sell. Getting Congress on board to give help to the most populous state in the Union is a no-brainer too.

Just have to wait and see!