You're going to tell me that red Texas or Florida are so well managed that they dont run state deficits? Obviously not. But your hatred of blue California and the reality that it's running a surplus is giving you hives? I know, it doesn't fit the narrative of the poorly run Socialist state.. darn!
Texas and Florida have balanced budgets. That doesn't mean they are well-managed, of course. https://ballotpedia.org/Texas_state_budget_and_finances https://ballotpedia.org/Florida_state_budget_and_finances
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/20/texas-deficit-comptroller/amp/ https://www.floridatrend.com/articl...d-275-billion-deficit-for-2021-22-fiscal-year
Don't forget to look at debt. What's that of Texas? Maybe around $62 billion? How about Florida? Is it about $21 billion? But, compare that to California—something like $363 billion! And Florida and Texas manage this with no income tax according to AARP (Apr 8, 2021)!
The boom in the stock really worked for California. The market gave it a surplus of $75B which is something unbelievable. I am sure California did not expect that.
It is both more interesting, and more valid to look at the debt per capita, but this could still be misleading as the per capita numbers should be corrected for other factors, including per capita income. When your look at the uncorrected debt per capita you arrive at CA 9K , TX 2K, FL 1K.