Excerpts from three related stories — read them in full, if you’re feeling irrationally exuberant and want a bit of Debbie Downer’s company to bring you to your senses

From our belwether state, from whence comes all bad trends, this:

California Democrats Expanded Medicaid to Illegal Immigrants and It's Not Going Well

John Sexton, Hot Air:

Just over a year ago, California became the first state in the US to offer Medicaid benefits to illegal immigrants. This was actually the final step in a process that Democrats have rolled out over the past decade.

In 2015, undocumented children were able to join Medi-Cal under a bill signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law an expansion of full-scope Medi-Cal access for young adults ages 19 through 25, regardless of citizenship or immigration status. Access was then further expanded to allow older adults aged 50 and older to receive full benefits, also regardless of immigration status.

The final expansion going into effect Jan. 1 will make approximately 700,000 undocumented residents between ages 26 and 49 eligible for full coverage, according to California State Sen. María Elena Durazo.

"This historic investment speaks to California's commitment to health care as a human right," Durazo said in a statement in May.

As mentioned, the final step began in January 2024 so we've had just over a year to look at the results. You'll be shocked to learn that this program is turning out to be billions of dollars more expensive than predicted.

…. [T]he $9.5-billion price tag of California’s program is already more than $3 billion above the budget estimate from last summer and is expected to grow even higher. In Sacramento, the governor and Democrats in the state Legislature now are under pressure to reduce coverage to bring down costs during a budget crunch...

The cost estimate to provide coverage to all-income eligible undocumented immigrants was $6.4 billion in the 2024-25 state budget approved last summer, which marked an increase from earlier projections.

In February, the Newsom administration told lawmakers at a budget hearing at the state Capitol that the cost of expanding coverage to all immigrants for the current year had ballooned again from $6.4 billion to $9.5 billion. The California Department of Finance attributed the increase to “higher-than-anticipated enrollment, and higher pharmacy costs.”

So the best estimate last summer turned out to be short $3 billion. Now the Department of Finance is asking for a $3.4 billion loan from the general fund to cover the shortfall. That will cover Medical's shortfall through the end of the month.

California will need to borrow $3.44 billion to close a budget gap in the state’s Medicaid program, Newsom administration officials told lawmakers Wednesday in a letter obtained by POLITICO.

That’s the maximum amount California can borrow, and will only be enough to cover bills for Medi-Cal — the state’s Medicaid program — through the end of the month, Department of Finance spokesperson H.D. Palmer separately told POLITICO.

State Assembly Speaker Rober Rivas has already vowed not to cut benefits for non-citizens.

Next: a blast from the past that lives today:

Biden ran up insane bills before he left the White House — here’s how Trump plans to pay them down

Team Trump is battling not only the Democrats and the stock market, but a huge and unproductive spending spree that Joe Biden unleashed in the final months of his presidency, On The Money has learned.

It was an attempt to goose the economy and the markets — so people could forget Kamala Harris was an empty suit on policy and get her elected last fall.

The good news: It didn’t work for Harris.  

The bad news: The bill is coming due.

During the campaign, whispers of Sleepy Joe’s Harris-related spending spree leaked out of the Trump campaign from time to time. But now that the Trumpers are in the White House, they’re starting to tally it up. 

The numbers are anywhere between $250 billion and $300 billion, depending on how you measure and classify the largesse. Robbert van Batenburg, of the influential Bear Traps market report, says his analysis backs up those estimates. Wall Street executives who delved into the matter say the Bidenistas were able to paper over the spending though the chicanery of rolling over short-term debt instead of issuing longer-dated bonds that would have caused a spike in interest rates, a stock market selloff and probably a recession.

However big the bill, everyone agrees that it’s a lot of money that the bloated federal government doesn’t have. You can’t roll over debt forever because investors get wise to the game and then keep demanding ever higher interest rates to lend the government money.

Team Trump tells On The Money the hole they’re in is large and will take a while to dig out from. They are still rolling over short-term debt because they don’t want to upset the interest rates environment. Meanwhile, they’re banking on the cuts by Elon Musk’s DOGE team to make sure interest rates don’t blow out to levels that could cause a deep recession because of all the debt and spending.

Good luck with that. In the meantime, InstaPundit’s reporting on what I — and the folks at InstaPundit — think is a very bad idea circulating around Washington:

Stepehen Green:

HMM: No Taxes If You Earn Less Than $150k. Donald Trump’s Plan Explained.

Lutnick said on Wednesday that Trump’s aim is to remove taxes for individuals earning less than $150,000 per year. He also outlined the president’s other tax strategies, which include abolishing tax on tips, overtime, and Social Security, and implementing significant reductions to individual and corporate taxes.

Lutnick said that the federal government would counteract massive U.S. tax cuts by implementing tariffs on foreign nations and curbing overseas tax evasion.

He noted that many commercial ships sail under the flags of other nations such as Liberia to avoid U.S. taxation. “All those ships are paying no tax, its a tax scam,” he said.

He added that many U.S. companies hold their intellectual property in Ireland because of its favorable tax regime.

“Ireland has a $60 billion surplus… because our companies drop their IP there. They pay Ireland the money — tax scam,” he said. “How about we end the tax scams.”

“The numbers don’t look like they add up but, even if they do, everybody should have at least a little skin in the game.”

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Yes, everyone should pay taxes and the amount they pay should go up with federal spending.

From the comments:

Rush Limbaugh once said if you want a revolution in this country, eliminate tax withholdings from everyone’s paychecks, so that everyone gets their full salary. Now make them write a check to the government each month (like your rent or mortgage, or a credit card bill) for their taxes.

Everyone loves spending other people’s money, even on other people, just as long as they won’t be responsible for the bills. But it doesn’t work that way, and eventually, the bills cone due.