Not content with wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on a high-speed train to nowhere and homeless programs that only make the problem worse, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has also presided over the bankruptcy of the state’s unemployment insurance program — a problem that will now require higher taxes on employers, which will only make the state’s unemployment rate, already the nation’s highest, even worse.

The underlying problem with California’s unemployment insurance system is that it simply promises more in benefits than it collects in taxes from employers. Californians applying for unemployment benefits receive $385 a week on average, which is higher than the average national benefit. But because the state is so expensive, that payment only represents about 28% of the average Californian wage, a percentage that is below the national average. Once on unemployment, Californians typically spend weeks longer on the program than do recipients in other states.