In an economic downturn—in fact, at anytime—no one disputes that an individual state lacks the capacity of the federal government to stimulate the economy. Not even Jerry Brown, the governor of America’s mega-state, whose economy is larger than all but seven nations, disputes that.
“We’ve got the plan Obama has been looking for—and if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you, too,” Brown said recently. Even in a state as large as California, he continued, “we don’t have the instruments of massive fiscal capacity that the United States government has.”
In September, 2009 Atlantic Monthly named 
