Why California is No Greece

The esteemed Nobel Laureate and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman recently compared the fiscal crises of Greece and California and found a lot of similiarities between the two states. I'm here to argue that he's crazy.

While the governmental budget situations may bear some similarities, that's about the only similarity.

Greece is a smallish European economy that is dependent on tourism and agriculture. It's a weak sister in the European Union.

California is the world's ninth largest economy and the largest in the U.S., generating 13% of the country's GDP. It is the home of the country's high-tech industry, wine industry and entertainment industry. It has huge defense contractors, a gigantic agricultural sector and a major financial services sector. It is the home of innovation. If any economy can find its way out of crisis, it's California's.

Sorry, Dr. Krugman, but come up with a better analogy.