hard-pressed states like california and new york. they re cutting. we re seeing significant cuts in programs and jobs. over the past year state and local government payrolls declined by a couple hundred thousands. they re doing both, raising taxes, cutting spending but having a hard time closing the hole. the problem is taxes are racessed on the wealthy but that alone is not enough. there s back end taxes as well. do you think, mark, ultimately we re going to have to have higher taxes, state and federal, on the middle class? i think everyone has to share in the burden and higher tax rates on middle income households is probably likely. hopefully policymakers focus on the spending and try to reign in the growth. that makes more sense. at the end of the day the budget holes are so large the problem is it s hard to cut spending. pensions are contractually