Something for your weekend:

• The real pain in the economic slowdown will be seen at the local and county-wide level.  Orange County has kicked it off by laying off 210 social service employees and forcing 4,000 others to take an unpaid two-week holiday.

• One of the documents the Yacht Party is wielding is the California Performance Review, which is supposed to save $36 billion dollars by streamlining state government and giving everyone a pony.  Unfortunately, the truth is not quite so cut and dried, as the California Budget Project explained in 2004.  Good thing to remember when you hear this from the GOP.

• Anthony Wright at Health Access correctly argues that cuts to health care would have twice the impact on the bottom line of the budget as tax increases, because state health spending is typically augmented with federal matching funds.  For this reason, it is crucial we do not slash health care and instead invest in it to maintain our federal share of resources.  Darrell Steinberg has signaled that he would like to get all children in the state covered at a minimum, relying very much on those matching funds.

• Oh, and the state’s credit rating was lowered.  Great.

• Michael Lukens at San Joaquin Valleyfornia has the quotes of the week.