As President Joe Biden’s administration prepared to unleash $350 billion of aid for states and local governments last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the funds would head off a repeat of the painful budget-cutting that slowed the nation’s recovery from the last recession.
The same day, in Sacramento, California, Governor Gavin Newsom delivered a very different message: Thanks to the surging incomes of the wealthiest residents, the state would have a $76 billion surplus to plow into free universal preschool, helping the homeless and the biggest tax rebate in the state’s history.
Never has there appeared to ...
