To the half dozen Corner readers who sent emails to correct the math of my friend, Michael New-and who proved so persuasive that I just posted said correction–Michael himself has a reply:

Perhaps the readers are correct in a technical sense. However, I was calculating California’s expenditure growth if a Colorado-style expenditure cap had been in place. The Colorado limit is clearly inflation plus population growth. The text of the Colorado measure:
“(7) Spending limits. (a) The maximum annual percentage change in state fiscal year spending equals inflation plus the percentage change in state population in the prior calendar year, adjusted for revenue changes approved by voters after 1991.”

Whatever the metric, it’s clear that if Gray Davis had held spending to population plus inflation or to population times inflation, California would now be facing a surplus, not a deficit.