That’s how the LA Times is characterizing the latest act in the California budget drama. I would characterize it as “The Unions vs. Fiscal Sanity.”

Reporting from Sacramento – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has put organized labor squarely in his cross-hairs in 2010, opening a fight that will largely determine the shape of his final year in office.
Schwarzenegger’s proposals would cut the size of the union workforce, reduce pay, shrink future pensions and roll back job protections won through collective bargaining.
Labor and the unions’ Democratic allies are already girding for battle.

To quote The Matrix, “What do you need? Besides a miracle.”

The news comes on the heels of a report that, for the first time, the number of union members working for the public sector is larger than the number of union members working for the private sector. As one observer told the New York Times, “There has been steady growth among union members in the public sector, but I’m a little bit shocked to see that the lines have actually crossed.”

A crazy person might observe that unionization appears to be associated with growing government and shrinking private industries. Kudos to Schwarzenegger for trying to buck the trend.