CaliforniaGov. Gavin Newsom issuing the Trump administrationfor pulling back $4 billion in federal funding forhigh-speedrail. But President Donald Trumphasnt actually derailed any trains. And all the lawsuit has really done is expose the trainwreck that isCalifornias fiscal situation.For months, Newsom hasbragged aboutCaliforniahaving the worlds fourth-largest economy andsending back more moneyto Washington than it takes in. Hes right, but hes also conveniently ignoring thatCaliforniaalso boasts the nationshighest real poverty rateand a projected budget deficit as high as $20 billion.That just scratches the surface of the fiscal messCalifornians deal with every day not just in Sacramento, but at every level of government.Lets start with thehigh-speedrailproject. Voters approved it in 2008to run from San Francisco to Los Angelesat an approximate cost of $40 billion with a completion date of 2033.As of June of this year, the projected cost was as high as $128 billion with no track laid.CALIFORNIA'S GREEN NEW SCAM COULD COST YOU $20,000Los Angeles residents know this kind of bureaucratic ineptitude all too well. Complex and sometimes conflicting county and state environmental regulations played an important role in theclosure of the countys second-largest landfill, Chiquita Canyon, at the end of 2024.Residents now have to fund theadded expense of hauling trashto a landfill farther away while local politiciansobsessover "price-gouging" by those who haul and handle residents garbage. Taxpayers are burdened enough with the political junk Sacramento sends their way; local officials would be a lot more useful if they reduced, instead of added, to the heap.Los Angeles, meanwhile, cant seem to provide essential services at any price, gouged or otherwise. Check out all of thefire hydrants that didnt workduring the recent fires andthe empty city-run reservoirnearby. Anyone who oversaw those failures and still has a job is gouging taxpayers with every paycheck.Paying for incompetence is bad enough, but what about corruption? Thats what taxpayers across the state have funded for years as officials in state, county and city governments havecolluded in aMedicaid reimbursement schemeby allowing government-owned providers to chargeas much as 13 timesmore for certain services than the private sector is allowed to charge.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONNotonlyhas this practicesqueezed private providers, thereby limiting care options for non-Medicaid patients, but it has allowedCaliforniato paper over itsunfunded pension obligations for government employeesby pocketing the difference.And those obligations will come due faster than policymakers prefer as the nationshighest cost-of-livingandtop marginal tax ratescontinue to drive taxpayers and businesses out of the state."Businesses that want to grow and parents who want to provide for their families have been moving out ofCaliforniafor a decade, especially to states like Texas and Florida that have no or minimal income taxes," said Vance Ginn, Ph.D., chief economist for the Office of Management and Budget during the first Trump administration. "And that trend isnt likely to reverse itself because lawmakers and regulators up and down the state keep spending more and regulating and taxing themselves out of residents."Cleaning upCalifornias fiscal mess will take a lot more than creative accounting tricks, piecemealing federal funding grants and soaking the taxpayers like theone-time windfall of capital gains taxes that created the temporary surplus in 2022. It requires reining in out-of-control spending while also reducing the regulatory burden on residents and businesses.Thats why Newsoms lawsuit over the train funds isnt about infrastructure. Its about image. His flip on gender identity issues and sudden support for reducingCalifornias atrocious housing regulations were sops to "the middle," but he also wants to make the Left happy by showing he can stand up to Trump. At federal taxpayer expense, of course, all the while claiming that hes keepingCalifornia"innovative" while basic governance collapses underneath.CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM MICHAEL FEUZ