As we all know, California is in the midst of a veritable budget meltdown. Governor Schwarzenegger is right – painful cuts in programs and services must be made. And, as usual, the brunt of this pain will no doubt be felt most keenly by the poor, elderly and disabled. However, funding for basic safety net services — such as those that feed hungry children and keep families intact and off the streets — must be the last to go, even if it means we must raid the governor’s $4.5 billion rainy-day fund to do so. For the poorest Californians, it’s been raining. Cutting basic safety net services is so very, very wrong, not only for obvious humanitarian reasons (including the fact that we lead the nation in the number of doggie day spas) but because it makes no fiscal sense. Eliminating these services will simply transfer the costs to local resources (e.g., from state to counties) and magnify the harm (e.g., from poor to homeless).