Found this in the comments to that prof's blog post: http://www.scribd.com/doc/36538677/1004-Bbg-Professors-and-P...

Basically, yes - pensions are a problem. But the graph on the number of California gov't employees that lost their jobs vs. private sector employees may be misleading because we _need_ the public sector employees to service basic needs in the state, and California employs one of the lowest number of public sector employees per capita of any state.