The per-capita deficit isn't really that meaningful. $1000 a person isn't even that much - each citizen of the USA would have to pay $35,462.89 to cancel out the country's national debt. the reason it's not a problem is because our national debt is only like 75% of GDP. comparatively, California's deficit of $41 billion is only 2.4% of their GDP. it's a little different because California can't print money, but nothing to get all armageddon-y about. raise some taxes, decrease some spending, seize some swiss bank accounts and call it a day.

another point of comparison - we've already given way more than $41 billion to SINGLE corporations like AIG, not to mention bank of america, citi, fannie, freddie, etc. personally, i'd much rather bail out states than corporations. spending money on teachers - the horror!!