Peace is prosperous! This graphic proves it. (My mirror of big image originally published here.) (Thanks, Yahoo.)

Almost three-quarters of U.S. states, led by California, face the grim task of plugging budget gaps next year, even as the sour U.S. economy digs this year’s fiscal ditches ever deeper, fresh data showed on February 4, 2003. The National Conference of State Legislatures said a survey of legislative fiscal directors showed at least 36 states would have to cover a collective shortfall of some $68.5 billion as they prepare their 2004 spending plans. (Reuters Graphic)