California has pulled itself back from the brink of bankruptcy, but it’s not out of the woods yet. For the first time in a long time, California’s budget boasts a surplus, politics in Sacramento aren’t as dysfunctional as they are in Washington D.C., and Standard & Poor’s recently upgraded the state’s outlook from ‘stable’ to ‘positive’. All of that is good news for one of the largest economies in the world, but California must do more to protect itself against dangerous vulnerabilities.

California Democrats have eked out a draw in their ongoing fight with Governor Jerry Brown (D) over what to do with the state’s projected $4.7 billion surplus. Governor Brown will propose a budget using the state’s extra revenue to both pay off long-term debt and let loose the cash flow for the state’s failing public school system. This still looks more like a California in decline than one on the rise.

California’s ‘comeback’ is still looking like so much lipstick on a pig: while the coast enjoys job growth and rising home prices and Sacramento totes billions in surplus cash, the inland districts are bearing the brunt of the costs and sinking deeper into decay.