Bonds and protests from Greece to California

Like Greece, the state of California postponed bond sales last week. Some $7 billion in Greek debt is being sold today while about $2 billion in California bonds are now rescheduled for an auction sometime next week.

Also like Greece, protests in the Golden State are on the rise, the understandable response to budget cuts by a population whose government has spent far too much for far too long. According to this AP report, the situation is now getting dangerous enough that University of California officials are telling people to stay away from campus.

Officials at the University of California, Santa Cruz are telling employees and others to stay away from the campus because of safety concerns involving protesters.

An advisory was posted Thursday on the school's Web site urging people to avoid campus as protesters upset about funding cuts block main entrances.

It says a windshield was reported smashed. Police began turning cars away from the campus' main entrance around 6 a.m.

The protest is part of nationwide demonstrations against cuts to education funding on what's being called the "March 4th National Day of Action for Public Education."

It's hard to believe that, many years ago, higher education in California was virtually free. If memory serves, college costs there have been rising rapidly in recent years but are still less expensive than most of the states in the U.S.