Posted on 11/14/2012 12:50:36 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Elections have consequences. There is little doubt that the reelection of President Obama will have far ranging consequences for the country. The last two decades of legislative elections in California have had enormous consequences for California and the U.S. more broadly. After 18 years of spending, taxing and regulating, the most resource-rich state in the Country is facing underemployment in excess of 20%, huge perennial deficits and failing schools. Sadly, the worst is yet to come.
California has unprecedented problems. Estimates suggest that the pensions for the state and local governments are underfunded in excess of $650 billion over 6 and half times the yearly revenues of the state. The yearly operating budgets the last decade have featured deficits larger than the budgets of twenty states.
California features the 3rd highest unemployment rate in the nation with a million less people working today than 10 years ago, and nearly a 1/3rd of the U.S.s welfare recipients. California has suffered the worst of the foreclosure crisis, including having 8 of the 10 worst foreclosure areas.
Californians have lost over $2 trillion in homeowner equity since 1997 a number that exceeds the size of its yearly economy. Amidst such sorry news, since 1998, 4.4 million taxpayers have left the state in search of better economic climes.
The fortunes of the California Democrat Party have far exceeded those of their constituents. For the last 18 years, the Democrats have had majorities in both the Senate and the Assembly. They run the show regardless of who is governor.
Even so, the Democrats and the press blame the Republicans for quite a list of alleged wrongs most significantly holding up budgets and taxes.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Well, Now, with the implementation of Californias massive Global Warming law set to take effect, not to mention the passage of huge sales and income increases, California will be the highest taxed and regulated state in the world.
It already ranks last in the U.S. as a place to start a business because of taxes and regulations, and is witness to many employers leaving the state.
That’s what you get when you have the highest concentration of liberals in the nation in one state. Chaos...
Born, raised, educated through college, and worked (until my layoff in September) in California my entire life. Neither my wife nor I are interested in moving out of state, although Arizona is possible (how much longer until CA inflicts AZ with its crud?!). Just hoping to be able to sell our home and downsize to another area of the state before the real estate market completely collapses.
How about another tax surcharge on the rich to bail CA out?
They are victims here :)
RE: How about another tax surcharge on the rich to bail CA out?
Actually, Non-californians must be resigned to the fact that YOU will be bailing them out.
California’s fate is the future of America. It is a symptom of the disease seizing the rest of the country.
The federal spending cuts toward the end of the federal default process (haircuts, austerity measures) will be rough for California. It might look something like Greece if not worse.
The late great state of California is doomed.
“Thats what you get when you have the highest concentration of liberals in the nation in one state. Chaos...”
Thats what you get when you have the highest concentration of illegal immigrants in the nation in one state. Chaos...
\Fixed it.
Can’t fix stupid and apparantly in Ca. can’t vote it out either.
California state park scandal: 'Budget-crunched' department sat on $54 M fund
Other than this, things are pretty good!
Hollywood is going to be in trouble when it gets too expensive for the young girls and boys to come out and reach for their dreams. The studios may have to pay room and board.
Turn the dogs loose.
We have to sell our business in SoCal. Interested anyone? We want to move to WY.
I live far away from California. I also like to see if economic theory does indeed have predictable consequences in real life. Therefore, I am waiting anxiously for California's economic armageddon, kind of like waiting to see how my garden turns out this year.
If you audited most school districts you would find the same thing.
It has been at least 20 years since the Republican party presidential nominee contested to win the state of California in a general election. So general election after general election, California languishes, it’s 55 electoral votes going the the Democrats by default.
Our in-state Republican party leadership won’t support Conservative candidates in-state (or out for that matter).
So what we have is a state with one functioning political party. Each election it gets worse. Each election California is denigrated more.
Folks in states back East are happy as can be to have the candidates fight for their votes. We hiss and moan about states with 4, 7, 19 electoral votes. The candidate shows up there ten times, and we lose the state anyway.
It just doesn’t dawn on them, that if you appeal to the people of California on sound principles, you can affect a number of things positively, in addition to the chances of the national candidate.
Pretty funny joke to folks back East, until you begin to think about what things are impacted by this.
California’s Republicans might just as well not show up at the polls. The guy at the top of the ticket that is supposed to fire them up, doesn’t. Countless Republicans stay home on election day. Vile initiative after vile initiative gets voted on by Democrats whose candidate does come to the state.
Our gubernatorial candidates get no national help. The Democrats pull out all the stops for their candidates. Top names come to the state. They make great sounding defenses for Liberal’s policy. Our guy can’t get television air-time because there are no big names here.
So California is blamed for abandoning Conservatism, and the fact that no Conservatives from outside the state come here, is lost on folks who think they know everything there is to know about the state.
Wait until the Republicans stop going to Ohio, South Carolina, Florida... begin to get the picture folks? When the main national candidate takes a pass on your state for twenty years, we’ll see if Conservatism is flourishing in your state.
You know what the outcome will be there though, don’t you.
So go ahead and blame California. You cut it loose decades ago, when we tried to tell you what illegal immigration was going to result in. I guess we shouldn’t expect you to listen now either.
And so it goes, until the next general election, when the national party will ignore Hispanics and the rest of us in-state, and then bitch about how goodies won the day.
No, ignorance, and abandonment won the day. Again!
4.4 million taxpayers have left the state in search of better economic climes.
No doubt a large percentage of this count contains liberals who voted for all the policies which caused the California economic collapse in the first place. They’ll go to neighboring states, vote the same way, experience the same results ad inifinitum...
In the end they’ll always wonder why things were so great before they got here and so lousy when they’re forced to leave never once considering the cause was them.
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