One California -- Or Two?

Townhall.com ^ | September 12, 2013 | Victor Davis Hanson

[Kaslin]

Are the recent raves about a new California renaissance true?

Rolling Stone magazine just gushed that California Gov. Jerry Brown has brought the state back from the brink of "double-digit unemployment, a $26 billion deficit and an accumulated 'wall of debt' topping $35 billion."

Unfortunately, California still faces existential crises.

The unemployment rate just went back up in July to 8.7 percent. That is significantly higher than the current national average of 7.3 percent. Such a high rate of joblessness is a bad omen when the Democratic-controlled state legislature is pushing for the mandatory minimum wage to reach $9.25 in a little over two years.

The "wall of debt" is not $35 billion. According to the State Budget Crisis Task Force report that was issued in January, California debt ranges from a minimum of $167 billion to a staggering $335 billion.

To close the budget deficit, Brown cut expenses, but he also just raised already-high income, sales and gas taxes to the nation's top levels. We won't know the full effect of those costs on either businesses or the ongoing exodus of the more affluent for months to come.

Yet why was California ever in a fiscal crisis at all?

[Smokin' Joe]

I wonder how much the unemployment rate would drop id California sent the illegals home?

[Smokin' Joe]

id=if.

More coffee...

[Gaffer]

When all else fails, just lie about the numbers and hide the debt, raise taxes businesses again, put more restrictions on cigarettes and guns, and get a stoner magazine to hype it all up.

[Izzy Dunne]

If the object of the game is to drive everybody out, then they’re doing a bang-up job.

[Impy]

This isn’t what the article is about the headline makes a good point, the Republican counties need to separate, it’s immoral that millions of decent people have to live with the poor decisions of LA and the Bay Area.

[Riley]

There’s a movement afoot to do just that. Not a new concept, but watching it anyway. Jerry Brown suggested that they all ‘move to Arizona’.

http://www.jeffersonstate.com/

I used to live in Del Norte County, in the middle of it. Might move back, if they can pull it off.

[Impy]

Yeah I know about the State of Jefferson idea, old proposal. It used to be a fairly serious one. It’s not now, just a historical curiosity. Someone calculated Presidential election results for it as if it existed. It would be a GOP leaning state. Check it out.

http://www.ourcampaigns.com/ContainerHistory.html?ContainerID=58996

But it’s not exactly what I had in mind because that’s just a small part of good California (plus Humbolbt and Mendocino which are BAD counties and a bunch of good Oregon counties that Oregon needs to keep).

Auh2orepublican came up with an idea to divide it in 5.

It think it would be easier to get a real movement started with the idea of dividing it in 2.

The new state gets all the Romney counties

http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=2012&fips=6&f=1&off=0&elect=0

Plus San Diego, Riverside, San Bern, Fresno, Mono, Merced, Stanislaus (Republicans running close in statewide races carry those counties), Alpine and Imperial. The last 2 are now hopelessly rat but small and geographically you’d have to include them. A few years ago I would have included San Joa but it looks too far gone.

The only decent counties left in old Cali would be San Luis Opispo and Ventura, Santa Barabara’s gone to hell. This would leave us with one heavily rat craphole and a state that should lean our way and have plenty of electoral votes. Someone better at math could figure it out.