Posted on 10/23/2015 8:55:25 PM PDT by 100American
http://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2015/10/22/can-california-be-saved-n2069002/page/full Never has a region been so naturally rich but so poorly run by its latest generation of custodians.
California endures some of the highest gasoline taxes, sales taxes and income taxes in the nation. Yet its roads and public schools rate near the very bottom of U.S. rankings.
Traffic accidents in California increased by 13 percent over a three-year period -- the result of terrible roads and worse drivers. Almost half of all accidents in Los Angeles are hit-and-runs where the drivers leave the scene.
California has lots of petroleum and natural gas. It used to be a pacesetter in building nuclear and hydroelectric plants. Yet because of inept governance, the state's electricity and gasoline prices are among the highest in the nation.
Why is California choosing the path of Detroit -- growing government that it cannot pay for, shorting the middle classes, hiking taxes but providing shoddy services and infrastructure in return, and obsessing over minor bumper-sticker issues while ignoring existential crises?
The cause is political. California is a one-party state, without any serious audit of authorities in power.
The California State Assembly currently includes 52 Democrats and 28 Republicans. The California State Senate has 26 Democrats and 14 Republicans.
All of the state's executive officers are Democrats. Both of its U.S. senators are Bay-area progressives. California's House delegation is overwhelmingly liberal and Democratic. The party in power can do as it pleases without being held accountable at the polls.
But what turned a once bipartisan and purple state bright blue?
A perfect storm of events.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Depends what youre trying to save it from.
Not unt those darned sea levels raise.
I thought California was doing better the last few years. Now 3 years ago it was down in the dumps but has since improved.
I thought California was doing better the last few years. Now 3 years ago it was down in the dumps but has since improved.
When I left California (L.A.) in 1997, I drove non-stop (except to gas up) all the way to Grants Pass, OR. I didn’t want to spend one second more in California than was absolutely necessary.
Gerrymandering has been the norm for decades in my former state.
Do we as a country have any interest in saving California before it hits rock bottom? Would the concept of tough love require that we make California take ownership of the mess they have made of their state.
It would be better if we ejected them from the union than absorb their debt and future problems.
Thanks, I was born here and live here...
I am staying,them, good riddance
Saved? No, it’s too late for that.
The US itself is teetering on the edge.
Beautiful place. Too bad about the residents.
Take a look at the tax revenue generated by Ca compared to other in the Union...
What happens if that goes away?
California's senators and congressmen would have been expelled from Congress, California would not have been able to vote for president, its residents would have had the same relationship to the income tax as Puerto Rico, and its new governor would have been appointed by the president. Only when it got its act together would it have been able to apply to Congress to be readmitted as a state.
I left the same time you did, and drove to Seattle. I ended up having to pay hundreds of dollars for Washington license plates calculated on what the Washington State sales tax would have been on my car if I had bought it in Washington rather than California. I had jumped from the frying pan into the fire!
Sadly, no. We left after 19 years.....beautiful State, politically corrupt to it’s core. I weep for those who love America, but still live in California.
The feds would have to cut back spending.
Oh, who am I kidding? We’d raise the debt limit.
As they say where I live: Do AZ I did.
Who cares? Cut ‘em loose.
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