If CA were a nation state, it would be Venezuela. Caracas was a shiny tourist destination and natural resources were abundant. A communist thug with violent mobs could tip the southern half as it stands, though it seems there have been mini versions of this over the years.
Peter Thiel described CA’s economic model as a kind of Western Saudi Arabia. Just swap Big Tech for Big Oil. His point was that the wealth brought in from Big Tech masks a lot of underlying problems. But might not do so forever.