Dan Walters: Out-of-staters gleefully delve into California's woes

Sacramento Bee ^ | 7/15/9 | Dan Walters

[SmithL]

National Public Radio is running a series of broadcasts this week called "California in Crisis." And NPR is not alone.

Network and cable television news shows, public broadcasters, major out-of-state newspapers and countless magazines are taking turns recounting and analyzing California's economic and fiscal travails. The tone of many reports is found in the German word "schadenfreude." It means taking pleasure from the distress of others.

The state's periodic social and economic upheavals have always generated that kind of media attention, something along the lines of "tarnish on the Golden State." But the current spate has an even edgier tone, suggesting that this time, it's worse and at least semi-permanent.

One example is California journalist and futurist Joel Kotkin, writing in Forbes magazine: "But the fundamental problem remains. California's economy – once wondrously diverse with aerospace, high-tech, agriculture and international trade – has run aground. Burdened by taxes and ever-growing regulation, the state is routinely rated by executives as having among the worst business climates in the nation. No surprise, then, that California's jobs engine has sputtered, and it may be heading toward 15 percent unemployment."

The Economist, a sober-sided British magazine, compares California to Texas, noting that the Lone Star State's economy has weathered the national recession nicely and suggesting it may have replaced California as the place creative and ambitious people flock to for opportunity.

The Economist cites "dysfunctional government" as a major California problem. It adds, "No state has quite so many overlapping systems of accountability or such a gerrymandered legislature," and describes the state's ballot measures as the "crack cocaine of democracy."

[SmithL]

Burdened by taxes and ever-growing regulation, the state is routinely rated by executives as having among the worst business climates in the nation.

Life in this Workers Paradise!

[ConservativeMind]

Yeah, you’re dang right that I’m enjoying California’s pain.

I love to see the idiocy of liberal thinking cave in on liberals.

[martin_fierro]

On the upside, our chickens now have the right to nice, roomy cages.

[Vigilanteman]

There is nothing wrong with California that kicking out most of Los Angeles County and the coastal areas between Marin County and Santa Barbara wouldn’t solve.

[EagleUSA]

The Economist cites “dysfunctional government” as a major California problem. It adds, “No state has quite so many overlapping systems of accountability or such a gerrymandered legislature,” and describes the state’s ballot measures as the “crack cocaine of democracy.”
::::::::::
In the seventies, Taxifornia was the model state of the nation. It was number one financially, in education quality, in business climate and activity, in productivity, and demographics. We had CONSERVATIVE leadership in the governor’s mansion and in the legislature. We had normal, healthy business minds responsibly running the state. It truly was THE GOLDEN STATE.

Then the fools in the state started bringing in LIBERALISM. And everything has gone down hill ever since. This state is in the crapper thanks to runaway spending, runaway confiscatory taxation, and demographics that cannot be easily differentiated from Mexico. It spends WELL OVER $10 BILLION per year to support an ILLEGAL ALIEN LIBERAL VOTING BASE all courtesy of the state taxpayer. And now the liberals have spent the state into oblivion — refusing to CUT SPENDING AND TAXATION AND REDUCE THE ILLEGAL ALIEN WELFARE STATE —— this is what you see today. Individuals and businesses leaving the state in record numbers and state revenues falling faster than we even know.

Liberalism and the power-mad fools that enable it are sick. They have destroyed a once-beautiful state that its residents were proud of.

[BikerJoe]

On the upside, our chickens now have the right to nice, roomy cages.

Which must be why they've all come home to roost.

[bill1952]

Well, Kalifornia alway bragged that it was the leader in the U.S, that it was the cutting edge, that as goes Ca, so goes America.

It goes both ways.

[ScottinVA]

I’m from there and still have family living there, but I will never call CA my state of residence again. I prefer to live in the USA. By repeatedly electing candidates who tax and spend with abandon, whaddaya expect? My dream scenario is all conservatives (this time, not libs) migrate out of CA to neighboring states and reorient those states’ political direction back to the right. Meanwhile, leave the (formerly Golden, now) Corroded State to the libs and mexicans to pick over the carcass. CA is a lost cause.

[Ev Reeman]

I live in California and I am so glad to see what is happening here.

Not so much the loss of jobs or the pain and suffering many people are feeling and experiencing because of the state, but because this is what happens when you have a state run by libtards for decades. They sink states into higher taxes and more spending in a vicious unending circle. The same is true of Michigan, Illinois and New York. Maybe just maybe this will start to wake people up about the libtards. One can only hope.

[Buckeye McFrog]

True “schadenfreude” was demonstrated by a Michigan politician who sits on a board which determines the disposition of water from the Great Lakes. (water cannot be diverted out of the Great Lakes watershed unless this board approves, and Michigan always casts a veto). In a televised interview he stated, and I quote...

“So, you wanna move out of Michigan to get away from our snow and our high taxes, and move out there to Phoenix or Vegas for the warm weather, sun and low taxes? Well F**K YOU! You’re NOT getting our water!”

[CIB-173RDABN]

You are correct.

The socialist control ballot boxes in the big cities along the coast.

Not all Californians are socialist. We just do not have a voice. Even when we managed to get a proposistion passed to control the state it is immediately attacked and taken to court where the liberal judges search for a way to toss out the will of the people.

I am in the camp that hopes California goes bankrupt. Continue spending the way they have in Sacramento will only mean we will face this same issue next year.

[Seaplaner]

On the upside, our chickens now have the right to nice, roomy cages.

Good point, Martin. Way to accentuate the positive.

I might also add that are building a very nice bullet train. Now what other state in bankruptcy is can claim that?

(And, I want to be among the first to not ride it.)

.

[Richard Kimball]

Maybe some are getting enjoyment out of California's problems, but I know I'm not. When I go to a car wreck, and a drunk driver is dead, I get no pleasure from that. It's a confirmation of what I know happens. There are direct results of actions.

What we're seeing in California right now is the direct results of actions taken over the last few decades.

[GonzoGOP]

Now we are not supposed to criticize the people of California, or New York for that matter. How many years did we have to deal with LA Law and other TV shows and movies telling us how wonderful life was in California. We were pummeled with insults and told how all of us hicks in the flyover country should be like California. I remember the ‘70s when the people in California were pointing at the shuttered factories of the rust belt from their Silicon Valley mansions and telling us how we should all be like them. To the people of California, turnabout is fair play, and payback is a b!+ch.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[Oldexpat]

There are a lot of conservatives, like me, in CA. We just are outnumbered by ignorance and malice.
The only real solution will be bankruptcy driven. They state and cities are in fact bankrupt now. They don’t have enough money for current obligations and especially not enough money for future obligations.
Tax revenues are sinking faster than the forecasts they use for the budget. Unemployment is rising at an alarming rate.
They have at least a 25% deficit without the retirement obligations. There is no solution if they don’t disenfranchise the illegals and their offspring.
My guess is that they are waiting for things to get so bad that they must insist that the USG step in. We need to be prepared to fight that.

[mewzilla]

From Laffer, Moore and Tanous and their must-read book, The End of Prosperity....

Bankruptcy 90210

A preview of coming attractions.

[M203M4]

California needs to do what New York is doing - pay for media stories which extol the virtues of the state, with an emphasis on the cultural strengths of its largest cities (I know I chose my state and city of residence on the basis of nearby art houses, performances, and such...not) as well as “the high concentration of skilled, educated workers” (which are apparently like geographic features - immobile). At this stage, only propaganda can be used to convince investors and entrepreneurs to expand or remain in New York, New Jersey, or California.

The daily fishwrap distributors are low on cash, but I am not sure if they yet take IOUs.

Helpful verbiage for pimping California:

- the schools are not dysfunctional - they are differently functioned (and must be swell because spending per capita is so high!)
- crime is not rampant - the social fabric is “unique” and reflects a vibrant cultural framework which transcends American ethnocentrism and normative behavioral roles ascribed by traditional regressive, reactionary influences
- taxes are not a burden; taxes are a blessing because they permit for the transport, education, and health infrastructure that modern businesses need to succeed. Plus, compared to a few European countries, taxes aren’t so high anyway...
- regulations are not crippling; regulations are needed to ensure healthy environments, safe workplaces, equitable living standards, and general oversight needed for businesses to thrive and to promote the life-work balance demanded by the new generation of young workers. If you don’t like 100% of existing and pending regulations, it also means you want dirty water, dirty air, and poop covering all the food you eat. You also hate children.

[ridesthemiles]

“So, you wanna move out of Michigan to get away from our snow and our high taxes, and move out there to Phoenix or Vegas for the warm weather, sun and low taxes? Well F**K YOU! You’re NOT getting our water!””

Locals need to have this fool removed from office.

[fifedom]

"The only real solution will be bankruptcy driven. "

Sadly this will no longer be true. The Dems have a bill that says cities can't declare bankruptcy unless they say they can. So the only solution is to get the h*ll out of the state.