Posted on 12/27/2009 8:57:57 AM PST by Starman417
It is becoming increasingly clear that the structural deficit in California cannot be solved by any means available to the legislature, by economic growth, or by just plain luck. It is time to think the unthinkable: that the only way for California to get its financial house in order is through bankruptcy.
A few decades ago, California was a Republican state. It was growing like crazy, had great roads, top public schools, top universities, and a vibrant growing economy. Drawn by the nice weather, a business friendly environment and all sorts of creative capital formation, entrepreneurs in technology, biology, engineering, health, and you name it flocked to the state. The universities turned out well educated graduates that stayed in the state and fed the almost insatiable hunger of the business community for intelligent, trainable employees. People young and old flocked to California which they rightfully perceived as a land of opportunity.
Things started to change in the seventies. Opposition to the Vietnam war had been strong in California and as the war wound down, that opposition, already organized around radical principles, began to assert itself as voters, electing ever more liberal local and statewide politicians. Gradually, the state became majority democratic and the legislature and many of the municipal entities became Democrat controlled. A left wing anti-business tax and spend regime gradually took hold and became firmly rooted.
The peculiar way in which the legislature organizes itself gave the Speaker of the Assembly almost dictatorial power and hidden away in Sacramento, there is essentially no fourth estate scrutiny over legislative activities. A succession of Speakers starting with Phillip Burton, then Willie Brown etc. came from San Francisco and the Bay Area, long a liberal bastion, and they were able to control the ebb and flow of legislation such that left wing constituencies were rewarded, municipal unions were strengthened and the teachers’ unions gained complete control over public education. Regulation after regulation was imposed on business and a vast array of social welfare and related programs were enacted. It is estimated that regulations in the state currently cost nearly $500 billion per year. As long as the revenue was there, the legislature could find ways to spend it. Gradually, funding was shifting away from infrastructure maintenance and away from education and toward a miasma of social programs. Deferred infrastructure maintenance grew and grew. State government insinuated itself into nearly all aspects of life. Businesses large and small began to move from the state to escape these burdens.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net ...
The exact same thing could be said about the federal employee compensation system.
Illegal aliens have turned California blue. The state has 12 percent of America’s population and 32 percent of America’s welfare population. That, in a nutshell, is what is killing California.”
I moved there in 1964.
I left there in 2004.
YOU are 1000% correct.
Tried to stem the tide of the illegals- and the Federal judges turned over the voting populace time and again.
Let the Federal judges that added to this mess explain themselves.
Illegal immigration and liberalism killed CA. Also killed MI and a few other states.
And we still put these basTURDS in office.
Hell, why don't they move to Cuba and Venezuela or Africa and he happy there in that destruction?
The Communists Party (formally the Democratic Party) are corrupt criminals that destroy everything they touch. And the blind voters that follow that party are so brain washed that all they want is the Government to support them. Sad that is what America has become. Little over half of the population does get it but have been and has lost power to hold the Constitution and smaller Government. Less regulation and less taxes to stimulate business and personal income. That is the growth that California trashed.
Those on the left will insist that it was a failure of capitalism as they are led off in their straight jackets.
It was a state run by business friendly, Republican promulgated regulations; and, at its core, was free market and Constitutionally sound. Then, Democrats (socialist/communist factotums to the CTA, SEIU, and Mafia) took over to transform California into a workers' paradise. Remember, from each according to his ability, to each according to his need? The ability for the majority of Californians to to extend a clutching hand, and their needs are extensive. In the barrios of LA and the lush spas of San Francisco, the voters all pull the donkeys tail on election day.
Deport illegals too.
Mein Gott! Dat’s phunny!
Did California do that? Or are you thinking of the giant federal projects dating back to the 1930s?
The courts can neither levy nor collect taxes. And the appropriations of any legislature are only good for the duration of that legislature (i.e., the acts of one legislature cannot bind its successors).
Therefore, these phony "contracts" entered into by executive officials with public employee groups cannot possibly be valid.
If they actually secured the border, developed all of California’s energy reserves, and then once again made agriculture a water priority California would come back in no time.
Good article, although it left out a few items. First, Southern California was hit hard by naval shipyard closings. Also, aerospace and aeronautical industries in the state started playing states off of each other in trying to obtain the largest tax abatements. California lost some of those manufacturers as well. Also also: earthquakes, fires, and mudslides are very expensive.
LOL! Sad. Rudy is a better man than that. Sad he is a RINO. McCain looks like an evil ghoul there. Arnold you face is so tight from steroids und der plastik surgery.
Not this legislative body.
I can think of several, but they would mean not getting re-elected for the politicians involved.
California, a good place to be from.
Actually the insurance disasters brings money in for reconstruction from all over the world. They are a net gain.
The Defense took a hit in the early 90’s but has recovered somewhat. Some Defense industry left the state due to regulation and expenses.
When the citizens voted to cut off any financial assistance to illegals..the state Govt allowed the lowest court to void the election results. They should have pursued it all the way to the supreme court.
Lots of California public-financed water projects and private utilities built their own infrastructure. There weren’t a lot of federal projects here like the Bonneville Power Authority and the TVA. Congress was involved, e.g., it passed an act (Raker) that allowed the building of the Hetch Hetchy dam.
I read that out loud to my family. They were all ROFL.
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