I shall correct him on one point, however. I should think that $1 per pound for almonds in the 1950s, vs $3 per pound today, is actually a decline in real dollars.
“Huge numbers, illegality, and the far greater presence of ingenious peoples meant there were more immigrants, more who were poorer and more who did not speak English or even Spanish as their native language-at a time when the salad bowl and hyphenation replaced the melting pot. The result is that there are large areas of Central California that resemble life in rural Mexico. Within a radius of five miles I can go to stores and restaurants where English is rarely spoken and there is no racial or cultural diversity-a far cry from Jeb Bush’s notion of an “act of love” landscape. “
It’s hardly confined to just the rural Central Valley. There’s now plenty of suburban SoCal where this is also the case. Credit to Dubya and the US Chamber of Commerce, and their soul brother Barack Obama. And the best part is that we pay for this to happen through gov’t programs that we never voted for.
Paradise for the few - hellhole for the many with soma distributed to all in this ‘brave new world’ of past nightmares...
I travel to California maybe twice a year, and for anyone who grew up there, it’s like going to another planet. All the wealth has been squished into a tiny sliver along the coastal cities from SF to SD. Plenty of consumer related businesses like Whole Foods and Jiffy lubes in those areas, but the cost of living is very high. The rest of the state looks like the Oaklahoma dust bowl without the dust.
—another great one from VDH—my favorite historian—
The California of the Rose Parade is gone.
From Merced north, family farms are thriving. Especially once north of the Delta in Stockton.
North of Stockton is Almonds, Tomatoes and Olives (an emerging powerhouse). And RICE.
These folks are doing very, very well.
100 acres of mature Walnuts will produce at least $1mil/yr in revenue. No illegals required.
Whereas 100 acres of peaches or grapes in the south will not cover the cost of water and pickers.
Once north of Stockton, California is still paradise.
Unfettered illegal alien inundation has a tendency to destroy nice places.....
The Cheap Labor Express must be proud of their accomplishment.
They must be because they are still trying to prevent us from electing anyone who will stop them.
Wow, sad to read this. I was born in Los Angeles at County Hospital which is in Boyle Heights section of the city. It was mostly populated by poor Jews and Mexican immigrants which is why I love Matzo Ball Chicken Soup with my Tacos...but the changes have been profound. I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley. The Elementary school I went to was primarily white blue collar middle class folks. Today I checked the sight and 95% of the students are either on a full free lunch program or graduated scale. It’s 97% hispanic and 1% White and 1% Black...
VDH nails it...
California I hardly knew ye!
Freegards
LEX
VDH nails it again.
Someday the citizens will demand the infrastructure they deserve, and not be confined to roads, water, energy produced by ancestors. The excess pain of liberal doctrine will outweigh the emotional high.
Will we live long enough?
Check out almonds next time in the store, its more like 10 bucks a pound!
There is a growing movement for the northern counties to succeed from the State and declare a new State called Jefferson. The northern counties only have 7 representatives vs over 200 for the city belt because the Democrat’s stacked the deck so badly. All the mining, timber and farming interests are under city management, which makes making a living impossible.
I personally think it’s a wonderful idea. Properly manages the farming timber and mining interests would generate prosperity for the new State in short order.
But the majority of people living in California are blind to what’s going on—let alone what caused it.
If the Democrats/RINOs are elected, the United States will continue its decline and will fall. Not only will officials be elected who will accelerate the decline, but it will also be a bellwether revealing that there are not enough Americans with the will and clarity to save the U.S.A. from fall and destruction.
The Trump Counter-Revolution promises ascendancy.
The medieval Greeks would see ancient ruins built by their ancestors and call them “Egyptian castle” or “Hebrew castle” because they had forgotten their own history, but knew about the Egyptians and Hebrews from the Bible—these structures were very old so must have been built by Egyptians or Jews. And they weren’t even subjected to Common Core.
Interesting observations, though unfortunately short on any vision for how to fix things.
I want some of those $3 a pound almonds, in costco they are 3 times that.