Posted on 09/22/2003 9:40:55 AM PDT by Vindiciae Contra TyrannoSCOTUS
Perhaps it's fate. California, named after a mythical island of paradise, as described in a 16th century Spanish novel, may have been too good to last. Whether you blame incredible amounts of immigration [nearly 12 million people in the last 25 years or so into a current population of around 35 million], overcrowding, high taxes, or the most socialistic state government in the country bar none, Californians are leaving at an alarming rate.
Of course, there are those who are taking a more sanguine view. They would argue that there have been plenty of migrations in the US, starting with the general "Manifest Destiny" trend westward, even before that term was coined in 1845. There was much movement of industry out of traditional New England centers starting in the 1920's, and there was significant migration of Southern blacks to the North starting even earlier in the 20th century. Notably, there was much movement to California, spurred first by the Gold Rush, and then by the aircraft boom of World War II, not to mention the mild climate. Relax, they would say. This is just another population shift.
Point well taken. Still, it's cold comfort for those who have grown up here, and have seen the changes first hand. We remember when California public schools were the envy of the nation, and we remember when the Los Angeles Times took an arch-conservative editorial stance. We remember city, county, and state politics before their every aspect was dominated by racial overtones, and we remember when film production actually occurred in Hollywood.
Indeed, the very industry that gave California most of its glamour has all but vanished, leaving behind little more than office towers and historical studio buildings filled with administrative functionaries. What other industries might depart the state? Rather, we should ask what industries have to stay here.
Fortunately, agriculture, the foundation of the state's wealth, will top the list. Mining, fishing, forestry, and their secondary processes would round out those basic endeavors that are intimately tied into the physical geography. The military is well entrenched here, but bases have been known to close. Government has been a major employer, but will be affected by an ever shrinking tax base as industry moves out. Public sector cutbacks are inevitable, as are higher taxes, which will cause more businesses to leave, in a truly vicious circle.
Population-fueled enterprises such as education, health care, and construction will change dramatically. At some point, the state will have to bail out of running its impossibly expensive elementary and secondary school system, embracing, I predict, a voucher model. Publicly funded hospitals will be crushed by the burden of illegal aliens, and as the state loses its middle class, builders will either be erecting large apartment blocks or mansions. There will be scant need for new commercial or industrial development.
Given the disastrous employment prospects, many productive and able bodied young people will continue to leave, further intensifying the basic problems. At that point, the state will be forced to create tax-favored enterprise zones to lure industry back into California, but the long-term benefit of such policies is dubious at best. New Hampshire, to name one state, has shown that the most splendid "gimmick" is to have no gimmick at all. Just keep taxes low, workers educated, and the environment favorable for business.
But this precept is lost on an arrogant and despotic Leftist leadership class, that ultimately survives based only on the ignorance and naïveté of the have-nots, and the desperate guilt of so many of the haves. © Copyright 2003 — This report, is submitted by the writer for publication exclusively in Toogood Reports, but remains the property of its author and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the writer's express prior written consent. The opinions and facts expressed herein are those of the writer alone, who is solely responsible for its contents, and does not purport in any way to represent Toogood Reports, its owners or its management. To comment on this article or express your opinion directly to the author, you are invited to e-mail Michael at
HA! You'll have to do better than that to beat us!
We offer FREE tuition to ILLEGAL aliens...
California used to tax the retirement incomes of people who moved out of California after retiring. Can you imagine paying California state income tax if you lived in, say, Florida? The "reasoning" was that the income on which the retirement pension is based was earned in California, so it's only fair that you pay taxes to California on that retirement income after you retired. If IRC, it was challenged in court, and California lost that one.
I'm sure Bustamecha will figure out some other way to tax former Californians. By the time a court finds it unconstitutional, the state will have collected billions of dollars.
The result of high population density.
If immigration of all kinds, legal and illegal, is not halted, that's going to be the fate of every community in America.
Check this. Homes in California are bought as fast as they can build them. Just about the only place left is is the Riverside San Berdo area. On the coastal plain, Orange County, etc the inventory of existing homes for sale is tiny. Prices are very high...Supply and demand....
Check this out.
John Young, a private builder in Southern California's red-hot Riverside and San Bernardino counties, says all 600 homes he'll build this year will have been presold.
All symptoms of the problem.
The most recent statistics show native-born Americans are most of those who are leaving, while foreign-born immigrants are most of those who are entering
It is primarily population growth from immigration that is fueling development.
To such third-world immigrants, currently deteriorating conditions in California still look good compared to where they came from.
Meanwhile, existing Americans--those who know what the good life really is--are running away as fast as they can.
Bull sh*t. Illegals 99.9 percent of the time rent, and rent in the worst areas possible. I don't care where you live, if you put 20 people in a 3 bedroom house, not only the neighbors, but the local govenment would stop that ASAP.
Besides, why would illegals pay California high prices when they could go to Texas and buy a home for 120K? LOL!
Progress toward prosperity would be for homes to become more affordable--not less.
Just like computers are today offering more power for less money.
That is prosperity--which is not what is happening in California.
Maybe that's why those areas are the worst.
Wrong, unlike your post, I'll provide a source.
Only so many low level jobs and affordable housing to go around in Cal. That is why this titanic invason is spreading to all points.......
Check this
Immigrants Enter Country through 'Gateway' States Before Moving Inland, Census Bureau Says
releases.usnewswire.com ^
8/22/03 12:01:00 AM --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- About 60 percent of the 5.6 million foreign-born population who moved to the United States between 1995 and 2000 entered the country through six "gateway" states (California, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois and New Jersey), an analysis of Census 2000 data shows.
At the same time, three of the gateway states New York, California and Illinois had considerable net out-migration of their foreign-born populations to other states between 1995 and 2000. New Jersey was the only gateway state to have net out-migration of natives but net in-migration of foreign-born people.
"One of the major findings of Census 2000 was the overall size of the foreign-born population and its presence in areas outside the traditional immigration gateways such as California, New York and Texas," said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon. "Like the Westward migration of immigrants in centuries past, their movements remind us that opportunities abound throughout our country."
Among the biggest beneficiaries of secondary migration, i.e., foreign-born migrants from other states, were North Carolina (76,000) and Nevada (73,000). Nevada had more foreign-born migrants from other states than it did from abroad.
The new Census Bureau report, Migration of Natives and the Foreign Born: 1995 to 2000, examined Census 2000 data to compare migration patterns for natives (people born in the United States) with people born abroad.
Among the report's findings:
-- Domestic migration patterns of foreign-born and native migrants were similar, with common destinations. Between 1995 and 2000, California's net out-migration rate to other states for its foreign-born people (30.4 people lost per 1,000 foreign-born residents in 1995) was higher than its net out-migration rate for natives (22.6 people lost per 1,000 native residents in 1995).
-- California was responsible for most foreign-born migrants to Georgia, with 19,000 making the cross-country move during the five-year period. -- Nevada had the highest net migration rate of foreign-born migrants from other states, gaining 276 people for every 1,000 foreign-born residents in 1995, while Florida had the largest net migration gain of foreign-born migrants from other states: 89,000.
-- Some states and counties in the Midwest had net domestic out-migration of natives but net domestic in-migration of the foreign-born population. For example, Nebraska and Kansas had native net out-migration rates of 13.1 and 5.2, but foreign-born net in-migration rates of 101.0 and 47.6, respectively.
The report and supplementary data tables, as well as previously published migration reports, are available on the Internet at http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/migration.html. Editor's Note: The report can be accessed at http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p70-92.pdf.
Doesn't work that way. Not in Cal anyway.
Only so much prime land and nice areas available on the coastal plain of So Cal. That is why home prices continue to go up. There is no more room to build, that is why they are building in Riverside and San Berdo. And even out there they are expensive. Even out there, most of the land is not buildable due to restrictions. Again, supply and demand.
Why would illegals pay California high prices, like $400,00, when they could go to Texas and buy a home for 120K? LOL!
Don't believe that BS about illegals buying $375,000 *plus* homes.
That is precisely my point.
If there were not so many people, there would be room for everyone to live on the coastal plain.
And land would be cheap because there would not be so many buyers competing for it.
Could be.
Or it could be native-born Americans are building gated communities and the like, to escape the squald sprawl which is now their old neighborhoods, without leaving the state altogether.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.