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Tuesday, February 16, 2010 12:57:01 AM
>>California Crashing...Be Afraid America
Crashing and Burning, California Style: Be Afraid, America, Be Very Afraid
Posted by James Hudnall Feb 6th 2010 at 11:53 am in Economics, Featured Story | 12862Comments(121)
http://bigjournalism.com/jhudnall/2010/02/06/crashing-and-burning-california-style-be-afraid-america-be-very-afraid/Crashing+and+Burning%2C+California+Style%3A+Be+Afraid%2C+America%2C+Be+Very+Afraid2010-02-06+19%3A53%3A15James+Hudnall
California has long had the reputation of being trend-setter to the nation. The Golden State was practicing Obamanomics back when Barack was still called Barry. And now its ways are catching up to it like a hard partier who looks in the mirror one day and sees the portrait of Dorian Gray staring back at him.
Get ready America: California’s unsustainable path is echoed by the federal government. One will crash before the other, giving us all a preview of things to come.
Part of what is slowly destroying California is its move from a land of plenty to a land of locusts. The state taxes and regulates resident companies to such an extreme extent it has driven many of them, and many tax-paying citizens, to other states. For decades California was a place to migrate to. Now it’s suffering an exodus. The fault lies in a political shift from being a conservative, low- tax state to a statist, high-tax nanny state. Californians used to be the freest people in the United States and the world, and now? Not so much.
A recent Heritage Foundation study of economy freedom found the U.S. to be No. 8 on the list, down there with Chile and under quasi-socialist Canada. California has been a leader of governmental policies for years, and whichever new law they pass usually makes its way east to Washington. Look where that got us.
You can trace the problems back to assemblyman Willie Brown’s tenure as State Assembly Speaker for 15 years. He was so effective getting entitlements and other statist policies through that Republicans had to get a term limits bill passed to retire him. By then the rot had set in.
Not surprisingly, Brown hails from San Francisco, the town that gave us Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. It’s the worst run city in the US, and the flagship of what today is arguably the worst-run state. What a sad descent from the vibrant place of plenty and promise it was in the 1950s.
If driving away tax revenue producers wasn’t enough, California has over five hundred government agencies, departments, and commissions regulating just about everything under the sun. Such as the California Acupuncture Board, the California Avocado Commission and the California Children and Families Commission. A search on some of these commissions will find plenty of articles about questionable spending and waste. When you compound that with the fact they all have massive payrolls you come to the other card holding up this shaky edifice.
CALPERS (CALifornia Public Employees’ Retirement System) is a time bomb, like Social Security and Medicare. Many people depend on it, and it may financially collapse the state. For decades, people thought government jobs were the safest bet for long term retirement and benefits. But the money paying for that comes from somewhere. Namely, the taxpayers that the state has been driving away. The Wall Street Journal noted that:
Approximately 85% of the state’s 235,000 employees (not including higher education employees) are unionized. As the governor noted during his $83 billion budget roll-out, over the past decade pension costs for public employees increased 2,000%. State revenues increased only 24% over the same period. A Schwarzenegger adviser wrote in the San Jose Mercury News in the past few days that, “This year alone, $3 billion was diverted to pension costs from other programs.” There are now more than 15,000 government retirees statewide who receive pensions that exceed $100,000 a year, according to the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility.
Many of these retirees are former police officers, firefighters, and prison guards who can retire at age 50 with a pension that equals 90% of their final year’s pay. The pensions for these (and all other retirees) increase each year with inflation and are guaranteed by taxpayers forever—regardless of what happens in the economy or whether the state’s pensions funds have been fully funded (which they haven’t been).
It’s no surprise that so many people have sought government jobs. President Obama wants to lure college students who take government loans to take government jobs. Many of his schemes involve, naturally, more public sector jobs. We already have more people working in civil servant jobs than in the private sector. Government jobs only exist by taking money from tax payers to fund them. That means there are more vampires that blood donors.
California is going broke. It spends more than it takes in and it shows no sign of stopping. The state could easily cut tons of worthless projects and commissions. They could make California more attractive to businesses by cutting taxes. They could try to change their union deals, which are out of control. But they seem more likely to just ask the federal government to bail them out.
Take a look at the CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report) for the state from 2008 to see what kind of money they’re playing with. The numbers listed are in the thousands, so it’s higher than it looks at first glance. The United States is being run the California way to a much more ridiculous degree.
And that way lies madness.
http://bigjournalism.com/jhudnall/2010/02/06/crashing-and-burning-california-style-be-afraid-america-be-very-afraid/
Comments (119)
+7 Vote up Vote down Ewald_the_Black 58p · 1 week ago
California's a wreck. I should know, I live there. Our city and state governments spend money on ridiculous crap, our bureaucracy is a bloated, inefficient wreck that lives to squeeze every single, solitary cent it can from its citizens. Our legislature is trying to add a $200 Billion dollar single-payer system to the existing budget we already can't pay for with a criminal rate of taxation.
Wherever the Corps stations me will be better than here.
+5 Vote up Vote down Randyl2 86p · 1 week ago
$100,000(retirement) x 15,000(retired) = $1,500,000,000 per year
- retire at age 50 with a pension that equals 90% of their final year’s pay -
Life expectancy is 78, so that's 28 years at 90% pay
SWEET
2 replies · active 1 week ago -6 Vote up Vote down naturalfake · 1 week ago
Will the G.O.P. man up?
Or are they
A PARTY OF CRAWFISH?
http://naturalfake.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/a-par...
3 replies · active 1 week ago
+6 Vote up Vote down Tennessee_Jed 94p · 1 week ago
There is no better example than the not so golden state as to where socialism leads. (B. Obama: "justice includes economic justice.") Fortunately, at the national level, people are seeing this trainwreck coming and may be able to jump out of the way at the last second.
2 replies · active 1 week ago
+6 Vote up Vote down ALLAMERICAN 87p · 1 week ago
California a once great, proud state ravaged so bad that the Feds don't want to go near it. Take a long hard look America at what happens in a Progressive Utopia and what it really looks like. Lets not make this cancer spread to the other 49 states come 2010 & 2012 elections. It Can be Stopped and Must Be.
+3 Vote up Vote down harley2002 69p · 1 week ago
Very sad. We lived there for 15 years. I loved the state. Had to move out in 1998 could not afford it. My friend is one who will retire at 50 he is a Prison Guard. I have to say I envy him. Why should I have educated myself through hard work in computers. All I needed to do was follow him and watch the caged animals and be rich when I retire.
justpassingthrough · 1 week ago
I could have sworn I read an article about California legislators proposing a single payer health care plan.
2 replies · active 1 week ago +4 Vote up Vote down Larry · 1 week ago
I'm from California, the operative word being 'from'.
0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
+7 Vote up Vote down mousiemarie 76p · 1 week ago
I'm a homeowner in California, and the state of this state is terrifying. I'd move if I could, but I can't.
People here are very disgruntled, but they haven't a clue what to do about it. And when you have two areas of urban mass, you wind up with leftists having a huge influence. Unfortunately, people are leaving -- not that I blame them -- and the state just can't support the overwhelming number of idiots.
I mean, Matt Damon is considered a deep thinker out here, for crying out loud. Please.
0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
+7 Vote up Vote down mousiemarie 76p · 1 week ago
No wait! California taxpayers! Please don't leave! If you go, then there will be no alternative but to turn control of the state over to the Feds, who will then tax all of us who don't live there to pay for your entitlements! With you gone, California will turn into a giant, sunny "Detroit," and we'll be paying for it all!
2 replies · active 1 week ago +4 Vote up Vote down yeti · 1 week ago
What is going on in California is substantial. Once a trendsetter along with Denver, NYC, Florida, and Atlanta, we are seeing these bastions of trend now falling one by one as progressive policies fail and trending becomes more non-centralized. The current major trendsetter, the Tea Party Movement, is flexible, non-central, non-institutional, and ubiquitous, non-demographic, yet shares fundamental values anywhere one goes in America. We are witnessing a 21st century shift back to the basics.
0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago +7 Vote up Vote down Jenna · 1 week ago
California's economy is what happens when the majority who pay nothing are supported by the minority who pay for almost everything. And our national economy is on that very same path. The United States has reached the point where 50% of its people don't pay a single dime in federal and state income taxes, while 10% pay the lion's share.
I don't care how poor you are, if you can afford a cell phone, a big screen TV or a car, you can pay $1,000 each year for the privilege of living in this country. I've been paying my fair share since I was 18 years old and rather than continually increasing my fair share, the government should require the perpetual freeloaders to contribute their fair share.
Just think how much revenue would be generated if the 50% who currently pay nothing contributed the equivalent of their monthly cell phone bill to the national piggy bank. The career politicians have ignored this situation for years, preferring to use the promise of entitlement programs to lure voters to their side. Who cares how much the government spends if it's not coming out of your pocket?
2 replies · active 1 week ago +1 Vote up Vote down imgonnabsick · 1 week ago
The truth of it all breaks my heart
I grew up in CA went away for college and haven't been back, though I want to. One of the most beautiful places on earth... Let's rescue it <very timid hopeful smile>.
6 replies · active 1 week ago +5 Vote up Vote down ben · 1 week ago
Californians yearn for the days when Ronald Reagan was Governor. How sad for the State to have now sunk to potential bankruptcy status. Sadly, America will go nowhere unless California joins in, and California is on the brink. And, too many other States have encountered problems including cities. The city of Harrisburg, PA is rumored to be considering bankruptcy. Couple this with the problems of other countries and we have every right to be worried.
0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago +2 Vote up Vote down Steve · 1 week ago
You state that "We already have more people working in civil servant jobs than in the private sector," but the graph shown at the link doesn't support that statement. The graph compares government workers versus "goods making workers," who are just a small slice of the private-sector pie. I agree with your overall analysis, but the truth is never strengthened by misrepresentation.
1 reply · active 1 week ago +6 Vote up Vote down Rob · 1 week ago
One of the biggest drains on the revenue in California is the massive illegal alien population. In addition to taking jobs they are killing our already terrible education system and receiving so much taxpayer money in aid it is bankrupting us. Between them and all the government employees and their pensions it is hopeless. The bleeding heart cowards who are so afraid to say anyting about the illegals are about as stupid as they come and obviously don't really care about their children's and grandchildren's futures.
3 replies · active 1 week ago +7 Vote up Vote down sensible99 · 1 week ago
Even as they hang on the precipice California continues to spend money like a horny lottery winner in strip club while Obama buys drinks for the house.
1 reply · active 1 week ago
+4 Vote up Vote down Jamesb 125p · 1 week ago
Pehaps the indignation of bankruptcy is needed in Loonyland. Maybe that'll put 'em on a budget.
0 replies · active 1 week ago
+6 Vote up Vote down rovers 82p · 1 week ago
I've been to CA. Spent a lot of time there. It is a place where most of the people are legends in their own mind. Almost everything wrong in this country today, started in Ca. I do not feel sorry for any of them aside from maybe the farmers. If it wasn't for farmers we would be better off if the entire state slid slowly into the specific ocean and stayed there.
0 replies · active 1 week ago +3 Vote up Vote down peteee · 1 week ago
the bit about what happens in california moves east, just look at the payroll taxes. they changed the withholding amounts for every pay level, yet taxes haven't gone up, yet! most people should have noticed less money in their paycheck, for the same work as last year. well california started the free public loans. they upped the withholding by 10%, and when you file your taxes, by law they are supposed to pay tax refunds first, but you now get a iou. now with the higher federal withholding, are they going to start issuing iou's too? and the following year when they owe this years iou and last years iou, when will they pay?
0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago +3 Vote up Vote down peteee · 1 week ago
then when california started paying with iou's they then told the businesses to now pay your tax for the sales. the businesses tried to pay with the newly issued iou's, and the state said, no money thank you. then the state tried to pay banks with iou's, and the banks said, sorry, but we only accept cash. so now what does california do with all these iou's??
0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
+4 Vote up Vote down quivive 80p · 1 week ago
What a pity. I know quite a few people who or lived in California all of them nice pragmatic people. It is befuddling how Californians allowed their government and representatives to get so out of hand. I believe the moral of the story is when good intentioned people meet power mongering pandering politicians you have the autobahn to bankrupting entitlement hell. I believe Californians are about to fix the root of the problem but between here and there, there is going to be a lot of despair.
+8 Vote up Vote down fantum 100p · 1 week ago
Liberal Democrats voted in a self-important, colossal idiot who has never done anything in his entire worthless life (other than voting present) to run our nation. Now he looks down his snoot as he gives us endless lectures and blasts America with hot-air...
How to create jobs...
...From a man who has never held a real job.
How to run our businesses...
...From a man who has never run a business..
How to run our education system...
...From a man who hides his college records.
How to manage our finances...
...From a man who spends money we don't have.
How he condemns cheating and dishonesty...
...From a man whose best friends are dishonest cheats.
How we should respect his faith...
...From a man who mocks Christian faith.
How he promotes openness and transparency...
...From a man who hides his birth certificate.
How to run our military...
...From a man who embraces those who attacked America.
How he respects our American Heritage...
...From a man who is dedicated to Socialism.
Obama Mocks Christian Faith
http://usataxpayer.org/?0033881580
Obama's Own Words
http://usataxpayer.org/?0097519370
Scott in Laguna · 1 week ago
I have lived here in SoCal for about 14years, from Atlanta. What a disaster the politics are here! Unions control all these stupid whores. Jerry Brown allowed the unions to organize statewide and they have little by little corupted and bankrupted the state. Republicans have very little chance of doing anything against this huge machine. The only politician from the this state with any common sense is Tom McClintock, a congressman. Arnold is an astonishing failure, totally freaked out by the union oposition. He gave up years ago and took up global climate hobbies. We have unbelivable fees, taxes and regulation. They pass new laws weekly. Nany state. I remember when I first voted here on a proposition that made trapping any animal a felony. They forgot about vermin, like rats. There are a thousand more nany stories. Throw in the Hollywood idiots who get political and you can see why we are never going to recover.my wife and I are out of here as soon as the housing market allows us to seel our overpriced home. The nice weather keeps us from killing each other, I think.
3 replies · active 1 week ago +3 Vote up Vote down sweethomealabama · 1 week ago
San Francisco is the 2nd worst-run city. Detroit, Michigan is 1st. Burned out buildings, burned out people, Democrat Party politics at its finest. Californians better snap out of it before the "detroit effect" kicks in.
Here's from Daniel Henninger @ The Wall Street Journal:
"In 1962, President John F. Kennedy planted the seeds that grew the modern Democratic Party. That year, JFK signed executive order 10988 allowing the unionization of the federal work force. This changed everything in the American political system. Kennedy's order swung open the door for the inexorable rise of a unionized public work force in many states and cities."
link to the entire article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704...
DISMANTLE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE UNIONS NOW!!!
mrcobaltblue 44p · 1 week ago
I am afraid the falling of the row of dominoes known as state economic fitness is already in motion and there is very little we can do about it. I live in Illinois. Here in IL the state government is like 15 billion dollars in the hole. New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Where will it stop????? How do you climb out of a hole like this?
bluecollarbytes 67p · 1 week ago
From your 2007 linked article: Not that he denounces the authors' good intentions, LaMalfa said, but still ... "
And That is one of the biggest problems conservatives face, especially in light of the fact the Leftists have no problem whatsoever in denouncing Republican & conservative "good intentions".
I don't see "good intentions" when I see an Obama or Pelosi or Reid or Frank or any on the nannyists who have destroyed California. I see these people intentionally destroying the country as it is, so they can invent something else.
Jack Dean · 1 week ago
You can follow the nation's escalating public employee pension crisis daily on http://PensionTsunami.com.
FlexoRick 43p · 1 week ago
It is the blood sucking residents that are doing it to their neighbors and themselves.
It is a sad affair for those who own a home and cant sell it and get out.
I lived in Massachusetts when Ducacus turned Mass into Taxachusetts.
I moved my company to North Carolina and took as many people as would take a relo.
I think it was about 18 people who sold homes and found the SOL to be quite positive coming out of Mass
Two years later we saw a hefty increase in margins.
Steve · 1 week ago
I moved away from California 6 years ago. More of my paycheck went to government than to ME!
Good riddance to the Socialist State of California. It's about to crash and burn! Maybe then Californians will wake up!
strawman · 1 week ago
As a third-generation Californian and someone who loves this state, I have to sadly agree with most of the article--especially about the iron chains the unions and pension funds have placed on the body politic--but it doesn't go deep enough. Blame particular politicians all you want, but the underlying problem is structural. Funding and policy decisions get made by ballot initiative, instead of in the elected legislative bodies, which are mired in the same hyper-partisan, lobbyist-driven morass as the US Senate and House. Deep-pocketed union and corporate interests drive the narratives on the initiative campaigns, and under-informed voters cast their ballots based on emotions rather than reason. An "I want it, but I leave it to someone else to figure out how to pay for it" mentality prevails. Add to this dire situation the super-majority in the legislature required for all budgetary decisions, and you've got, "Hi, California, the third world welcomes you to its ranks!"
The only cure for this near fatal condition is a constitutional convention, which would at the very least get rid of the super-majority requirement and limit the scope of and funding for ballot initiatives, as well as require initiatives involving spending to have an immediate and verifiable funding source.
As the article points out, California is the bellwether for the nation. We need a Constitutional convention for the US as well, to get rid of the filibuster and provide public funds for qualified candidates, so no aspiring or incumbent politician has to be beholden to anyone but his or her constituents.
FarginBastiges 57p · 1 week ago
The Worst Part: California's parasites are moving out to spread their disease to other states. We should erect a wall and shoot on site.
Jan · 1 week ago
I moved to CA 10 years ago and at the time thought it was a dream come true, now I can't wait to leave :(
Mike · 1 week ago
Dear Californians,
Please don't head east, we don't want you voting in the same type of politicians into our State Governments.
Thanks.
RatsoFred · 1 week ago
Florida is closed ,go to New York.
Jamey 54p · 1 week ago
Sure am seeing a lot of California and Illinois license plates around my part of Texas..
Crashing and Burning, California Style: Be Afraid, America, Be Very Afraid
Posted by James Hudnall Feb 6th 2010 at 11:53 am in Economics, Featured Story | 12862Comments(121)
http://bigjournalism.com/jhudnall/2010/02/06/crashing-and-burning-california-style-be-afraid-america-be-very-afraid/Crashing+and+Burning%2C+California+Style%3A+Be+Afraid%2C+America%2C+Be+Very+Afraid2010-02-06+19%3A53%3A15James+Hudnall
California has long had the reputation of being trend-setter to the nation. The Golden State was practicing Obamanomics back when Barack was still called Barry. And now its ways are catching up to it like a hard partier who looks in the mirror one day and sees the portrait of Dorian Gray staring back at him.
Get ready America: California’s unsustainable path is echoed by the federal government. One will crash before the other, giving us all a preview of things to come.
Part of what is slowly destroying California is its move from a land of plenty to a land of locusts. The state taxes and regulates resident companies to such an extreme extent it has driven many of them, and many tax-paying citizens, to other states. For decades California was a place to migrate to. Now it’s suffering an exodus. The fault lies in a political shift from being a conservative, low- tax state to a statist, high-tax nanny state. Californians used to be the freest people in the United States and the world, and now? Not so much.
A recent Heritage Foundation study of economy freedom found the U.S. to be No. 8 on the list, down there with Chile and under quasi-socialist Canada. California has been a leader of governmental policies for years, and whichever new law they pass usually makes its way east to Washington. Look where that got us.
You can trace the problems back to assemblyman Willie Brown’s tenure as State Assembly Speaker for 15 years. He was so effective getting entitlements and other statist policies through that Republicans had to get a term limits bill passed to retire him. By then the rot had set in.
Not surprisingly, Brown hails from San Francisco, the town that gave us Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. It’s the worst run city in the US, and the flagship of what today is arguably the worst-run state. What a sad descent from the vibrant place of plenty and promise it was in the 1950s.
If driving away tax revenue producers wasn’t enough, California has over five hundred government agencies, departments, and commissions regulating just about everything under the sun. Such as the California Acupuncture Board, the California Avocado Commission and the California Children and Families Commission. A search on some of these commissions will find plenty of articles about questionable spending and waste. When you compound that with the fact they all have massive payrolls you come to the other card holding up this shaky edifice.
CALPERS (CALifornia Public Employees’ Retirement System) is a time bomb, like Social Security and Medicare. Many people depend on it, and it may financially collapse the state. For decades, people thought government jobs were the safest bet for long term retirement and benefits. But the money paying for that comes from somewhere. Namely, the taxpayers that the state has been driving away. The Wall Street Journal noted that:
Approximately 85% of the state’s 235,000 employees (not including higher education employees) are unionized. As the governor noted during his $83 billion budget roll-out, over the past decade pension costs for public employees increased 2,000%. State revenues increased only 24% over the same period. A Schwarzenegger adviser wrote in the San Jose Mercury News in the past few days that, “This year alone, $3 billion was diverted to pension costs from other programs.” There are now more than 15,000 government retirees statewide who receive pensions that exceed $100,000 a year, according to the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility.
Many of these retirees are former police officers, firefighters, and prison guards who can retire at age 50 with a pension that equals 90% of their final year’s pay. The pensions for these (and all other retirees) increase each year with inflation and are guaranteed by taxpayers forever—regardless of what happens in the economy or whether the state’s pensions funds have been fully funded (which they haven’t been).
It’s no surprise that so many people have sought government jobs. President Obama wants to lure college students who take government loans to take government jobs. Many of his schemes involve, naturally, more public sector jobs. We already have more people working in civil servant jobs than in the private sector. Government jobs only exist by taking money from tax payers to fund them. That means there are more vampires that blood donors.
California is going broke. It spends more than it takes in and it shows no sign of stopping. The state could easily cut tons of worthless projects and commissions. They could make California more attractive to businesses by cutting taxes. They could try to change their union deals, which are out of control. But they seem more likely to just ask the federal government to bail them out.
Take a look at the CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report) for the state from 2008 to see what kind of money they’re playing with. The numbers listed are in the thousands, so it’s higher than it looks at first glance. The United States is being run the California way to a much more ridiculous degree.
And that way lies madness.
http://bigjournalism.com/jhudnall/2010/02/06/crashing-and-burning-california-style-be-afraid-america-be-very-afraid/
Comments (119)
+7 Vote up Vote down Ewald_the_Black 58p · 1 week ago
California's a wreck. I should know, I live there. Our city and state governments spend money on ridiculous crap, our bureaucracy is a bloated, inefficient wreck that lives to squeeze every single, solitary cent it can from its citizens. Our legislature is trying to add a $200 Billion dollar single-payer system to the existing budget we already can't pay for with a criminal rate of taxation.
Wherever the Corps stations me will be better than here.
+5 Vote up Vote down Randyl2 86p · 1 week ago
$100,000(retirement) x 15,000(retired) = $1,500,000,000 per year
- retire at age 50 with a pension that equals 90% of their final year’s pay -
Life expectancy is 78, so that's 28 years at 90% pay
SWEET
2 replies · active 1 week ago -6 Vote up Vote down naturalfake · 1 week ago
Will the G.O.P. man up?
Or are they
A PARTY OF CRAWFISH?
http://naturalfake.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/a-par...
3 replies · active 1 week ago
+6 Vote up Vote down Tennessee_Jed 94p · 1 week ago
There is no better example than the not so golden state as to where socialism leads. (B. Obama: "justice includes economic justice.") Fortunately, at the national level, people are seeing this trainwreck coming and may be able to jump out of the way at the last second.
2 replies · active 1 week ago
+6 Vote up Vote down ALLAMERICAN 87p · 1 week ago
California a once great, proud state ravaged so bad that the Feds don't want to go near it. Take a long hard look America at what happens in a Progressive Utopia and what it really looks like. Lets not make this cancer spread to the other 49 states come 2010 & 2012 elections. It Can be Stopped and Must Be.
+3 Vote up Vote down harley2002 69p · 1 week ago
Very sad. We lived there for 15 years. I loved the state. Had to move out in 1998 could not afford it. My friend is one who will retire at 50 he is a Prison Guard. I have to say I envy him. Why should I have educated myself through hard work in computers. All I needed to do was follow him and watch the caged animals and be rich when I retire.
justpassingthrough · 1 week ago
I could have sworn I read an article about California legislators proposing a single payer health care plan.
2 replies · active 1 week ago +4 Vote up Vote down Larry · 1 week ago
I'm from California, the operative word being 'from'.
0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
+7 Vote up Vote down mousiemarie 76p · 1 week ago
I'm a homeowner in California, and the state of this state is terrifying. I'd move if I could, but I can't.
People here are very disgruntled, but they haven't a clue what to do about it. And when you have two areas of urban mass, you wind up with leftists having a huge influence. Unfortunately, people are leaving -- not that I blame them -- and the state just can't support the overwhelming number of idiots.
I mean, Matt Damon is considered a deep thinker out here, for crying out loud. Please.
0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
+7 Vote up Vote down mousiemarie 76p · 1 week ago
No wait! California taxpayers! Please don't leave! If you go, then there will be no alternative but to turn control of the state over to the Feds, who will then tax all of us who don't live there to pay for your entitlements! With you gone, California will turn into a giant, sunny "Detroit," and we'll be paying for it all!
2 replies · active 1 week ago +4 Vote up Vote down yeti · 1 week ago
What is going on in California is substantial. Once a trendsetter along with Denver, NYC, Florida, and Atlanta, we are seeing these bastions of trend now falling one by one as progressive policies fail and trending becomes more non-centralized. The current major trendsetter, the Tea Party Movement, is flexible, non-central, non-institutional, and ubiquitous, non-demographic, yet shares fundamental values anywhere one goes in America. We are witnessing a 21st century shift back to the basics.
0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago +7 Vote up Vote down Jenna · 1 week ago
California's economy is what happens when the majority who pay nothing are supported by the minority who pay for almost everything. And our national economy is on that very same path. The United States has reached the point where 50% of its people don't pay a single dime in federal and state income taxes, while 10% pay the lion's share.
I don't care how poor you are, if you can afford a cell phone, a big screen TV or a car, you can pay $1,000 each year for the privilege of living in this country. I've been paying my fair share since I was 18 years old and rather than continually increasing my fair share, the government should require the perpetual freeloaders to contribute their fair share.
Just think how much revenue would be generated if the 50% who currently pay nothing contributed the equivalent of their monthly cell phone bill to the national piggy bank. The career politicians have ignored this situation for years, preferring to use the promise of entitlement programs to lure voters to their side. Who cares how much the government spends if it's not coming out of your pocket?
2 replies · active 1 week ago +1 Vote up Vote down imgonnabsick · 1 week ago
The truth of it all breaks my heart
I grew up in CA went away for college and haven't been back, though I want to. One of the most beautiful places on earth... Let's rescue it <very timid hopeful smile>. 6 replies · active 1 week ago +5 Vote up Vote down ben · 1 week ago
Californians yearn for the days when Ronald Reagan was Governor. How sad for the State to have now sunk to potential bankruptcy status. Sadly, America will go nowhere unless California joins in, and California is on the brink. And, too many other States have encountered problems including cities. The city of Harrisburg, PA is rumored to be considering bankruptcy. Couple this with the problems of other countries and we have every right to be worried.
0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago +2 Vote up Vote down Steve · 1 week ago
You state that "We already have more people working in civil servant jobs than in the private sector," but the graph shown at the link doesn't support that statement. The graph compares government workers versus "goods making workers," who are just a small slice of the private-sector pie. I agree with your overall analysis, but the truth is never strengthened by misrepresentation.
1 reply · active 1 week ago +6 Vote up Vote down Rob · 1 week ago
One of the biggest drains on the revenue in California is the massive illegal alien population. In addition to taking jobs they are killing our already terrible education system and receiving so much taxpayer money in aid it is bankrupting us. Between them and all the government employees and their pensions it is hopeless. The bleeding heart cowards who are so afraid to say anyting about the illegals are about as stupid as they come and obviously don't really care about their children's and grandchildren's futures.
3 replies · active 1 week ago +7 Vote up Vote down sensible99 · 1 week ago
Even as they hang on the precipice California continues to spend money like a horny lottery winner in strip club while Obama buys drinks for the house.
1 reply · active 1 week ago
+4 Vote up Vote down Jamesb 125p · 1 week ago
Pehaps the indignation of bankruptcy is needed in Loonyland. Maybe that'll put 'em on a budget.
0 replies · active 1 week ago
+6 Vote up Vote down rovers 82p · 1 week ago
I've been to CA. Spent a lot of time there. It is a place where most of the people are legends in their own mind. Almost everything wrong in this country today, started in Ca. I do not feel sorry for any of them aside from maybe the farmers. If it wasn't for farmers we would be better off if the entire state slid slowly into the specific ocean and stayed there.
0 replies · active 1 week ago +3 Vote up Vote down peteee · 1 week ago
the bit about what happens in california moves east, just look at the payroll taxes. they changed the withholding amounts for every pay level, yet taxes haven't gone up, yet! most people should have noticed less money in their paycheck, for the same work as last year. well california started the free public loans. they upped the withholding by 10%, and when you file your taxes, by law they are supposed to pay tax refunds first, but you now get a iou. now with the higher federal withholding, are they going to start issuing iou's too? and the following year when they owe this years iou and last years iou, when will they pay?
0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago +3 Vote up Vote down peteee · 1 week ago
then when california started paying with iou's they then told the businesses to now pay your tax for the sales. the businesses tried to pay with the newly issued iou's, and the state said, no money thank you. then the state tried to pay banks with iou's, and the banks said, sorry, but we only accept cash. so now what does california do with all these iou's??
0 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
+4 Vote up Vote down quivive 80p · 1 week ago
What a pity. I know quite a few people who or lived in California all of them nice pragmatic people. It is befuddling how Californians allowed their government and representatives to get so out of hand. I believe the moral of the story is when good intentioned people meet power mongering pandering politicians you have the autobahn to bankrupting entitlement hell. I believe Californians are about to fix the root of the problem but between here and there, there is going to be a lot of despair.
+8 Vote up Vote down fantum 100p · 1 week ago
Liberal Democrats voted in a self-important, colossal idiot who has never done anything in his entire worthless life (other than voting present) to run our nation. Now he looks down his snoot as he gives us endless lectures and blasts America with hot-air...
How to create jobs...
...From a man who has never held a real job.
How to run our businesses...
...From a man who has never run a business..
How to run our education system...
...From a man who hides his college records.
How to manage our finances...
...From a man who spends money we don't have.
How he condemns cheating and dishonesty...
...From a man whose best friends are dishonest cheats.
How we should respect his faith...
...From a man who mocks Christian faith.
How he promotes openness and transparency...
...From a man who hides his birth certificate.
How to run our military...
...From a man who embraces those who attacked America.
How he respects our American Heritage...
...From a man who is dedicated to Socialism.
Obama Mocks Christian Faith
http://usataxpayer.org/?0033881580
Obama's Own Words
http://usataxpayer.org/?0097519370
Scott in Laguna · 1 week ago
I have lived here in SoCal for about 14years, from Atlanta. What a disaster the politics are here! Unions control all these stupid whores. Jerry Brown allowed the unions to organize statewide and they have little by little corupted and bankrupted the state. Republicans have very little chance of doing anything against this huge machine. The only politician from the this state with any common sense is Tom McClintock, a congressman. Arnold is an astonishing failure, totally freaked out by the union oposition. He gave up years ago and took up global climate hobbies. We have unbelivable fees, taxes and regulation. They pass new laws weekly. Nany state. I remember when I first voted here on a proposition that made trapping any animal a felony. They forgot about vermin, like rats. There are a thousand more nany stories. Throw in the Hollywood idiots who get political and you can see why we are never going to recover.my wife and I are out of here as soon as the housing market allows us to seel our overpriced home. The nice weather keeps us from killing each other, I think.
3 replies · active 1 week ago +3 Vote up Vote down sweethomealabama · 1 week ago
San Francisco is the 2nd worst-run city. Detroit, Michigan is 1st. Burned out buildings, burned out people, Democrat Party politics at its finest. Californians better snap out of it before the "detroit effect" kicks in.
Here's from Daniel Henninger @ The Wall Street Journal:
"In 1962, President John F. Kennedy planted the seeds that grew the modern Democratic Party. That year, JFK signed executive order 10988 allowing the unionization of the federal work force. This changed everything in the American political system. Kennedy's order swung open the door for the inexorable rise of a unionized public work force in many states and cities."
link to the entire article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704...
DISMANTLE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE UNIONS NOW!!!
mrcobaltblue 44p · 1 week ago
I am afraid the falling of the row of dominoes known as state economic fitness is already in motion and there is very little we can do about it. I live in Illinois. Here in IL the state government is like 15 billion dollars in the hole. New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Where will it stop????? How do you climb out of a hole like this?
bluecollarbytes 67p · 1 week ago
From your 2007 linked article: Not that he denounces the authors' good intentions, LaMalfa said, but still ... "
And That is one of the biggest problems conservatives face, especially in light of the fact the Leftists have no problem whatsoever in denouncing Republican & conservative "good intentions".
I don't see "good intentions" when I see an Obama or Pelosi or Reid or Frank or any on the nannyists who have destroyed California. I see these people intentionally destroying the country as it is, so they can invent something else.
Jack Dean · 1 week ago
You can follow the nation's escalating public employee pension crisis daily on http://PensionTsunami.com.
FlexoRick 43p · 1 week ago
It is the blood sucking residents that are doing it to their neighbors and themselves.
It is a sad affair for those who own a home and cant sell it and get out.
I lived in Massachusetts when Ducacus turned Mass into Taxachusetts.
I moved my company to North Carolina and took as many people as would take a relo.
I think it was about 18 people who sold homes and found the SOL to be quite positive coming out of Mass
Two years later we saw a hefty increase in margins.
Steve · 1 week ago
I moved away from California 6 years ago. More of my paycheck went to government than to ME!
Good riddance to the Socialist State of California. It's about to crash and burn! Maybe then Californians will wake up!
strawman · 1 week ago
As a third-generation Californian and someone who loves this state, I have to sadly agree with most of the article--especially about the iron chains the unions and pension funds have placed on the body politic--but it doesn't go deep enough. Blame particular politicians all you want, but the underlying problem is structural. Funding and policy decisions get made by ballot initiative, instead of in the elected legislative bodies, which are mired in the same hyper-partisan, lobbyist-driven morass as the US Senate and House. Deep-pocketed union and corporate interests drive the narratives on the initiative campaigns, and under-informed voters cast their ballots based on emotions rather than reason. An "I want it, but I leave it to someone else to figure out how to pay for it" mentality prevails. Add to this dire situation the super-majority in the legislature required for all budgetary decisions, and you've got, "Hi, California, the third world welcomes you to its ranks!"
The only cure for this near fatal condition is a constitutional convention, which would at the very least get rid of the super-majority requirement and limit the scope of and funding for ballot initiatives, as well as require initiatives involving spending to have an immediate and verifiable funding source.
As the article points out, California is the bellwether for the nation. We need a Constitutional convention for the US as well, to get rid of the filibuster and provide public funds for qualified candidates, so no aspiring or incumbent politician has to be beholden to anyone but his or her constituents.
FarginBastiges 57p · 1 week ago
The Worst Part: California's parasites are moving out to spread their disease to other states. We should erect a wall and shoot on site.
Jan · 1 week ago
I moved to CA 10 years ago and at the time thought it was a dream come true, now I can't wait to leave :(
Mike · 1 week ago
Dear Californians,
Please don't head east, we don't want you voting in the same type of politicians into our State Governments.
Thanks.
RatsoFred · 1 week ago
Florida is closed ,go to New York.
Jamey 54p · 1 week ago
Sure am seeing a lot of California and Illinois license plates around my part of Texas..
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