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Politics
California Demon
A state fast becoming America’s version of Greece.
THE LATEST UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBERS show the economic recovery stalling. But as weak as the national economy is, it’s nothing compared to the condition of some states whose policies are guaranteed to scare away jobs and investment.
Call it the European Disease: Run up spending and debt, raise taxes in the name of balancing the budget, and then watch as jobs flee, deficits rise, and credit ratings fall.
Chief Executive magazine has just come out with a survey of 650 corporate CEOs on the business climate in their states. They ranked local conditions on a range of issues, including regulations, tax policies, work force quality, educational resources, quality of living, and infrastructure.
It won’t surprise anyone who has followed the annual survey to learn which state finished in the back of the pack, and which finished first. California was dead last in attractiveness to business for the eighth year in a row, while Texas came in first for the eighth consecutive time.
“CEOs tell us that California seems to be doing everything possible to drive business from the state. Texas, by contrast, has been welcoming companies and entrepreneurs, particularly in the high-tech arena,” J.P. Donlon, editor of Chief Executive, said in May during the survey’s release.
Indeed, with its malfunctioning economy, California is fast becoming an American version of Greece. It has an unemployment rate of 10.9 percent, the highest of all states save Rhode Island and Nevada. (April figures, the most recent available at press time.) Because of its generous benefit structures for the poor, California has a third of all welfare recipients in the country, even though it’s home to less than an eighth of the U.S. population. The Golden State’s environmental extremism results in electricity rates 50 percent higher than the national average.
Then there are taxes. Even middle-class families earning $48,000 a year pay a state tax rate of 9.3 percent, a higher rate than millionaires pay in 47 other states. A ballot measure backed by liberal legislators will ask state voters this fall if they want to raise the top rate on high earners to a staggering 13.3 percent.
Naturally, this economic version of Dante’s circles of hell has driven jobs from the state at an increasing pace. One relocation firm calculates that last year, a total of 254 California companies moved some of their work and jobs out of state—a number that is 26 percent higher than that of 2010 and five times higher than 2009.
Andy Puzder, the CEO of CKE Restaurants, the parent company behind Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., is just one of the many corporate leaders who have been traumatized by California’s hostile business climate.
He tells me it takes six months to two years to secure permits to build a new Carl’s Jr. Restaurant in the Golden State, versus the six weeks it takes in Texas.
California is one of only three states that demand employers pay overtime after an eight-hour day, rather than after a 40-hour week. Such rules wreak havoc on flexible work schedules based on actual need. If there’s a line out the door at a Carl’s Jr. while employees are seen resting, it’s because they aren’t allowed to help: Break time is mandatory.
“You can’t build in California, you can’t manage in California, and you are taxed to death,” says Puzder. *
Rather than raise taxes, Texas has contained them. It prides itself on having no state income or capital gains tax at all.
“Texas’ economy is far less volatile due to its having neither a progressive income tax system nor a large tax burden,” concludes “Rich States, Poor States,” a study by the American Legislative Exchange Council. Less volatility also allows the state to keep expenditures in check. Texas’s overall spending burden re mains below what it was in 1987—a remarkable feat.
The most dramatic reform California could make would be to change its boom-and-bust tax system so it doesn’t depend on a small number of wealthy residents who can flee the state. The idea would be to broaden the income tax base and lower the state’s high rates. The strategy is working today in seven states ranging from Colorado to Massachusetts.
About the Author
John H. Fund is a senior editor of The American Spectator and author of the Stealing Elections (Encounter Books).
Letter to the Editor View all comments (87) | Leave a comment
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Appleby| 7.11.12 @ 6:34AM
So Rick Santorum's State is the most successful in the country; "Texas came in first for the eighth consecutive time" of the best places to do business in the USA. Rick Santorum has refused to participate in ObamaCare in any way at all. Texas is coining money hand over fist. And Mitt Romney is the Republican nonimee for President. Our Betters rejected him because he's a Christian. I hope the people standing in unemployment lines, bread lines and hospital waiting lists in the rest of the country will take comfort in knowing that the country may be in peril, but at least it's not being led by a Christian.
OP4| 7.11.12 @ 7:16AM
I believe you are referring to Rick Perry - not Rick Santorum who is from PA.
TLP| 7.11.12 @ 7:40AM
That's okay.
She lives in Canada, but she thinks she's an American.
(I'm putting my hand next to the side of my head, and twirling my index finger around.)
She forgets things. (if you know what I mean)
Doctor Right| 7.11.12 @ 10:34PM
Oh, there you are!
7:40 AM!
LOL!
Glad you have so much to do!
CJW| 7.11.12 @ 8:41AM
Pa is improving because of the drilling for natural gas. Fast Eddie Rendell is gone and we have a sensible Rep governor, Tom Corbett.
Bob K| 7.11.12 @ 11:20PM
PA, sad to say, will go Democrat this year, thanks to the clueless Republicans running it. There are 1 million more registered Democrats in PA than Republicans and the latter have forgotten that.
The Democrats are winning the public relations battle over natural gas. It would have been simple if the Republicans had passed an Extraction Tax on the Gas Industry like every other state who has the industry does but they didn't and now they are viewed as being in industry's back pocket.
The small rural goverments in this Republican area where the gas is located need a share of that tax to cover the rising costs of government there. Like paying for larger schools, repairing roads and bridges, hiring new police and firemen, and school teachers. This is a traditionally Republican area and they are begging for these funds from the Republicans in charge in the state capitol.
If the Republicans stay home and don't come out to vote in this area the Democrats will almost surely win the state.
MK48| 7.11.12 @ 12:09PM
John Fund - Author of the Stealing elections....ever viewed the HBO documentary "Hacking Democracy".
Comments.......
By the way Canada queen say hi to Jane F. for me you know, the traitor.
Appleby| 7.11.12 @ 7:40AM
Sorry. I did mean Rick Perry.
TLP| 7.11.12 @ 8:17AM
How is it that some people can be so Right, while others are so Left, which means -WRONG.
Is there a Richer State in the Union?
If California was a Country, where would it rank on a list of World Economies? I mean, if it WASN'T run by Free Money Liberals all these Years?
It's got it all. Lots of good farmland that the Gov't won't let have Water. Good fishing for Fish that the Gov't won't let you catch. Lots of Ores and Minerals in the Mountains that the Gov't won't let anyone Mine for. Lot's of Oil and Natural Gas off it's Coastline that the Gov't won't let anyone Drill for.
Am I going too fast?
The LEFT once took the Breadbasket of Europe - Ukraine - and succeeded in STARVING it to Death.
They took Rhodesia - The Breadbasket of Africa - and turned it in to a Basket Case, minus the Bread.
They turn Tropical Island Paradises, in to Armed Camps filled with Gulags.
And turn entire Populations out in to the streets, with Rocks, and Torches, and Molotov Cocktails, because their PROMISE of "Money for Nothing" has run out of Money, once again.
Cities that once were Ancient Capitols of Commerce, and Invention, Knowledge and Culture, Power and Glory, have been reduced to Begging in the Street, as if they were Calcutta.
Once again, this is not Quantum Physichs.
It's not.
It's simple Math.
And, unless you're the 2nd Coming of CHRIST?
You ain't feeding 5,000, with 5 loaves of Bread, and a Coupla Fish.
And you ain't lavishing Billion$ on your FREE RIDERS, for long, either.
Doctor Right| 7.11.12 @ 10:36PM
How is it that you're constantly wrong??
8:17 AM!
Gee...what a busy life you have!
Controse| 7.13.12 @ 10:40AM
Don't your "busy life" comments fall under the category of kettle calling the pot black?
Reggie Love| 7.11.12 @ 8:27AM
California need to split up into different states. The area from Los Angeles Co up to the Oregon border long the coast is mostly all ultra,ultra liberal.
Richard Rider | 7.13.12 @ 11:00AM
Sadly, it will never happen. Several plans -- 2,3 and e en 5 states have been proposed. But no one wants LA, a HUGE cash drain.
Maybe we can con uber-liberal Hawaii into annexing LA -- toe hold on the mainland, and all that. But even flowered shirt people aren't THAT dumb.
Ken (Old Texican)| 7.11.12 @ 8:28AM
It is dificult to believe Californians are this stupid.
Anthony| 7.11.12 @ 9:17AM
Not really Ken, I wonder if our lefty friend vtwin from San Fran will make an appearance today and tell us how what's happening in California is the fault of Arnold, and of course, George Bush.
On the other hand, he could tell us things are just fine in CA and all this is right-wing bull from TAS.
Or, the Oakland gangs got a hold of vtwin and he's incommunicado.
Truth to Power| 7.11.12 @ 9:37AM
When one reasons from false premises, one will always appear stupid. Californians are functionally idiotic regardless of native intelligence. They are doing what the Greeks do and think they will have a different result. Forward to San Bernardino, Mammoth Lakes and Stockton. They chose Moonbeam and I hope they get him good and hard.
Alan| 7.11.12 @ 12:11PM
I give you Waxman, Pelosi, Waters, and Brown, need I say more?
Suzyqpie| 7.12.12 @ 6:04AM
Don't forget Pete Stark.
MK48| 7.11.12 @ 12:27PM
Ken........it's not hard to believe, I still can't get over the fact they reelected Jerry Brown. He is one of the reasons the state is in trouble (unions).
You got a beener Mayor who by all acounts is a barry clone. These morons voted the other day to buuild the bullet train to nowhere after all studies show it wouldn't pay.
You got a fag Mayor in SF that just passed a law to have a 3rd lesbo parrent for a kid because one is doing time in prision the other is incompetent.
On top of that I just got my water bill $600.00 thinking of moving.
Drunken Sailor| 7.11.12 @ 1:57PM
Thiniking of moving? What in the world is keeping you?
C'mon Man!| 7.11.12 @ 4:53PM
Moved to AZ 2 yrs ago, coudn't be happier watching CA implode.
MAKE THE MOVE!!!
spike59| 7.12.12 @ 6:10AM
no, it's not, actually
J Baustian| 7.12.12 @ 12:21PM
The smart Californians are leaving for other states, or planning to leave as soon as they can find a buyer (sucker) for their real estate holdings.
The ones who stay behind are called Democrats.
IzeHavitt| 7.15.12 @ 12:15AM
Ken, that's it, in a nutshell. The most glaring characteristic of these people is that they are- and have allowed themselves to become- fundamentally stupid. You would think that after 70 years or so of the wretched examples of the former Soviet Union, Maoist China, and Cuba, etc., that these people would learn from history that socialism/ communism simply does not- and cannot-work as an effective economic system. But they refuse to learn.
Lullabys Legends and Lies| 7.11.12 @ 8:36AM
California's a tragedy playing out in front of our eyes, and I don't think anything, or anybody will save this once great State from itself!! Ever since California became a State, the State has picked up at least one Representative every 10 years due to the census, because it was a growing State, and the Folks were moving there, that is until 2010. Now they didn't lose any seats in 2010, but they didn't gain any either, and 10 years from now, California's going to prove it's a dying State, when it loses the most Representative a State has ever lost, because California's a sinking ship now, and the rats are fleeing it!! Once, not a very long time ago, California's economy taken on it's own, was the 7th largest economy in the entire World. I don't know where it is today, but I'd bet every dollar I have, that it's not even in the top 20 anymore!! Bye-bye California!! It was fun while it lasted!!
John Navratil| 7.11.12 @ 9:14AM
Lullabys Legends and Lies,
California is quickly becoming a state with no middle-class. Only the rich living on the coast at Malibu and the poor, tending their lawns and living on benefits will remain.
Zeppo| 7.11.12 @ 9:24PM
You mean Ben?
KennesawJack| 7.11.12 @ 8:40AM
Wonder how all the folks in Hollywood will vote this fall. I'm sure they're gonna want to raise taxes on themselves to help the struggling masses. And really, shouldn't Buffet relocate from Omaha to L. A. so he can pay some more of those taxes he seems so eager to pay?
Bob Grant| 7.11.12 @ 10:18AM
A great idea. Of course, Buffet couldn't care less about people paying taxes or not. It's all part of his Bootleggers and Baptists strategy, brilliantly told in Peter Schweizer's book Throw Them All Out.
Reggie Love| 7.11.12 @ 9:12AM
Lots of illegals and rich,white liberals is a bad combination.
Anthony| 7.11.12 @ 10:07AM
Victor Davis Hanson, who lives in CA, wrote an article some months ago, about how the interior of CA is almost totally lawless.
Save for the coast, and a few other exceptions, it appears the interior is full of migrating illegals that set up illegal camps and villages, live by their own laws, that the police totally ignore. It's a no mans land of wandering migrant workers.
Find the article and read it, it will make one weep for what the Ds have done to America.
RJ| 7.12.12 @ 12:45AM
I saw read it at the time and it was excellent (and, as a California resident, depressing). It underscores the unfairness of our current government which is overly oppressive to people who try to comply with law; and doesn't bother those who openly flout it. If I remember correctly, it was this Hanson article that mentioned that people throwing raw sewage in the street were obscene and indignant when someone asked them to stop. While I haven't seen that happen yet, there is a growing culture of lawlessness on the coastline as well.
Hanson is always a great read.
Suzyqpie| 7.12.12 @ 6:10AM
VDH has written a number of articles on the CA situation. I remember the one you are referencing. It was stunning to envision such a place as he described. Read anything written by VDH.
Bob Grant| 7.11.12 @ 10:11AM
So let me get this straight. Three cities in California have now declared bankruptcy and the state itself is on the brink of fiscal insolvency. So what do they do? They vote to move forward with that Massive Boondoggle, The California High Speed Rail Proposal; a cost initially estimated at 30 BILLION and is now at 90 BILLION. Who here doesn't think that number wont go up another 10-20 billion before it's completed?
Open borders, reckless spending, and "creative" accounting to hide deficits!!!!!
Indeed, California is headed for Greece!
It's time concerned citizens of California (if there are any left) start demanding those responsible be criminally prosecuted!!
As for the rest of the country, let's just hope this poison doesn't spill over into other states. You might start seeing things this country hasn't experienced since the 1860's.
RJ| 7.11.12 @ 12:17PM
All good and accurate comments. I was working for a Fortune 50 company in the early 1990s, when it decided not to do any new business in California. I served on the site-selection team and the contrast with the other locations was day and night. For the last 20 years, I have continued to hope that California residents will change their ways, but there is absolutely no evidence of that, as is demonstrated by the voters passing the "High Speed Rail" project in 2010 (and of course, the state quickly said that it couldn't produce the promised results, but that is no reason to slow-down the program). In the 1950s & 60s, California was the Golden State. The change during my lifetime has been shocking. I too hope that the California disease does not extend beyond its borders.
C'mon Man!| 7.11.12 @ 5:04PM
Silly Bob, only corporate execs get charged criminally, never a politician! They only make the rules, never follow them! Think Charlie Rangel, Maxine Watters, etc. Even when they get caught, (Eric Holder) nothing happens.
That must change....
Conservative Bob| 7.11.12 @ 10:18AM
If Obama gets a second term look to him to bail out his frineds in CA, IL, NY and other 'progressive bastions. IF he gets a second term we will get to pay for the public employee unions pensions and benefits of all of these states.
Jack London| 7.11.12 @ 10:36AM
Yeah Texas is just great:
Texas ranks 50th among the states in: percentage of the population 25 or older with a
high school diploma, per capita spending on mental health, percentage of non-elderly women with health insurance, percentage of pregnant women who receive prenatal care, and share of the workforce — 76 percent — covered by worker’s compensation.
It’s No. 1 in executions, share of the population that lacks health insurance and five categories of air pollution — nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, mercury emissions, volatile organic compounds and particulates.
It's tied with Florida as No. 1 in share of children who are uninsured — 18 percent — and tied with Alabama as fourth-highest in child poverty — 32 percent
Its second after MS in food insecurity - 18.8%
Poverty rates in Texas jumped from 17.3% in 2009 to 18.4% in 2010.
The state of Texas has one of the most restrictive Medicaid programs in the country, meaning it already serves the poorest of the poor. To qualify in Texas, a family of three must make less than $188 per month to qualify.
And so on.
Anthony| 7.11.12 @ 10:51AM
Lucky for Texans they won't have to see your lefty face living amoung them. Gee Jack, you failed to mention the statistics of how many Texans carry firearms. Now that's a national model to follow, as well as their pro business attitude.
No 1 in nitrious oxide, wow, that should make all lefties flock to Texas, a natural high!!!
P.S. Jack, what the F is "food insecurity"? Do the lefties hire morons like you to sit around your computer to come up with these assinine, meaningless, feel good platitudes?
And why do I also suspect that you fit the catagory of being a "volatile organic compound"?
If only the other 56 states would follow Texas, thing would be wonderful, don't you agree Jack?
Jack London| 7.11.12 @ 11:02AM
So - you think those stats are a model for a modern economy? Is that your aspiration for every state?
Anthony| 7.11.12 @ 11:34AM
What a pathetic bullshit retort to my question to you. No suprise though, you're a lefty loser with no answers, just platitudes and leftist cants.
But to answer you, hell yes, I'll take Texas any day over CA and my own soon to be bankrupt, CT.
Stkman| 7.11.12 @ 11:47AM
As a Texan I'd like to respond to you Jack, and I'll keep it short.
The reason Texas ranks last in all the freebie social benefits you seem to think people are entitled to is because Texas ranks first in job growth and employment opportunity. In other words we in Texas feel that before you take a handout you should try to get a job and they are plentiful in our state, even for those who haven't finished high school but have some kind of skill. Thats it in a nut shell.
TLP| 7.11.12 @ 7:20PM
YOU, Sir, are the man.
Thanks for telling it, like it is.
Stkman| 7.11.12 @ 11:48AM
Now, here's the reason we are last in un-insured citizens, because we have millions, thats right, millions of illegal aliens thanks to the federal government who refuse to buy insurance because thet get free health care in the emergency room. Thus driving up the cost of insurance for everybody else.
Near the bottom in education, of course we are with million of children who don't speak english and whose parents refuse to learn it.
Food insecurity,no, there is no shortage of food here, not even for the poor. We have welfare and WIC assitance here and people who are spening the welfare money on drug or drink have access to food.
No. 1 in executions, yep, we sure are. Don't do the crime and you won't have to worry about being executed.
Stkman| 7.11.12 @ 11:48AM
High poveryt rates, well of course with an open immigration policy from the Feds we just keep letting poor 3rd world un-educated people come into a highly advanced country. Of course they can't make it here. They can't and won't speak the language and they drag us all down with them. But you liberals are okay with lowering standards for all.
As for pre-natal care your statistics are flat wrong at best and a lie at worst. All preagnant women are entitled to and get asssitance if they qualify.
You see Jack, down here in Texas we EXPECT people to take care of themselves, and if they do need help we help them just enough to get by. Not so much they are comfortable living off of others. We expect them to get help from their family if they can and then go hit on the tax payer. It's a littlse thing called being self sufficient. You should ask all your liberal friends to promote that idea.
Anthony| 7.11.12 @ 1:51PM
Now you did it Stkman, telling Jack that Texans expect people to take care of themselves, guarantees that you'll never see ole Jack, ever.
But watch out Stockton CA, Jack is a coming!!
Suzyqpie| 7.12.12 @ 6:20AM
Mexico's largest export is poor people, their most disgruntled constituency. Why would our Fed Govt allow that to happen? I got it, it sucks to be Mexican. But the taxpayers of the USA are expected to absorb, finance, educate all of these criminal immigrants?
Grant Johnson| 7.11.12 @ 11:50AM
Even most of your cherry picked statistics aren't really bad on closer examination. "No. 1 in executions", Yeah Texas! Amazing how liberals imply G. W. Bush was complicit in the incident some years back where several cretins chained a black man to their pickup and dragged him to death, while at the same time saying we should be more lenient toward violent criminals. Two of those criminals were executed by Texas (the third got life in prison, if I recall). Does Jack think those criminals did not need killing? Or does he think Texas (and by extension Bush) was too lenient. You can only coherently pick one.
Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant (if you think otherwise, I invite you to avoid contributing further to the problem by holding your breath for as long as it takes). CO2 IS an indicator of economic activity, which is to say Texas produces CO2 because Texas has jobs.
As for the poverty statistics, how much is due to Texas policy, and how much is due to Texas having a high population of immigrants (legal or not). If a 40 year old Mexican failed to finish High School in Mexico before coming to Texas, doesn’t that tell us more about jobs in Texas than about education in Texas?
I am not saying Texas is perfect, and there are no doubt ways Texas could improve. But let's debate honestly. The article used honest statistics presented in context to make valid comparisons. Commenter Jack presented cherry picked and misleading junk that contributes nothing to the conversation.
nathan| 7.11.12 @ 12:34PM
Death Penalty? You are aware sir of the controversy that some of people executed may well have been innocent and Perry was aware that one might have been and let the execution go forward anyway? You are also aware of the Washington Post article on the FBI forensics lab that yesterday triggered a massive review of THOUSANDS of cases going back to the 80's which will almost certainly include who knows how many capital cases?
With all that we know about both police misconduct (the domestic equivalent of "enhanced" interrogation so many of you love with regards to "suspected" and in most cases that's all they are, suspected terrorists) and prosecutorial misconduct, you still want to continue to defend the death penalty? Or will it take you or someone YOU care about to be wrongly put on death row before you finally decide that it's time to put an end to it once and for all?
Far too many innocent people, not one or two but scores if not hundreds are on death row who don't belong there. Their rights trump any sense of "closure" or "justice". Keeping real killers in prison for life is good enough.
Drunken Sailor| 7.11.12 @ 2:16PM
"scores if not hundreds are on death row who don't belong there."
That alone tells me your pulling this out of a hat. Are some wrongly convicted? Yes, it happens. But we have the best system in the world. Do you prefer that more guilty never get prosecuted and are free to commit murder again?
And yes, I have a family member who is in jail for life, no parole, and has been there for 25+ years. Trust me, my views have not changed and even he believes in the death penalty.
Stkman| 7.11.12 @ 2:27PM
Nathan,
Yes, I am aware that there are innocent people on death row and that innocent people have been incarcerated and even executed. It's ghastly and wrong and it happens in all states. Are you aware sir that for several years now Texas has been reviewing all of the cases of those on death row to do everything possible not to execute the innocent? But I still beleive it's a good ideal to execute those who rape and murder. If they're families wouldlike to pay for their keep in exchange for a life term with no parole I'm okay with that. But taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for them any longer than possible.
nathan| 7.11.12 @ 3:37PM
Let that innocent person be someone you care about, your son your daughter your WIFE and then come back and tell you still support the death penalty. After your wife is executed for a crime she did not commit, because the forensic lab screwed up, because the prosecutor deliberately misbehaved, because the officer violated the law, when she's dead and they turn the body over to you, then defend the death penalty to me. It's easy for you to talk about anonymous "innocent" people that you don't know and don't give a damn about. Some black kid who was interrogated for hours who didn't know his rights. Who the hell cares about him?
It's a whole lot harder when you're that black kid's mother. And the Innocence Project gets him out 15 years later because he's still alive and you still get to spend time with him without bars in between. If they execute him and he could have been, THEN WHAT? Try being that black kid's mother for TWO LOUSY MINUTES! TWO STINKING LOUSY MINUTES. Then defend the death penalty. Defend it to her sir! Go ahead. Because you can't do it to me.
Drunken Sailor| 7.11.12 @ 4:34PM
Sure, right after you tell that family who's child was sexually assualted and them murderered why the child's killer gets to live, have 3 hots & a cot, cable TV and the right to breathe while they will never, ever, hold their child again, get to see them grow up, get married and have children of their own.
Go ahead defend your stance to them. I'm not buying it.
Stkman| 7.11.12 @ 6:02PM
Nathan,
Like I said but you chose to ignore, Texas is currently reviewing every death row case. They have already relseased several prisoners becuas ethe new DNA evidence proved the innocence of those particular individuals.
Let me teach you a life lesson you liberal moron, always error on the side of safety. Why don't you give a damn about victims to the degree you do about those that MAY or may not have been wrongly imprisoned. You sound like a little crybaby. You couldn't cut here in Texas. We know shit happens and sometimes wrongly and we try to fix it. But we aren't going to release very death row inmate to make you liberal pussy's happy. STFU and realize that life isn't perfect and it never will be.
THKrupp| 7.11.12 @ 12:30PM
Texas is doing a lot of good things. Yes it is the leader in some things that are not so good but you have to consider its a very large state with a large industrial sector. With all that said if Texas didnt have oil reserves things would be different. It is a great place. Ive visited numerous times and have often thought of relocating there.
C'mon Man!| 7.11.12 @ 5:21PM
#1 in executions? AWESOME! No wonder crime is low, even though they are a border state. Funny how no gun cities have high crime...
spike59| 7.12.12 @ 6:14AM
as noted Texan Ron White puts it:
"In Texas, if you kill someone, we'll kill you back"
IronmanAtl| 7.11.12 @ 10:42PM
Food insecurity? Who cares?
Also, restrictive Medicaid means that people work for a living, and don't have their hands out. I'll take that over people in hair weaves driving in with their thousand dollar wheels, talking on the iPhone and paying for their groceries with WIC cards.
As far as executions, I'll do you one better. Father of a 4 year old girl in TX caught a molester raping his daughter....and delivered the sentence right there. D.A. won't even press charges.
You can say what you want, but I'll take Texas anyday.
The rest of your points are bogus, and if you're measuring by CA or US EPA standards, then I'd say you're right where you belong in California.
Honestly, since you in California suck up over 33% of all welfare dollares in the US, how dare YOU point fingers at anyone? If you like life so much there, then go ahead and secede from the union, set yourself up as a socialist empure, and fund your largesse yourself, and quit asking the US taxpayers in the other 49 states (as well as the Chinese government) to pay for your generosity to people who don't want to work, ro live within their menas?
waapiti307| 7.12.12 @ 6:02PM
To add to the point about the father of a four-year-old girl meting out justice to the child molester/rapist: He did it without using a firearm. That being done in a state that does not scoff at the Second Amendment. Just goes to show it doesn't take a gun to carry out punishment.
JD| 7.12.12 @ 10:42AM
Liberals sure have disdain for the poor when expressing disdain makes conservatives look bad. Yes, Texas has a lot of illegals, and poor uneducated types in general gravitate there because they can find work. And that's the beauty of it - despite its population hurdles, Texas still has a solid economy.
Spike| 7.11.12 @ 10:49AM
Atlas Shrugged comes to mind. In spite of hard evidence to the contrary, the Statists continue to advance illogical policies and propositions, that worsen the state of the state, rather than improve.
What's missing? A Conservative "Opposition" Party. What we appear to have in Cali, is a Statist Party, and a moderately-less Statist Party. Unless and until the GOP finds their stones, California is doomed.
MikeBee| 7.11.12 @ 4:18PM
Spike,
The Republicans used to come largely from the OC and San Diego. Used to be a pretty large voting block out there. But, those in S.D. have largely died off (S.D. used to be where L.A. and O.C. folks retired) or moved to the I.E. or out of state.
Additionally, the propaganda press out there all say the same liberal things, and have so since about the 1980s, effectively brainwashing the folks who live there. It's actually very weird: you can say something to a group of Californians that the Press out there has repeated ad nauseam for years, like "fat is bad for you," and they all nod their heads in unison, and repeat, like zombies, "yeah, fat bad." It's like no one out there know how to think for himself. Everything is group think, lead by the CA Press.
Hopefully, the Republicans will find a way to make it back into the CA gov't. Also hopefully, CA will be forced to declare bankruptcy. Then, and only then, will Californians be delivered from the various liberal groups, including unions and environmentalists, who hold the State hostage. Only if CA declares bankruptcy will the state be able to be great again.
waapiti307| 7.12.12 @ 6:09PM
No, they'll simply whine and cry to the feds for bailout money...taxpayer money, which means other states will be paying for Cali's F-ups. If President Obama is re-elected and Cali goes bankrupt, they will be given the money with a wink and a smile...U.S. Congress and the Constitution be damned.
Who Knows?| 7.11.12 @ 11:15AM
California, here I come.
Right back where I came from.
Born in Pasadena, '42.
To die in ???? in ????
Hey, come on--the weather's fine.
Texas---TEXAS???
Hot, dry and muggy.
California---Pacific Ocean, beautiful national parks, San Diego!!!
Work, who needs a job---
Come to California and retire.
RichTex| 7.11.12 @ 11:34AM
All y’all* Californians are welcome to move to Texas under two conditions: One, you must be a legal resident of the United States. Two, you must leave your failed, liberal ideology behind when you do come here.
*The term “all y’all” is the proper plural of “y’all”, which is the second person singular.
Stkman| 7.11.12 @ 11:51AM
One thing not mentioned is how the Federal courts have helped to destroy the state. Everytime Californians have an election to do something to save themselves the courts strike it down. They are doomed to fail because of liberalism.
waapiti307| 7.12.12 @ 6:11PM
Ah yes, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals...friend of the uh...??? Hmmm. Leftists?
Sean| 7.11.12 @ 1:44PM
California in the 70s and early 80s was in someways more conservative than Texas is today. There was a strong conservative bastion still in San Diego, Orange county, and much of LA County. The electorate passed props 13, 187, 209 often having to even fight the Republican establishment from outside the state.
The inevitable downfall of California happened under Reagan's Presidency with the signing of amnesty and the increased illegal immigration that followed. That tipped the balance of power permanently to the leftists on the coast and in NoCal.
Now Texas might be number one right now, but I can tell you that the people of Texas are not as conservative as the people in the conservative bastions of California of 70s and 80s were. Give Texas a good 20 years and they will probably be in the same situation.
Reggie Love| 7.11.12 @ 3:38PM
I love how people think all of California is liberal. Even in LA co.there are more Republican towns still than Democrat. The real problem is the BAy Area.
RJ| 7.12.12 @ 1:10AM
Yes, immigration has certainly changed the electorate to a more liberal position. While that is probably the most dominant factor, I offer a few other factors that went against the conservatives in California.
First, many middle-class and upper middle-class families began to leave the state in the early 1990s when we were hit with our first major recession (including the death of the Southern California aerospace industry and a decline in manufacturing). The majority of these people probably voted Republican.
Second, California's success, like New York a decade or two earlier, led people to think that the area is so wonderful that we can put a premium on doing business here and no one will object. Many became more liberal. In good times, the people thought government spending more and further restricting business (for the "environment" and the "workers") was good.
Third, I think our public education system has indoctrinated our young to accept liberalism. When I hear many California college students talk, I fear that they have a completely different value system. They don't really know what freedoms they have lost and they don't know the nation's history. For example, they grew up in a era when the local "homeowner association" requires approval and payment from single-family homeowners who decide to make any changes to their homes exteriors or yards. This sort of abuse of property rights would not have been tolerated a few decades ago.
Sean| 7.12.12 @ 4:15AM
I grew up in California and have now lived in Texas for about 15 years. From what I see Texas has way more HOAs than California. I just bought a second home last month and made sure it was not in a HOA.
RJ| 7.12.12 @ 12:21PM
I am sorry to hear that there are more HOAs in Texas than California. They usually abuse their authority and teach the young that "community values" are more important than property rights. In my neighborhood of single-family homes, the "Community Association" has openly exceeded its authority and issued detailed regulations, including back-yard doghouses. To my surprise, out of over 500 homeowners, no one other than me objected to it. Many just don't care and ignore it; others just go along with the statement, "At least there are no purple houses" as if that was ever a problem.
Sean| 7.12.12 @ 12:54PM
The problem is that the busy bodies who want to control everyone are the ones that run for positions. Normal people usually have no interest in doing such thing allowing for an easy take over. If you want to change things you will have to talk to some neighbors and run for leadership in the HOA. If you talk to neighbors you will likely find out that most actually agree with you. Kind of like Nixon's "silent majority."
RJ| 7.13.12 @ 1:25AM
All good points, Sean. If I could find 10 to 15 homeowners who would be willing to join in the effort, I think we could change things, but as you say, normal people are focused on other things.
waapiti307| 7.12.12 @ 6:19PM
Unless illegal immigration gets more out of control than it is and the narcoterrorism in Mexico spills over even more into Texas, among other border states. Or unless you have very extreme lefties who believe that white folks and the U.S. are to blame for all the badness in the world and that somehow we must recompense for our transgressions...take over things in Texas.
janelasdedeus| 7.11.12 @ 3:51PM
Since they seem compelled to vote for the Democrat party no matter how dire their situation, perhaps Californians will soon begin frantically carving huge sculptures of Obama's head and face them all toward Washington in the utterly futile hope that the One will miraculously save them.
waapiti307| 7.12.12 @ 6:22PM
*Laughs* Sort of like prostrating themselves on rugs and bowing toward Mecca?
Jane Chingo| 7.11.12 @ 5:14PM
You have to understand two things about California. First, it's not actively inimical to business except in places like Berkeley); it simply sees them as cash trees (cows would get better treatment). Second, they think they're protecting California but don't realize that that California died in the 1980s when all the current idiots moved in.
spike59| 7.12.12 @ 6:18AM
same thing happened to Maine in the 70's when all the burned-out granola heads left their communes in NY, PA, and NJ and moved up there to lecture the locals on how to live; eventually, people just gave in to shut 'em up
squirefld| 7.11.12 @ 6:34PM
Several years ago I had a friend who was offered a job in California but his wife didn't want to move their because she afraid of the earthquakes and the state falling into the ocean. TRUE STORY. Today thats the least of California's worries.
waapiti307| 7.12.12 @ 6:23PM
They're doing that in a figurative sense...economically.
Ken (Old Texican)| 7.12.12 @ 8:30AM
"stupid" is defined: "knowing better but doing it anyhow." You just can't fix stupid.
RJ| 7.12.12 @ 12:24PM
"You can't fix stupid." How true. I remember people at work frequently saying we needed to make our systems "idiot-proof." It is an impossibility. We should never underestimate the power of the idiot. They can defeat any system designed to prevent stupid behavior.
waapiti307| 7.12.12 @ 6:24PM
Like Moonbeam knowing that higher taxes would hurt the economy but favoring a tax increase anyway? Ah, yep.
Richard Rider | 7.13.12 @ 10:24AM
What follows is a sample from my dreary, constantly updated fact sheet -- comparing California with the other 49 (or 57) states. Each factoid is backed by a URL reference. As such, it's too unwieldly for this comment section. If you want the full Monte, go to the link to my fact sheet.
Breaking Bad: California vs. the Other States
by Richard Rider, Chairman, San Diego Tax Fighters
Version 1.815
Revised: 5 July, 2012
Updated version online at: http://open.salon.com/blog/Richard_Rider
Email: RRider@san.rr.com
Phone: 858-530-3027
California has the 2nd worst state income tax in the nation. 9.3% tax bracket starts at $48,029 for people filing as individuals. 10.3% tax starts at $1,000,000. Governor Brown is putting on the ballot a prop to change the “millionaires’ tax” to 13.3%, starting at $500,000 – including capital gains. If approved, CA will be by far #1 in income tax rates. We will be 21% higher than the 2nd highest state (Hawaii), 34% higher than the 3rd highest state (Oregon), and a heck of a lot higher than all the rest – including seven states with zero state income tax. http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/bp59_es.pdf
Richard Rider | 7.13.12 @ 11:04AM
Consider California’s net domestic migration (migration between states). From April, 2000 through June, 2008 (8 years, 2 months) California has lost a NET 1.4 million people. The cumulative net annual income lost from this 8 year out-migration comes to about $26 billion. Net departures slowed in 2008 only because people couldn’t sell their homes. But in 2010 the loss resumed -- we lost 154,000 net people to domestic out-migration. Again, note that this is NET loss.
http://www.mdp.state.md.us/msd.....table5.pdf and http://blogs.sacbee.com/capito.....lowly.html and w.interactive.taxfoundation.org/migration/
These are not welfare kings and queens departing. They are the young, the educated, the productive, the ambitious, the wealthy (such as Tiger Woods) – and retirees seeking to make their pensions provide more bang for the buck.
Too often these departing seniors are retired state and local government employees fleeing the state that provides them with their opulent pensions – in order to avoid the high taxes that these same employees pushed so hard through their unions. And once they move out of California, our state can no longer tax their California-paid pensions.