High spending, high taxes, the prop system, green policies and public pensions all have a hand in California’s current economic crisis.
In this blog’s experience, California has always been less rooted and less traditional than much of the rest of the country. It occupies a space deep in the American psyche, drawing all types of people.
It has been the end point of manifest destiny, attracting both prospectors and naturalists, frontier industrialists and the Beats, hardworking immigrants straight off the boat and new-agers and spiritual types.
This blog still maintains that culturally, it profits to see California as a test case for the rise of both environmentalism and multiculturalism. It’s doubtful that many of the people who embrace such ideas as guides for living, public policy, educational practices and political incentives will associate their ideas with California’s current economic problems.
Many Californians are facing the squeeze because they have to.
Feel free to highlight my ignorance. Any thoughts and comments are welcome.
Addition: Victor Davis Hanson:
‘Soon, even the Stanford professor and the La Jolla administrator may learn that illegal immigration, cumbersome regulations, and the terrible elementary schools affect them as well.
The four-part solution for California is clear: don’t raise the state’s crushing taxes any higher; reform public-employee compensation: make use of ample natural resources: and stop the flow of illegal aliens. Just focus on those four areas-as California did so well in the past-and in time, the state will return to its bounty of a few decades ago. Many of us intend to stay and see that it does.
***California’s got tremendous natural beauty and resources, and much in the way of ‘human capital,’ especially in technology and the sciences, partially due to the old Master Plan).
Hearst Castle 4 by Bill Kuffrey
There are good reasons to leave: From Erica.Biz: ‘Dear California: I’m Leaving You. Here’s Why…’
-A link for Michael Lewis’ article about California politics, public pensions and Schwarzenegger’s time in office.
-A map from Immodest Proposals on how to divide California. Topographic crime map of San Francisco.
-California’s anti-immigration, anti-union Democrat: Full video and background on Mickey Kaus here.
Related On This Site: Victor Davis Hanson Via Youtube Via Uncommon Knowledge: ‘The New Old World Order’…Victor Davis Hanson At The City Journal: ‘California, Here We Stay’…
Dream big: Via Reason: ‘California’s Public Transportation Sinkhole’ A great city deserves great art extravaganzas…: L.A.’s New Public Art Piece ‘The Levitated Mass,’ Or As The American Interest Puts It: ‘A Moving Rock’
…California Dreamers From The Atlantic-A Brief Review Of Kevin Starr’s History Of California
The people who promise solutions to poverty and homelessness seem to be engaged in a utopian cost-shifting exercise which favors their interests and overlooks crime, violence and personal responsbility…hardly a way to balance the budget: Repost-Heather MacDonald At The City Journal: ‘The Sidewalks Of San Francisco’…