Posted on 11/18/2004 12:32:42 PM PST by nickcarraway
California's high taxes and obsession with elitist political correctness have made the state so expensive that a fourth of residents are thinking about moving to a more reasonable state.
As greedy cities, counties and other governmental bodies restrict property rights and development in the name of environmentalism, housing has become prohibitively overpriced.
The young are especially hard hit. A study released today by Public Policy Institute of California found that:
60 percent of respondents worried that their children would not be able to buy homes nearby.
Only one in five who want to buy a house someday think they will be able to.
Nearly half of respondents under 35 said they were considering leaving.
Instead of being optimistic about life in the former Golden State, the new generation "coming into the owning stages of their lives ... are exactly the people who are talking about moving elsewhere," warned Mark Baldassare, author of the statewide study. "You're talking about your work force. You're talking about your future."
The median price of a house nationwide is $186,600. In California it's $465,000.
Naturally, the most expensive areas are those most heavily Democrat. "The survey, the most comprehensive of its kind in years in California, reveals the moving-out sentiment is highest in coastal areas, and many are acting on it. Since 1995, according to the institute, more than 350,000 residents have moved from the coast to the less expensive Central Valley," the Associated Press reported today.
Take a look at the red-blue maps of congressional districts and recent presidential elections to get an idea of how the left-wing elitists of San Francisco, Berkeley and the like are trying to price out those awful middle class and poor people so they can sip their $6 frappuccinos and juices with like-minded pseudointellectuals.
In another sign of California's drop-dead attitude toward the middle and lower classes, harsher new emissions standards will make cars cost up to several thousand dollars more there than elsewhere in America, the Wall Street Journal reported recently.
Some of the blame, of course, goes to Californians. Though he has tried to stop the exodus of jobs to lower-cost states, liberal Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger persuaded voters in his deficit-plagued state to burden themselves further with a $6 billion spending spree on unproven research that destroys human embryos, even as hospitals in slums such as Watts are being closed.
Yep sounds about right. Our socialist state sucks If I could find a decent job in Sarasota Florida I'd probably go there instead.
I had the same fears here in MD. That is why with a family cosignor I was able to get a home which I currently am using as an investment prop until I graduate. Cost of the TownHome on a fingernail of land 225K. I went to Cancun last year and a couple from Northern Virginia whom were on their honey moon told me that they paid 450k for their townhome. Another couple from Kansas mentioned that they paid a little over 80k for 6 acres of land. Cost of living is just terrible on both the East and West Coast but Cali is just ridiculous
It's nice to see the legendary compassion of liberals being put into practice.
By creating these idiotic rules on who can build what and where, they are turning California into a "gated community".
I come from the head-up-the-ass state of Massachusetts, so I know how this works. Luckily, we seem to be battling it back a bit in the past few years.
California better wake up, or you before long you might need an access card to open the gates and get into the state.
Of course, they probably will move somewhere else with no clue that their "people last" mentality caused the problem to start with, and they'll repeat the mistakes.
Ahhh, the Gold State, the petri dish of liberal failure. But then they may want to run the "under class" out and make California the Disney for the "elite".
This is part of the reason California got to be a "blue" state to begin with. You leave. I'll stay here and fight along with the other 5.2 million Bush voters.
The other problem is that, whatever anti-growth activities one might imagine, there just isn't that much of a place to grow, at least in SoCal. The L.A. urban sprawl extends from the foothills of the San Gabriels in the north, essentially all the way to the Mexican border in the south, and from the San Jacinto's in the west to the Pacific. At this point, the options are to either live way the hell out somewhere--like those people in Lancaster who commute two or three hours each way every day--or to start building up, increasing density.
It's not just true in California. Check this out:
http://www.bea.gov/bea/regional/reis/pcpimap.asp
Compare that to the county map found at Newsmax.com
And Republicans are the party of the Rich? lol
The value of my house DOUBLED in just 4 years. That's in Manassas, VA.
Personally I love Cali (the place) and I think its well worth fighting for. as was stated earlier in this post, there are millions here who did vote for Bush. Arnold has done some good things for this state but the stem cell crap undid anything good. We conservatives have to fight for what we love and believe in not leave with our tails between our legs. Orange County where I live is actually fairly conservative (for a coastal area)
Not so. They want to turn it into third-world America just so they can say their gang-bang hippy wasted/stoned lifestyle philosophy actually works.
You see, these morons live in gated communities with 24/7 armed guards to protect them from the side effects of the very policies they implement.
Meanwhile, the elitist fat soccer moms drive their fat SUVs while drinking their fat cup of Starbucks while talking on their fat cell phone plastered to their fat heads, all the while trying to cram the whole ball of wax into a parking spot marked, "for compact cars only."
FEEL THE LOVE!
My husband bought a beautiful house, in good condition for 15,000 in flyover country. As soon as we graduate this May, we are getting out of CA. Hubby will make less $$ as a small town lawyer, but there are fewer ethical issues and the cost of living is so much less that we can get by better on a smaller income.
I wonder what the median price of a home would be if you took California out of the equation....
Are there any good jobs in Barstow? Baker? Death Valley?
California has been a left leaning state for a long time. Reagan was an exception for obvious reasons.
Florida.
That's what I'm looking at, too.
I don't think a lot of people elsewhere in the country realize just how much topography restricts growth here. Those mountains are steep and there aren't many places to put more roads over them.
There is hope. If enough liberals get mugged ... by criminals, illegal aliens, and/or bureaucrats ... then the tide may shift in our favor.
But I'm not holding my breath ...
San Francisco and Berkeley already have rent-control measures. All they need to do is expand those protections to include price-controls on houses being sold. It will be easy, once they repeal the law of supply and demand.
If a terrorist attack happened in San Francisco the residents there would blame themselves for being American and GWB for being president.
Don't be too harsh on our Blue Staters. We love big government as long as we don't have to foot the bill for it. The Democrats talk blithely of raising taxes every session but never go through with it knowing it either will be vetoed or they'll face retribution from angry voters. The more things change in California, the more they remain the same.
California Election Results:
State Results:
Kerry - 6,252,471
Bush - 5,115,591
LA, SF, and Alameda Counties:
Kerry - 2,509,492
Bush - 1,218,173
The SANE Rest of the State:
Kerry - 3,742,979
Bush - 3,897,418
Sarasota's a fine town
On a serious note, as the population grows older, the regions with the world class, year round weather, will only continue to be, more and more desirable. No doubt about it.
Liberals, on the other hand, can go ahead and sleep in the bed where they shat. They will not be welcome, and we don't want them. If they don't like it, let 'em secede, and I'll wish them well (but know they'll ruin it).
Conservatives and libertarians (regardless of race or ethnicity) are more than welcome.
I'll be there with you. Fighting here is much more desirable. The only snow I like is on a post card, and the only ice I want to see will be in my Margarita.
The restrictions against building upwards throughout most of Orange County and many parts of LA County doesn't help housing prices either.
That's a NICE town you've got there, too. We stayed there a couple years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Those are basically ones that can't afford it, and chances are, they weren't from here to begin with, and are just out of staters, returning home.
Cost of same townhouse in most of the liberal areas of California (like Sonoma County) would be over $300k.
Young ones get their education there, then move here because they can't afford housing there. Middle-age and older folks sell their crackerbox they bought many moons ago for many times what they paid for it and buy a a brand new beautiful home here plus $ to spare.
In spite of that, the state still votes Republican.
Somewhere, McClintock is laughing his rear off.
If the Colorado Rockies had joined the Central Conference rather than the West Conference, then maybe more normal people would have moved to Colorado when the economy was riding high there. They also would have had a chance to win more pennants!
In a nutshell: The urban coastal demographic here increasingly consists of the wealthyist and most liberal of the Boomers, the wealthyist of educated immigrants, with a smaller slice of other high wage earners. There is a rapidly escaping middle class (mostly native Californians) and then there are the lesser educated immigrants who cut lawns and wait tables. Away from the coast, it is more normal, but starting to change as well.
Dukemajian was a rightist. Wilson, while somewhat a RINO, was not all bad either. In the suburbs, California used to be very solid GOP territory. The biggest change in this regard has been in the Bay Area. LA is not as bad in this respect, however, do note that LA county went to solid Blue and know that LA county has more population in its burbs than within the LA city limit.
Gotta call you on this one. Most of the people I grew up with here have either left the state or moved (for now) well inland. They'll be out of here eventually. Unless someone can either go to grad school and get a very high paying corporate job or, be very successful in small business, this is just not a good place to try and raise a family. And even for those of us who can afford it, the overall social environment here really sucks, especially for those of us who can still remember this as a place where most of the Easterners with liberal thinking were isolated in SF, Berzerkely and Santa Monica, while the rest of us were, as Reagan used to say, God fearing Westerners.
My observation is that most of the Lefties here hate the desert and have never really accepted the fact that they live in the Western US. They are the ones who end up in Oregon or jump over to New Mexico. Folks who are attracted to relo to Arizona tend to be those actually born here, or, if transplants, ones who really love being in the Western US.
We had some friends that moved to Colorado a few years ago. They regret it and wished they were back. They're kids rebelled, and they wound up moving back to where they were raised. They are trying to make their way back now, having a very bad time dealing with the cold and altitude.
Different strokes for different folks. I don't deal with cold winters or heat and brutal humidity. Plain and simple, as folks get older, the places with the best weather will be the most sought after and desirable. Life is too short to deal with nasty weather.
I gather that you've been to Seattle.
If downstate NY were separated from the impoverished igloo that is upstate New York, the median housing price would be higher than California.
One can only hope that will happen.
I moved to Manassas, VA from Elmhurst, IL in 1988. I was 11 years old at the time.
In the 16 years since, I've seen a lot of changes in Manassas, some for the better, and some (like MS-13 gang activity) for the worse.
I'll tell you one thing--it was a bit of a culture shock moving from a midwestern town that was almost completely built-out to what was then (1988) almost a rural town which still had a farm in it! (There's now a shopping center with a Giant grocery store where that farm used to be).
To give you an idea, back in 1988 it was a long-distance call just to call someone in Fairfax. (These days it's a local call). Manassas was considered to be podunkville in those days (some still consider it that; they obviously haven't been here in a long time).
They also were still teaching hunter safety in middle school, and at that time you could keep a gun in your car on school grounds if you were going hunting after school.
Housing the servant is phase two, they are still working on phase one.
i moved out of california nine months ago and my outlook on life has changed drastically. i already was content in my spirtual life with both my wife and i who are christians and are thankful to the Lord for our salvation and the gift of eternal life. but, the Lord did provide us a way out to the state of wyoming and we have never looked back or for the rest of our lives, we never will. I was a sixth generation Californian and I do believe that California is a state in this great country of ours that is headed for complete ruin. this statement is based on many different factors and too many to list here. if anyone cares to inquire about my thoughts on this issue, feel free to. until then, take care and God bless.
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