[cloudmountain]

I would assume that Illinois and California would also be on the "do not inhabit" list as well.

Not so with California.
Folks can go to the beaches in southern California OR go skiing in the mountains in the north, on the SAME day.
Now THAT is "choice."

Also, California has Hollyweird (a big draw), the Mexico crossing at Tijuana, some of the best pot in the world (in northern California since the Feds shut down their fishing and lumber industries), great fishing and great produce (Central valley)--just to name a few things.

All one needs is money. No, scratch that. Our welfare program is also HUGE.

[RayChuang88]

One saving grace of California is their gigantic technology industry. Why do you think home prices in the San Francisco Bay Area never cratered--the success of Apple, Facebook, Google and a number of biotechnology firms pretty much kept the state's economy from completely collapsing like what happened to a number of states.