Posted on 04/25/2012 6:00:13 AM PDT by upchuck
[Snipped to conform to excerpting rule]
Nearly four million more people have left the Golden State in the last two decades than have come from other states. This is a sharp reversal from the 1980s, when 100,000 more Americans were settling in California each year than were leaving.
While many middle-class families have moved inland, those regions don't have the same allure or amenities as the coast. People might as well move to Nevada or Texas, where housing and everything else is cheaper and there's no income tax.
And things will only get worse in the coming years as Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown and his green cadre implement their "smart growth" plans to cram the proletariat into high-density housing. "What I find reprehensible beyond belief is that the people pushing [high-density housing] themselves live in single-family homes and often drive very fancy cars, but want everyone else to live like my grandmother did in Brownsville in Brooklyn in the 1920s," Mr. Kotkin declares.
In the governor's dreams, green jobs will replace all of the "tangible jobs" that the state's losing in agriculture, manufacturing, warehousing and construction. But "green energy doesn't create enough energy!" Mr. Kotkin exclaims. "And it drives up the price of energy, which then drives out other things." Notwithstanding all of the subsidies the state lavishes on renewables, green jobs only make up about 2% of California's private-sector work force—no more than they do in Texas.
According to the Tax Foundation, California has the 48th-worst business tax climate. Its income tax is steeply progressive. Millionaires pay a top rate of 10.3%, the third-highest in the country. But middle-class workers—those who earn more than $48,000—pay a top rate of 9.3%, which is higher than what millionaires pay in 47 states. And Democrats want to raise taxes even more.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
My first trip to Cali was in 1980 on business. I was astounded that homes there were selling at four times the value of my home in Louisville, KY.
If it defies common sense, you'll find boatloads of it in California.
IMHO, California is a mirror of where the US will be in 10-15 years. Assuming the present US course is not stopped.
I left SoCal for NE Florida. No regrets.
The article doesn’t go into what happens after this unsustainable situation finally collapses - which it undoubtedly will sooner than later.
God bless those tough souls who are laboring behind the green curtain, trying to make a go of it out there. With that regulatory and taxation nightmare, it can’t be easy.
There he goes again... Gov. Moonbeam McPothead doubling down on a losing hand.
California will look to us taxpayers for a bailout. Hopefully, Cali will be spurned. Cali will then file for bankruptcy and then things will get really interesting.
CA taxpayers have been giving more to than they gotten from the other 49 states for decades, but I hope CA is spurned when it goes hat in hand looking for a bailout - the sooner the collapse the sooner the freeloaders will get what they have coming.
The downside is that many of these people (not all) fleeing the hell that they themselves have created in Cal. then demand and vote for the same socialism-big government-anti freedom in their new location. A process called CALIFORNICATION.
The Tax Foundation 2012 state business tax climate index.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/22658.html
The 10 best states in this year’s Index are:
1. Wyoming
2. South Dakota
3. Nevada
4. Alaska
5. Florida
6. New Hampshire
7. Washington
8. Montana
9. Texas
10. Utah
The 10 lowest ranked, or worst, states in this year’s Index are:
41. Iowa
42. Maryland
43. Wisconsin
44. North Carolina
45. Minnesota
46. Rhode Island
47. Vermont
48. California
49. New York
50. New Jersey
California used to be heaven on earth to me. Stuck it out until 2004, then left and never looked back. How I miss the perfect weather, the beautiful scenery, the casual life style...but other than the weather, it is all memories now and I doubt if its former glory can be recaptured. I’m going to visit the diehard relatives in May and will love visiting but, despite their constant urgings for me to move back, it will never happen! California’s demise should be a warning for the rest of the country...what a shame!
Hugh Hewitt had a guest on last evening who owns a consulting firm which helps businesses flee California and other liberal hell-holes for more business friendly climes. Sounds like his business is booming.
North Carolina #44? Lower than PA? Ohio? MICHIGAN????
Wow, has the Yankee Invasion done it’s damage down there.
Wife and I spent a week in San Diego last month. Great place to visit but EXPENSIVE !
Whereas more intelligent observers recall The Land of the Lotus Eaters visited by The Legion of the Sun and see its connection to tawdry, hopeless crack houses where contemporary "progressives" have had their way.
Don't try explaining this to "progressives". They don't want to know.
The Lotus Eaters didn't want any outside opinions either.
BTW, you'll remember that eating the lotus was the one adventure that Ulysses refused to experience. He even insisted on hearing the songs of the sirens.
You will also recall that, among his many other intellectual accomplishments, he was the one who devised the Trojan Horse.
Ulysses lives in every human population. This spirit will always prevail.
The Lotus Eaters have also always lived in every human population. They always wind up in the garbage dump.
Last week at a funeral I met my cousin, her husband, her three kids and their spouses and their numerous children....... all moved to Cary/Raleigh Durham from Maryland.
No kidding?
Welcome to ENLIGHTENMENT, Joel.
(A little more progress, and Joel will be a member of the Tea Party.)
As a San Diego Native and 43 year resident of CA, I can tell you that San Diego was heck of a town to grow up in, but a horrible place to try and raise a family unless you were well off. Left for Texas in 2005 and really do not regret the move at all.
"Kotkin...Democrat...voted for Mr. Brown...because he believed Mr. Brown was interesting and thought outside the box."
You just can't fix stupid.
Is it sometimes possible to guide the stupid toward less destructive behavior?
No. The great tragedy of California is hubris and denial.
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