Los Angeles, 2009: California may be the eighth largest economy in the world, but its state staff are being paid in IOUs, unemployment is at its highest in 70 years, and teachers are on hunger strike. So what has gone so catastrophically wrong?
[…] Yet California is currently cutting healthcare, slashing the “Healthy Families” programme that helped an estimated one million of its poorest children. Los Angeles now has a poverty rate of 20%. Other cities across the state, such as Fresno and Modesto, have jobless rates that rival Detroit’s.
[…] “I believe in California. It pains me at the moment to see it where it is, but I still believe in it,” said Michael Levine.
Are the representatives in Sacramento being paid with IOU’s from the State?
The IOUs are worthless per the SEC. Propositions in the state require a super majority of the legislature to pass tax increases, and a small minority of “No New Taxes” pledged Reps are standing in the way of fixing things.
The other problem you have in CA is massive corruption at the state level in the form on pork barrel projects, no bid contracts, and special tax breaks to businesses. Even as the state is selling and leasing back every government building it can, the sales are going to “friends of the legislature”.
This is what happens when people become overly dependent on the govt. for all their needs. They lose their incentive to educate their selves and to work for a living. All these wonderful, caring, feel good programs sound nice but they destroy the spirit. It wasn’t long ago you either worked hard and educated yourself or you died. Today we make it easy to sit on your rear and do nothing and big govt. will provide for you. Well big govt. is now bankrupt as a result. The rest of the country is right behind California. The only way to stop it is to go back to tough love. You either get off your rear, get an education and work or you get nothing from the govt., zero. Unfortunately, it probably won’t happen, that would be considered as being “mean spirited” and “racist”. So California here we come!
Always figured New Mexico was in worse shape than California has been. They have the worst unemployment and poverty rates in the country, what what I understand. Perhaps I better move?
#4, ron,
This is what happens when people become overly dependent on the govt. for all their needs.
No, this is what happens when you allow a small number of politicians to block legislation until they get their way.
If California was allowed to legislate as almost every other State then this impasse wouldn’t be happening.
well let them have more tax cuts out there, as you know you can provide full services to all with a discounted tax rate…
yeah yeah that’s the ticket..
I stopped trucking to California some years back due to their inhumane treatment of those they consider undesirable workers. (not a politician,recipient of aid or entertainment worker) Look at how they treat the everyday working person and it becomes clear why the are in the position they are. For the 22 years I’ve seen a constant line of people moving in to and out of California, both groups looking for a better tomorrow and not finding it in the golden state
Why do people think they should need to rely on the Government to live?
California is less than 50% white…. Hello people diversity destroys and kills everything including diversity. It used to be important for a country to have a dominate religion i.e. Spain catholic. Now not only no main religion but no main racial stock.
Means no cohesion. Ever hear of the tower of Babel?
How about controlling the salaries given out to public workers. Who else gets automatic pay raises? It’s over a hundred thousand per year when you include pensions.
ronwp54, yes its good to see a man who has gone to the trouble of educating “hisself”
I hate outdated articles like this. FYI CA is no longer paying in IOUs and hasn’t been for some time now.
And one of the many reasons CA is in the state it’s in is restriction on taxes (Prop 13). Rely too much on cap gains and sales tax, overheated real estate tanks and guess what, you’ve got 30% less $$ to meet your budgeting needs. That and the fact that it takes 2/3 majority to pass a budget and you get a small minority (Repub) with a controlling power to mess things up.
First thing we need to do is have ALL ballot initiatives re-approved or voted out on a regular basis. As of now we have no good mechanism for getting rid of bad ideas that were once thought good by the voters.
#15, As of now we have no good mechanism for getting rid of bad ideas that were once thought good by the voters.
Welcome to world of Mob Rule.
No, California’s problems are twofold. First, we’ve been peddling bonds for years and we spend many, many millions just maintaining them. Since Schwarzenegger came to power, he’s lived off of bond sales and these are all legally mandated payments that cannot be put off, cannot be done away with, etc. It’s like the national debt, which constitutes the single largest line item in the U.S. budget.
Secondly, the absurd union contracts that the state has signed on for over the years which, again, we’re legally stuck with. None of them can be reopened or renegotiated and we’re throwing away millions in retirement benefits that we simply cannot afford.
Add to that the fact that the California legislature never met a social program they didn’t like whether they could pay for it or not and you have a disaster. They have raised taxes, then they just increased spending to go along with it. It’s runaway spending on frivolous things that are absolutely unjustifiable.
We need to go bankrupt, there’s just no other way out of the corner we’ve painted ourselves into.
15 years of Republican governors, 5 years of Democratic governors.
20 years of a Democratic legislature +/- a few months when Willie Brown messed with them in 1995.
The public employee unions, spending on social programs and environmentalism is what killed CA.
California is a failed state because it embraced the Wall Street mentality of spend now, worry about the bills later.
Republican governors have always managed to trash California’s economy. Remember Pete Wilson’s great idea to do business with his buddies at Enron?
Well, if Californians were stupid enough to elect Arny as their governator, I guess they deserve all they get 🙂
Lotsa rich folk living in California, if they don’t care, I’ll be damned if I do. Maybe when the cops, emergency rescue, and firemen go on strike they’ll realize they have a problem. Being part of a community requires the commitment of it’s members. What would happen if the rich folk decide California’s too dangerous or depressing? They would leave. Making a desperate situation a tragic one.
What’s wrong with CA? The taxes are to high. The government and elite took an anti business attitude while trying to create a perfect welfare state while kissing up to the unions.
Business fled the state or failed and the money ran out.
Now the government needs to cut taxes and change laws to encourage businesses while vastly reducing spending.
If they do that the public will turn on them like sharks and if they don’t the public is going to turn on them like sharks.
At least for now CA may be a good place not to be job hunting.
“That and the fact that it takes 2/3 majority to pass a budget and you get a small minority (Repub) with a controlling power to mess things up.”….
If less than 2/3rds think something is legit, maybe it isn’t. I doubt that the police, fire and highway patrol are too controversial to get a 2/3 vote. The rest is probably just pork, patronage and social engineering. To hell with it.
1. You have to figure that the one state that lives on a huge network of earthquake faults, and still builds most of its priciest taxpayer funded projects in those cities. Not to mention being subject to massive forest fires, on a yearly basis. And you can see how this would rack up the States debt problem. They’ve got a huge negative cash flow.
2. I’m betting that lots of millionaires, billionaires, and megabuck corporations there, are hiding their wealth from being taxed. By using offshore and Swiss bank tax havens. Placing the sole burden of taxes on the poor middle and lower class Californians.
I waiting for the “big one” to come and sever CA away from the rest of this country. Hopefully Nancy Pelosi will be there when it hits and we will be rid of her too.
#28 gq… You may just get your wish ->
http://scienceagogo.com/news/20090830200310data_trunc_sys.shtml
#28, gq,
I see you still have anger issues. I thought you resolved those with your doctor.