Al Jolson
1924
California, here I come, yeah!
Right where I started from
Where bowers are flowers bloom in the spring
Each morning at dawning
Birdies sing and everything
A sun kissed miss said “Don’t be late!”
That’s why I can hardly wait
Open up, open up, open up that Golden Gate!
California, here I come!
How has the Golden State gone from the envy of the nation to number one on the poverty list? The state with 13% of the nations population is home to 34% of the welfare recipients. Homeless filled drug infested tent enclaves occupy the streets of San Diego, frame miles of bike paths in Anaheim and characterize third world style landscapes decorating Los Angeles and San Francisco. This is not the California Mr. Jolson was singing about or the place my dad moved us to in 1956.
Statewide mandated minimum wage increases have pushed industries to other states. The unskilled jobs so essential as the first rung up the ladder to prosperity for the poorest citizens has been sawed off.
Wealthy people look for homes in other states to avoid the highest state income tax. They open businesses elsewhere to bypass exorbitant taxes and counter-productive regulations. Utilities are among the most expensive in America. We pay a dollar fifty more for each gallon of gas while subsidizing millionaire’s purchase of $100,000 electric cars. The poor and working poor are hit the worst. People can barely afford rent and fewer then 31% can afford a home. Now the state will require all new homes as of 2020 to be fully solar. Thus the clueless elites will make buying a home in California even less affordable.
Picture postcard beaches and mountains along with natural resources that few localities on earth posses use to attract people from all over the world. Increasing numbers of those who have achieved success and those who seek it go elsewhere. There was a time when the riches of oil, gold, creativity and fine universities laid the groundwork for prosperity pursued by ambitious people. Silicon Valley is an aberration today. But even on that silicon island the average well-paid worker can’t afford a home.
The gold has been mined. State universities have devolved into cupcake training centers. Coddled kids are shielded from open unbiased inquiry. There is a doctrine that defines what can be said, what ideas are deemed correct and those who deviate are shouted down, demeaned or just barred from campus. The land of free thinkers is now the land of left-wing doctrine.
“A recent study by USC predicts that a Monterey Shale boom could add $4.5 billion in tax revenue to state coffers and 2.8 million California jobs by 2020, and would turn the state into the nation’s leading oil producer.” Because of the Santa Barbara oil spill 49 years ago the gas and oil rich Monterey Basin is left untouched. A half-century of scientific progress produced safety innovation that is ignored because of a religious orthodoxy called environmentalism.Their religious chant is as follows: carbon based energy is the devil.
Los Angeles schools solved a low graduation rate problem by declaring ‘D’ a passing grade. Thus failure gets a diploma. K-12 students can choose to dress and participate in school activities as the gender contrary to their biology without parental approval. While hideous numbers of students perform way below national standards the kids are encouraged to skip class so they can participate in political rallies. Can anyone spell ‘priorities’?
The intentional transmission of HIV has been lowered from a felony to misdemeanor. An endless passage of unwise laws has come to characterize a tarnished state. The earmarks of failure just keep piling up. Looney Tunes used to be cartoons made in California now they are California.
Putting aside politics and notions of faux compassion, California‘s half-century left wing effort is failing. It has created a state where the takers continue to grow as the givers go.
Self-deluded promoters of unlimited immigration have helped destroy the state. The state simply can’t afford millions of additional unskilled dependent immigrants. CNN Money reported “Mexicans sent home $26.1 billion from January to November 2017, according to figures released Tuesday by the central bank of Mexico. That’s the most ever recorded and better than the $24.1 billion sent in 2016 over the same period.” This is money earned in the U.S not spent in the U.S. It’s an American welfare component for Mexico.
Meanwhile California education, medical and community serves are not failing because of mean-spirited bigots. They are failing because the balance of doers and takers has exceeded the limits of economic efficacy. It simply won’t and isn’t working. Sucking more dollars from the successful will only accelerate the collapse. Instead of receiving a reasonable percentage of tax revenue from the wealthy, the state will get zero from those who leave. In 2014 the top 1% of California earners paid almost 50% of the state income tax. This will not end well. It’s the formula for social decay and resentment. I miss the Golden State. It no longer exists.