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Has California Lost The Mandate of Heaven?

Bullseye said:
Victor Davis Hanson put it well
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Victor Davis Hanson is spot on.

I live in in Central Ohio. We are not known for our fabulous weather, beaches, wineries, etc. but we have something California doesn't. We have sanity, stability. and a deep conviction/appreciation for the rule of law. We are fighting head on an opiod crisis at the moment. The state government and private organizations are working hand in hand to battle it. Just like we do in any crisis. It works every time because our state government hasn't gone bat **** crazy as the leftists running California. There's a lot of work being done with state government and private organizations working with the addicted.

Oh but we are constantly fighting against the inroads of the leftists. The attacks never end. For example a handful of areas claim sanctuary status for illegals. They are all in longtime leftist leaning areas. Some of them are located in university towns which should be no surprise to many.

Currently we do not have people defecating on our streets and needles from massive drug use laying on the streets. We do a darn good job of finding shelter for anyone homeless. However, there are a very small number who do not want to take shelter for what ever reason even though there are provisions for them. We know where they congregate and church groups and others will drop off blankets, coats, gloves, hats, food during the harsh winter months. You do what you can.

We don't experience the fires like California does, but we do experience our on catrastophes weather related but for some reason we seem more equipped and prepared to meet ours than California. We have massive ice storms in the Winter. But our power companies are responsible for keeping all tree branches cleared from power lines and they do a damn good job. Sometimes the weight of the ice on the lines themselves will cause the straps on the polls to break leaving many without power in frigid weather. But it is restored within 24 hours. We have a problem with tornados. That usually comes with excessive rain and flooding. If you don't own a generator you are SOL. But around here even after tornados the lines that were torn down are back up and running within 48 hours. If a transmitter is hit by lightning, in a matter of a few hours power is restored.

The difference between Ohio and California is we are better equipped to address our state's needs. We know what our risks are and have prepared for them. California has not done that. It is call personal responsibility on the state level. Lefties always seem to have a problem with that.
 
ocean515 said:
Smoke and mirrors. Add to that the massive increases in fees, and other revenue confiscation the Progressives have engaged in, and the temporary fiscal shenanigans paint a false picture.

California is doomed.
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I can't speak to the details of Cali's tax structure, but their certified accounting ledgers are showing a revenue surplus - which is a good thing in my book.
 
chuckiechan said:
L













**

It s great in that new subdivisions are being built that allow people to move away from the problems. What was once ranch land is now subdivisions full of people fleeing the chaos of the bay area. We used to call that “leap frog development”. More and more are gated communities, which BTW, I would gouge my eyes out before I would live in one.

Even though the population gradually falls, the true problem is “population exchange”. IOW, poor services dependent persons are replacing taxpayers. The result is pockets of extreme asset poverty - high wages, but still not high enough, and middle skilled people living in their cars in their work parking lots. (Esp. San Jose). And driving back to their central valley (formerly farm) towns on the weekends.

The only way to be middle class in California is to be high income*, or in the case of bay area people, bring in enough equity to have a low or no house payment, or have owned a home for a long time and have a low payment.

Those who were once Republicans, has moved on to jobs in other states for work and housing. The rest have morphed into middle class independents.

The Republican party has never really been a majority party. It has always been the go-to party to solve problems created by the excesses of the democrats. Excessive taxes, wars, now add in excessive regulations, social justice headaches, China and its predatory behavior. When you are sick of democrats you come to the republican party for relief.

*Solid middle class family in Sacramento county is ~ $100k a year, dual income. ($25k rent, $36k + own)
**Mandate of Heaven: This was the title of the piece. It was part of the belief system that helped drive that drive the US out of Vietnam. Using it as an O.P. trigger is optional.
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I'm probably not as qualified to speak to the details of life in Cali as you are, but did want to speak to your $100K middle-class income number. That number is very common in much of the country, particularly in urban-suburban areas. The average family income is now 63K. Middle income is generally defined as 2/3rd - 2X average income, or: 42-126K. Obviously, some localized "middle-class" areas across the country might skew a bit more or less.

I'd say the same applies to your $2K/3K rent-buy numbers, though those are probably a bit more to the right-side of the bell curve than your income number. But then again, in urban areas all bets are off the table.
 
Chomsky said:
I'm probably not as qualified to speak to the details of life in Cali as you are, but did want to speak to your $100K middle-class income number. That number is very common in much of the country, particularly in urban-suburban areas. The average family income is now 63K. Middle income is generally defined as 2/3rd - 2X average income, or: 42-126K. Obviously, some localized "middle-class" areas across the country might skew a bit more or less.

I'd say the same applies to your $2K/3K rent-buy numbers, though those are probably a bit more to the right-side of the bell curve than your income number. But then again, in urban areas all bets are off the table.
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I consider middle class as being able to also afford the costs of teenagers - sports, band, etc. as well as keeping cars pretty modern and insuring them, and going out to eat one a month at least. I won't get into the other than income tax burden. It's a struggle to live on 100K after taxes when you also have a big bite out of your check of medical, and 401K.

But I get you. "middle class" is a moving target, politically and financially. You have spenders and you have cheapskates.

Jack Hays:

Most people don't get that in California the average is 950,000 acres of land burns every year.
 
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chuckiechan said:
I consider middle class as being able to also afford the costs of teenagers - sports, band, etc. as well as keeping cars pretty modern and insuring them, and going out to eat one a month at least. I won't get into the other than income tax burden. It's a struggle to live on 100K after taxes when you also have a big bite out of your check of medical, and 401K.

But I get you. "middle class" is a moving target, politically and financially. You have spenders and you have cheapskates.

Jack Hays:

Most people don't get that in California the average is 950,000 acres of land burns every year.
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Ah, I could have been more clear. I'm not arguing your numbers are high. I'm arguing they are very common in many areas, and at least in terms of income, they might be low!

You are absolutely right in your assessment of the financial responsibilities of families in the peak child-raising years in many areas of the country. I can't imagine trying to do house, cars, children, private schools, and reasonable quality of life, for under 200K on W2's myself. And straight-up, that's pretty much for basics, albeit quality basics. At 200K, the disposable income likely won't be there for occasional higher-end splurges like a hobby car or an overseas vacation. And it doesn't even touch the kids' higher education - which is a whole 'nother issue! 250K would be more comfortable, IMO. But I can even see that being excessively tight in some areas, depending upon your family's housing and education requirements.

But as you & I described, these scenarios are not atypical. But they are during the highest expense years of a youngish family as the kids are growing-up, and also where the parents are W2 wage earners. Work for yourself, or bill your hours into a corporate structure, and you get a lot more comfortable due to having a reduced tax burden. When the kids are gone and the house is paid-off, given that the house is reasonably modest with reasonable taxes and upkeep, the income requirements drop big-time. Walk away from it all for a cheap condo in a snowbird state with no taxes, and you're skating! But this last only works, if your income stream can follow you there.
 
Chomsky said:
Ah, I could have been more clear. I'm not arguing your numbers are high. I'm arguing they are very common in many areas, and at least in terms of income, they might be low!

You are absolutely right in your assessment of the financial responsibilities of families in the peak child-raising years in many areas of the country. I can't imagine trying to do house, cars, children, private schools, and reasonable quality of life, for under 200K on W2's myself. And straight-up, that's pretty much for basics, albeit quality basics. At 200K, the disposable income likely won't be there for occasional higher-end splurges like a hobby car or an overseas vacation. And it doesn't even touch the kids' higher education - which is a whole 'nother issue! 250K would be more comfortable, IMO. But I can even see that being excessively tight in some areas, depending upon your family's housing and education requirements.

But as you & I described, these scenarios are not atypical. But they are during the highest expense years of a youngish family as the kids are growing-up, and also where the parents are W2 wage earners. Work for yourself, or bill your hours into a corporate structure, and you get a lot more comfortable due to having a reduced tax burden. When the kids are gone and the house is paid-off, given that the house is reasonably modest with reasonable taxes and upkeep, the income requirements drop big-time. Walk away from it all for a cheap condo in a snowbird state with no taxes, and you're skating! But this last only works, if your income stream can follow you there.
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IMO, you described upper middle/professional class. They pay a lot of taxes.

And lets not forget the favorite years when every one of your kids has his own car leaking in your drive way!
 
beefheart said:
Even while burning, California is so much more awesome than most of America. Spent a great weekend in Highland Park last weekend after 3 tedious days in Nashville. Great state!
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Do you even live in California? As a lifelong resident, it ain't getting better.
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
Exactly. Conservatives ran this state into the ground and the voters knew it. That is why Republicans wound up being defeated by a supermajority. These California Whiny Malcontents refuse to admit that they screwed themselves by ignoring the cautionary tale about going too far. And the voters saw what happened when they went too far in Kansas, and the voters pulled themselves back from the abyss in one of the most stunning electoral defeats in US state history.

But no, according to these malcontents, everyone else in California is WRONG, and only their tiny handful could possibly be right. And for all the talk of California's impending demise, we are now the fifth largest economy on Earth, and we have a surplus.

All they have to do is sell better ideas.
Know what their best idea is right now?
Another tax cut.

The only two good ideas California conservatives have come up with in the last twenty years is easing restrictions on concealed carry permits and reforming our ICE interactions to allow immigration officials to intercept criminal aliens and deport them.
And even with the latter, they are unwilling to allow any compromise that might mitigate minor infractions or take into account a person's history as a taxpayer, their employment, military service or other background factors.

Nope, it is all or nothing, so currently, they've got nothing.
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Bull****. Either that or the democrats haven't made it any better.
 
enderpotato00 said:
Bull****. Either that or the democrats haven't made it any better.
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Their supermajority came up from Mexico and got amnesty in the 70’s, then the defense industry mostly moved along with the middle class who moved looking for work. The immigrant population is largely apolitical except for social issues - schools, medical, welfare, police.

California is suffering an economic, political, and financial crises, and the leadership needed to fix it has packed up and moved partly because of ever spiraling taxes, crumbling infrastructure, toxic business climate, falling education - California is in reach of the coveted last place in education.

And a half trillion in unfunded pension obligations, yet upwards of 200 billion is spent on social justice. A corrupt press won’t even discuss the estimate of 60 billion in additional cost to consumers for climate change.

Why don’t I leave? I can afford to live here and my family is here and they can afford to live here - firemen, prison guards, UPS drivers, STEM workers.
 
chuckiechan said:
IMO, you described upper middle/professional class. They pay a lot of taxes.

And lets not forget the favorite years when every one of your kids has his own car leaking in your drive way!
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This "every kid needing a car" thing, is a sad fact of suburban life.

I gave up the city a long time ago, and wouldn't move back in terms of having my only residence there. But it was great not needing a car as an absolute necessity and in having kids that can fully function on their own! Kids in the city are far more independent. As a kid, from a young age I was fully autonomous in terms of transporting myself around, even if it often was walking, since everything I needed on a daily basis was usually close by. And if something wasn't close by, or later when I was in H.S. & college, I hopped on a bus or took the el.

One time as an adult, I came home from work during the week to noticed my car had a flat. I didn't give it a second's thought, since I'd just get around to it on Saturday on my day off. Man, that all changed big-time when I left the city!
 
enderpotato00 said:
Bull****. Either that or the democrats haven't made it any better.
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Can I ask you a serious question?
Can you think of any persons, groups and/or political parties that stand to benefit massively if all pensions, benefits, earned entitlements and what not were to suddenly be transmogrified into private plans?
I'm asking this because it all connects to the recently popularized Trump conservative views on UNFUNDED LIABILITIES.

The ticking time bomb memes that congregate around this brand new moral panic never come out directly to state what would happen if all of the markers were to be called in on every single unfunded liability in the world.
Would some mysterious central banking figure extend his shriveled Ebenezer Scrooge hand to yank cruelly on some enormous switch that

"Shuts off the engine of the world?"

Or is it more like an eerie Ayn Rand thriller like Atlas Shrugged?


"'I will put an end to this, once and for all,' he said. His voice was clear and without feeling. That was all he said and started to walk out. He walked down the length of the place, in the white light, not hurrying and not noticing any of us. Nobody moved to stop him. Gerald Starnes cried suddenly after him, 'How?' He turned and answered, 'I will stop the motor of the world.' Then he walked out."

---p. 671 ; Jeff Allen to Dagny Taggart

(cue extremely dramatic 1930's film noir violin music)

Are you folks on the Right seriously expecting everyone else to suffer the same paranoid delusions inspired by a fictional novel written by a haggard and bitter washed up old drunken Hollywood screenwriter from the 1930's?

Ayn Rand.jpg
 
Carjosse said:
The Republicans in California could be a force if they wanted to but for some reason they have decided they would rather not change in any way and continue to lose.
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The Republicans became craven and corrupt and only interested in their own little fiefdoms. That's why they were kicked to the curb.
 
chuckiechan said:
Not exactly. They have created a “recession fund” because so much of California income is from investment taxes - capital gains are state taxed as regular income. So when gains fall, the state craters.

State of California Debt Clock

State debt is mostly bonds, plus another unrealized deficit of $500 billion in underfunded public retirements not shown in the totals.

California plays a bond game. Voters allocate X billions for roads from a new gas tax. As the fund grows, the state issues bonds and takes the cash and puts it in the general fund. So if you want to resurface a road, it takes two or three years to get funding approved since the state has to bond over the money from some where else. Cute.
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Speaking of roads in California, you don't want to know about all the fraud and graft going on, building substandard roads that don't even last a couple of years. I have seen that up close and personal. A road should last 20 years. The federal specifications call for them being able to handle MBT's and their transports. That's a 70ton tank kitted out and loaded on to a 45ton transport. That's 115tons or 230,000lbs worth of equipment the highway is supposed to handle as part of its primary function. Trucks are limited to 80,000lbs max unless they are permitted to go over rarely do weights above 120,000lbs yet we have highways wearing out in less than 5 years.
 
PirateMk1 said:
The Republicans became craven and corrupt and only interested in their own little fiefdoms. That's why they were kicked to the curb.
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Democrats are now doing the same, so the cycle continues.
 
PirateMk1 said:
Speaking of roads in California, you don't want to know about all the fraud and graft going on, building substandard roads that don't even last a couple of years. I have seen that up close and personal. A road should last 20 years. The federal specifications call for them being able to handle MBT's and their transports. That's a 70ton tank kitted out and loaded on to a 45ton transport. That's 115tons or 230,000lbs worth of equipment the highway is supposed to handle as part of its primary function. Trucks are limited to 80,000lbs max unless they are permitted to go over rarely do weights above 120,000lbs yet we have highways wearing out in less than 5 years.
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One project I'm aware of cost taxpayers $120 million, and consisted of awarding contracts to companies that had ties to California officials. The roads they 'fixed' were in severe need of repair. They merely poured gravel over the surface, and used black tar to try and keep it in place. The result was roads that were still filled with cracks and potholes, but were now covered in loose gravel that were worse to drive on than before. No one got in trouble over that, and as far as I know it wasn't even reported on by any news outlets.
 
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[h=1]PG&E $25 Billion Settlement Calpocalypse 2019[/h][FONT=&quot]This video from Juan Brown reports on an unsettling letter from California Governor Newsome regarding a PG&E bancruptcy case. LINKS: UPDATE 13 Dec Newsom Rejects Bankruptcy Plan-https://htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.c… Camp Fire Report: https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/wildfiresinfo/ “Appendix A: SED Camp Fire Investigation Report” California Assembly Bill 1054 Error 404--Not Found California Senate Bill 901 https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/SB901/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5295000 PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/juanbrowne HT/Dan H
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beefheart said:
Even while burning, California is so much more awesome than most of America. Spent a great weekend in Highland Park last weekend after 3 tedious days in Nashville. Great state!
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Come live in California, and you'll change your mind very quickly. Sincerely, a Californian.
 

California energy policies are fueling the housing crisis and homelessness

By Ronald Stein Founder and Ambassador for Energy & Infrastructure of PTS Advance, headquartered in Irvine, California California’s green crusade direction and actions are increasing the costs of electricity and fuels which guarantees growth of the homeless, poverty, and welfare populations, and further fuels (no pun intended) the housing affordability crisis. It’s scary that our…
 
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