What is wrong with California?

[hostile]

I don't get the golfer reference, don't they pay taxes in the states where the tournaments are held?

The overwhelming majority of his earnings are from endorsements and would be taxed as income in the state where he resides.

[il Padrino Ute]

The overwhelming majority of his earnings are from endorsements and would be taxed as income in the state where he resides.

Yep. What Mickelson earns in tournaments is peanuts compared to his endorsement contracts. I don't blame him one bit for wanting to move to a state that is more friendly to financial success.

[Uncle Ted]

I don't get the golfer reference, don't they pay taxes in the states where the tournaments are held?

I am sure a lot of his income comes from endorsements and investments at some point. Also, maybe that retroactive capital gains tax is biting him in the butt.

I work in california now and then and have to pay state income taxes to the state of california. It is a pain to file a state income return (especially for someone that doesn't file in his own state) for 4-6 weeks of work per year.

[Uncle Ted]

Yep. What Mickelson earns in tournaments is peanuts compared to his endorsement contracts. I don't blame him one bit for wanting to move to a state that is more friendly to financial success.

Phil can be my neighbor. All the hollywood types can stay in California, however.

[All-American]

Har-har.



Oh, please. There are 30 million people here. Millions of them did not ask for any of what is going on, either because they voted and fought against it, are too young to vote, or are otherwise not part of it. That increases the grounds for outrage on their behalf, not reasons to laugh or gloat. I just think the schadenfreude has pretty much worn thin, or should have.

In other words, it isn't funny if you've made your life and your family's life here.

Think of it less as schadenfreude and more of a cautionary tale.

[LA Ute]

Think of it less as schadenfreude and more of a cautionary tale.

So the suckers did not get what they asked for?

[Uncle Ted]

California could learn something from Baltimore... but I am guessing it won't.

The Baltimore city government is on a path to financial ruin and must enact major reforms to stave off bankruptcy, according to a 10-year forecast the city commissioned from an outside firm.

The forecast, obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its release to the public and the City Council on Wednesday, shows that the city will accumulate $745 million in budget deficits over the next decade because of a widening gap between projected revenues and expenditures.

If the city's infrastructure needs and its liability for retiree health care benefits are included, the total shortfall reaches $2 billion over 10 years, the report found. Baltimore's annual operating budget is $2.2 billion.

[...]

In Baltimore, the erosion of the tax base is easy to see. The city's population has dropped from a peak of 950,000 in 1950 to 619,000 today, and while the decline has slowed, there have been few signs of the trend reversing. The median income is $40,000, and 22 percent of the city's residents live in poverty, according to Census data. The city also has 16,000 vacant properties.

Baltimore already has the highest property taxes in Maryland -- twice as high as in neighboring Baltimore County. The city's local income taxes are the highest allowed under state law. While the city enacted some new taxes to deal with the 2010 deficit -- including taxes on bottled beverages and higher hotel and parking levies -- city officials say they can't tax their way out of the problem without driving away residents and businesses.

"We've got to go from a vicious cycle to a virtuous cycle. That starts with a good, stable fiscal foundation for the city government," said Andrew Kleine, the city's budget director. "When you've lost so much population and the tax base has shrunk, it's very difficult to deal with."

If the city chose to use its reserve fund to cover the deficits, the fund would be empty in three years, the report found.

"Quite simply, a status quo approach is not financially sustainable," the report says.

Well, at least Baltimore has a better NFL team.

[Uncle Ted]

Apparently everyone with only half of a brain is moving to California according to their own Gov.Jerry Brown:

"Everybody with half a brain is coming to California"

(I wonder if California gives a tax break for people with only half of a brain.)

On the other hand, it seems California's jobs are going to Texas:

California has been losing residents to Texas for the better part of the past two decades, a net of 150,000 in the past five years alone. In the same time span, Texas gained 400,000 jobs while California lost about 640,000. In fact, employment in California is lower than it was 10 years ago. While the Golden State's jobs market has begun to rebound, Texas's rate of job growth last year still outstripped California's by 33%.


In the last three years, California companies such as eBay, Facebook, LegalZoom, Waste Connections, Electronic Arts, Visa and Petco have made major expansions in Texas. Most of the job growth in Texas, however, has been organic—meaning small businesses investing and expanding to meet the demands of a growing population.

[FMCoug]

Apparently everyone with only half of a brain are moving to California according to their own Gov.Jerry Brown:



(I wonder if California gives a tax break for people with only half of a brain.)

On the other hand, it seems California's jobs are going to Texas:

I have often thought that if I were disabled or the like CA or a similar liberal state would be the right place to be. Why do you think the biggest homeless populations are in Blue states?

[byu71]

Apparently everyone with only half of a brain is moving to California according to their own Gov.Jerry Brown:



(I wonder if California gives a tax break for people with only half of a brain.)

On the other hand, it seems California's jobs are going to Texas:

I don't think that is a good formula for success. More people moving in to California and more companies who hire moving out.

[Uncle Ted]

Californian newspaper fact checks claims about Texas.

Claim: Many Texas jobs are low wage. Wages mean nothing without the context of cost of living. California has the fourth-highest cost of living in the nation at 132 percent of the national average. Texas has the second-lowest cost of living at 90 percent. Thus, California's $8 minimum wage can buy $6.06 of goods and services while Texas' $7.25 minimum wage can buy the equivalent of $8.04.

Claim: 17.3 percent of Texans live in poverty compared with 15.3 percent of Californians. The census has calculated the poverty level using the same income threshold across the nation, regardless of cost of living. But the census released a new Supplemental Poverty Measure that places California's poverty rate at 23.5 percent, the nation's highest, while dropping Texas' poverty rate to 16.5 percent. Proportionately, there are 42 percent more poor people in California than in Texas.

Claim: The income gap is the nation's fifth-widest in Texas. Not so. A new government workers union (AFSCME) report says California has the third-highest income inequality gap in the nation with Texas ranked seventh. Had the report taken into account Texas' low cost of living, Texas would not have placed in the top 10 while California would have fared worse.

Claim: 26 percent of Texans don't have health insurance, the highest rate in the nation. This claim is driven by Medicaid coverage (called Medi-Cal in California). If the purpose of coverage is to access health care, then the 9.2 million Californians who rely on Medi-Cal have a serious problem because California's low reimbursement rate to doctors have forced half of them to refuse to see Medi-Cal patients.

Claim: Texas ranks last for adults with high-school diplomas. True, but California ranks third-last, barely ahead of Mississippi. Further, this statistic is tied to the number of foreign-born residents, not the effectiveness of schools where, according to the U.S. Department of Education, Texas graduates a higher percentage of high school students than does California and a far higher percentage of Hispanic high school students, a key plurality in both states.

Claim: Texas SAT scores rank 45th. Less than half of students take the SAT, rendering it an unsound metric even as Texas SAT participation rates have climbed rapidly. The National Assessment of Educational Progress is a better measure because most students take it. NAEP results among the eight biggest states show that Texas students are the best overall and place in the top by racial and ethnic group, too. California is consistently last.

An honest discussion regarding the two biggest states matters because they are more alike than different in terms of natural resources and demographics. Where they diverge is in their governance: Government is about 33 percent larger as a share of the economy in California than in Texas.

If California is supposed to represent all that is good about America's liberal future, then why does it have the nation's highest poverty rate? The Texas model produces more prosperity for more people. Open-minded Californians should ask themselves why.

[Moliere]

Californian newspaper fact checks claims about Texas.

When I moved from Utah to Texas I got a 15% cost of living adjustment increase in my base salary. I found that odd, but didn't complain, given that I sold my home in Utah for more than I paid for my home in Texas.....and the Texas home was at least twice as big, in a nicer neighborhood and with much better schools.

I didn't get the COLA because stuff is more expensive, in fact stuff is cheaper here, but I got it because salaries are higher and they had to stay competitive or I would have left the company pretty quickly.

[Uncle Ted]

When I moved from Utah to Texas I got a 15% cost of living adjustment increase in my base salary. I found that odd, but didn't complain, given that I sold my home in Utah for more than I paid for my home in Texas.....and the Texas home was at least twice as big, in a nicer neighborhood and with much better schools.

I didn't get the COLA because stuff is more expensive, in fact stuff is cheaper here, but I got it because salaries are higher and they had to stay competitive or I would have left the company pretty quickly.

It is actually cheap to live in Utah given the lifestyle Utahans enjoy. I was at a BYU game once and noticed a father feeding his kids raw Top Ramen noodles as a snack. Can you still buy those for 15 for $1 at Reams?

[Moliere]

It is actually cheap to live in Utah given the lifestyle Utahans enjoy. I was at a BYU game once and noticed a father feeding his kids raw Top Ramen noodles as a snack. Can you still buy those for 15 for $1 at Reams?

My son usually gets stuck eating greasy sliders and BBQ brisket sandwiches at Astros games

[PaloAltoCougar]

Californian newspaper fact checks claims about Texas.

Lol. It wasn't a California newspaper that did the fact checking. Rather, a California newspaper simply printed a very one-sided screed written by the vice president of policy for the Texas Public Policy Foundation. BTW, I'm not suggesting the piece is therefore inaccurate (who isn't aware California has loads of issues?), but your misleading statement, your myriad anti-California posts, and your dopey governor who is spending the week here in California begging businesses to move to Texas, all seem a bit needy.