What is wrong with California?

[PaloAltoCougar]

...
I have pledged my (non-cali-citizen) vote! You should too...

Yet another illegal/undocumented/noncitizen tampering with the system. Sad!

These idiots in California need to crack open a history book. This issue was settled 150 years ago.

On the plus side, Ken Burns is already at work on a miniseries about The War of Southern and Midwestern Aggression.

[Jeff Lebowski]

From the article:

Threats to secede from the United States have been a part of American politics almost since the nation was founded. The most serious attempt came before and during the Civil War, when 11 Southern states left to form the Confederacy.

Another hurdle would be the U.S. Constitution, which does not provide for state secession.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Calexit is one step closer to happening....


http://www.vcstar.com/story/news/201...ceed/97124074/

I have pledged my (non-cali-citizen) vote! You should too...

http://www.yescalifornia.org/petition

These idiots in California need to crack open a history book. This issue was settled 150 years ago.

[Uncle Ted]

Calexit is one step closer to happening....

Can California plan to secede succeed?

Another attempt is underway to establish California as a separate nation.


Election officials announced Thursday that a proposal has been submitted to the Secretary of State's Office that would ask voters to repeal part of the state constitution that declares California an inseparable part of the United States.


If the proposal qualifies for the ballot and is approved by voters, it could be a step to a future vote on whether California should break away from the U.S.


Secretary of State Alex Padilla said the group behind the proposal, Yes California Independence Campaign, was cleared to begin attempting to collect nearly 600,000 voter signatures needed to place the plan on the ballot.
[...]

http://www.vcstar.com/story/news/201...ceed/97124074/

I have pledged my (non-cali-citizen) vote! You should too...

http://www.yescalifornia.org/petition

[byu71]

Pretty bad, I'd think. Despite our lousy legislature and fiscal woes (which really have no effect on federal budget), I think Calexit would be a bit of a problem for the U.S., given that, among other things, it's the sixth largest economy in the world, the world's technology and entertainment capitals, and is by far the largest agriculture producer in the country. And the net outflow of funds to the feds is greater, I believe, than that of any other state.

But it'll never happen. Look what the nation sacrificed to keep a few cotton farms and the SEC in the country's fold. I'm sure the sacrifices would be even greater to retain iPhones, Tesla and the Star Wars franchise.

keep a few cotton fields, excellent

[Jeff Lebowski]

Pretty bad, I'd think. Despite our lousy legislature and fiscal woes (which really have no effect on federal budget), I think Calexit would be a bit of a problem for the U.S., given that, among other things, it's the sixth largest economy in the world, the world's technology and entertainment capitals, and is by far the largest agriculture producer in the country. And the net outflow of funds to the feds is greater, I believe, than that of any other state.

But it'll never happen. Look what the nation sacrificed to keep a few cotton farms and the SEC in the country's fold. I'm sure the sacrifices would be even greater to retain iPhones, Tesla and the Star Wars franchise.

Yeah, it's crazy talk. It will never happen.

[PaloAltoCougar]

...How bad would it be for the USA if those who want California to leave the union actually prevailed? It would hurt the PAC12.

Pretty bad, I'd think. Despite our lousy legislature and fiscal woes (which really have no effect on federal budget), I think Calexit would be a bit of a problem for the U.S., given that, among other things, it's the sixth largest economy in the world, the world's technology and entertainment capitals, and is by far the largest agriculture producer in the country. And the net outflow of funds to the feds is greater, I believe, than that of any other state.

But it'll never happen. Look what the nation sacrificed to keep a few cotton farms and the SEC in the country's fold. I'm sure the sacrifices would be even greater to retain iPhones, Tesla and the Star Wars franchise.

[byu71]

I guess California had a 1.6 billion dollar accounting error. No problem though as some official mentioned it is only 1.9% of the budget.

How bad would it be for the USA if those who want California to leave the union actually prevailed? It would hurt the PAC12.

[Pelado]

Indeed, a closer examination shows that the California “boom” is really about one region, the tech-rich San Francisco Bay Area, with roughly half the state’s job growth recorded there since 2007 even though the region accounts for barely a fifth of the state’s population. Outside the Bay Area, the vast majority of employment gains have been in low-paying retail, hospitality and medical fields. And even in Silicon Valley itself, a large portion of the population, notably Latinos, are downwardly mobile given the loss of manufacturing jobs.

According to the most recent Social Science Research Council report, the state overall suffers the greatest levels of income inequality in the nation; the Public Policy Institute places the gap well over 10 percent higher than the national average. And though California may be home to some of the wealthiest communities in the nation, accounting for 15 of the 20 wealthiest, its poverty rate, adjusted for cost, is also the highest in the nation. Indeed, a recent United Way study found that half of all California Latinos, and some 40 percent of African-Americans, have incomes below the cost of necessities (the “Real Cost Measure”). Among non-citizens, 60 percent of households have incomes below the Real Cost Measure, a figure that stretches to 80 percent below among Latinos.

In sharp contrast to the 1960s California governed by Jerry Brown’s great father, Pat, upward mobility is not particularly promising for the state’s majority Latino next generation. Not only are housing prices out of reach for all but a few, but the state’s public education system ranks 40th in the nation, behind New York, Texas and South Carolina. If California remains the technological leader, it is also becoming the harbinger of something else -- a kind of feudal society divided by a rich elite and a larger poverty class, while the middle class either struggles or leaves town...

Nor, unlike during much of the postwar era, can it be said that California represents the demographic future. The state -- even the Bay Area -- generally loses people to other states, particularly those in middle age, according to an analysis of IRS numbers. Brown apologists suggest it’s only the poor and uneducated who are leaving, but it also turns out that California is losing affluent people just as rapidly, with the largest net loss occurring among those making between $100,000 and 200,000.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/art...ca_132724.html

[Uncle Ted]

California has a huge homeless schoolchildren problem in Silicon Valley, of all places...

More than one-third of schoolchildren are homeless in shadow of Silicon Valley

Every night for the past year or so, Adriana and Omar Chavez have slept in an RV parked in East Palo Alto, a downtrodden community in Silicon Valley.


On a recent morning before sunrise, they emerged on to the empty street. Omar showed his phone to his wife: 7.07am. “Shall I wake up the girls?” he said, his breath visible in the freezing air.


He headed inside to rouse their three daughters, huddled together in the low-ceilinged bed just above the driver’s cab, and ready them for school.

In most places, the Chavez family would be an exception. But in the school district that includes East Palo Alto, located amid the extraordinary wealth generated by the tech industry, their plight is not uncommon.


Remarkably, slightly more than one-third of students – or 1,147 children – are defined as homeless here, mostly sharing homes with other families because their parents cannot afford one of their own, and also living in RVs and shelters. The district is being squeezed from every side: teachers, administrative staff and even principals have housing woes of their own.


The circumstances of the crisis are striking. Little more than a strip of asphalt separates East Palo Alto from tony Palo Alto, with its startups, venture capitalists, Craftsman homes and Whole Foods.


[...]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...fornia-schools

[Nakoma]

California tops the list of the worst state in which to retire.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/worst-...ail&soc_trk=ma

[Pelado]

From the sounds of it the water situation is Cali is not going to get any better this year...

California has about one year of water left. Will you ration now?
[...]

Right now the state has only about one year of water supply left in its reservoirs, and our strategic backup supply, groundwater, is rapidly disappearing. California has no contingency plan for a persistent drought like this one (let alone a 20-plus-year mega-drought), except, apparently, staying in emergency mode and praying for rain.[...]

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed...313-story.html

Now is a good time to pray for moisture... well, about any time is a good time to pray for moisture but especially now.

Not so fast...

No, California won't run out of water in a year...

State water managers and other experts said Thursday that California is in no danger of running out of water in the next two years, even after an extremely dry January and paltry snowpack. Reservoirs will be replenished by additional snow and rainfall between now and the next rainy season, they said. The state can also draw from other sources, including groundwater supplies, while imposing tougher conservation measures.

"We have been in multiyear droughts and extended dry periods a number of times in the past, and we will be in the future," said Ted Thomas, a spokesman for the California Department of Water Resources. "In periods like this there will be shortages, of course, but the state as a whole is not going to run dry in a year or two years."

The Department of Water Resources did not have a readily available estimate of the total water supply in California or the amount expected to be used over the next year.

Just because California is not exhausting its water supply "doesn't mean we're not in a crisis," said Leon Szeptycki, executive director of the Water in the West program at Stanford University, who called the state's snowpack, at 12% of average, "both bad for this year but also a troubling sign for the future."

[pelagius]

I think it was freakonomics that addressed this a while ago, only with a study of residents from a Texas community. They passed out fliers in one neighborhood detailing how serious the water problem was and asking people to conserve. In another neighborhood, the fliers took a "we're proud to be in a neighborhood that conserves water" tone. In the former, water usage went up; the latter, it went down. A similar dynamic was noted in the Petrified Forest National Park. I guess they have a problem with people stealing petrified wood and taking it home. So for a time period, they passed out info on the scarcity of the wood and that they're going to run out if people continue to take it. Stealing went up. People don't respond to scarcity threats, at least how you want them to. They do want to be like everyone else though.

Yeah, that's a classic result in cognitive psychology (well, the petrified forest result and experiments trying to do similar things are pretty classic ... that Texas water problem study is newer). Behavioral economists (economists that model irrational or quasi-rational behavior) have used these results from cognitive psychology as motivation for quasi-rational/irrational modeling quite a bit. I've often suggested that these results had important implications for the church in terms of how the problem of low home teaching rates should be approached (and other similar issues).

[ERCougar]

Last year water usage actually went up. Stupid Californians.

I am not sure people appreciate how catastrophic this could be.

I think it was freakonomics that addressed this a while ago, only with a study of residents from a Texas community. They passed out fliers in one neighborhood detailing how serious the water problem was and asking people to conserve. In another neighborhood, the fliers took a "we're proud to be in a neighborhood that conserves water" tone. In the former, water usage went up; the latter, it went down. A similar dynamic was noted in the Petrified Forest National Park. I guess they have a problem with people stealing petrified wood and taking it home. So for a time period, they passed out info on the scarcity of the wood and that they're going to run out if people continue to take it. Stealing went up. People don't respond to scarcity threats, at least how you want them to. They do want to be like everyone else though.

[creekster]

I didn't live in Santa ana!!

That's odd because Santa Ana seems to live in you.