What is wrong with California?

[Uncle Ted]

You mean build more high speed rail lines, right?

Yeah, a bunch of those too.

[Scott R Nelson]

I've read "everyone's leaving California" reports off and on over the past 50+ years. It reminds of Yogi Berra's disdainful observation of a local restaurant, "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

How many people do you know who have retired and stuck around?

I used to wonder why so many left after they retired, but I understand completely now that I've reached that point myself.

[Uncle Ted]

How many people do you know who have retired and stuck around?

I used to wonder why so many left after they retired, but I understand completely now that I've reached that point myself.

What? Move away from a top 10 best weather in the world? And the best weather in the United States? You would give all that up? To maybe live in Utah?...

[PaloAltoCougar]

How many people do you know who have retired and stuck around?

I used to wonder why so many left after they retired, but I understand completely now that I've reached that point myself.

Nearly all of my friends from my youth are staying put, but I understand why non-natives would forsake the Golden State once they become pensioners.

[Uncle Ted]

What is wrong with all these cities in California?...

3 More California Cities Vote to Opt Out of State's Sanctuary Law
Newport Beach council votes 7-0 against law.

The Newport Beach city council voted unanimously earlier this week to challenge California's sanctuary law, joining a dozen other cities that are not interested in complying with the sanctuary policies.


It's the third city in the past two days to take such action, joining about a dozen others in recent weeks.



[...]

http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/04/12/13-california-cities-now-fighting-states-sanctuary-law

Don't they know that California is the designated sanctuary state for undocumented residents and white folks haven't been the largest ethnic group there for some time? The folks running these cities need to get with it or get out and let the new residents there take over.

[Uncle Ted]

Walters: California cities, school districts pushed to the brink of insolvency

Cities that are now paying 50 cents into CalPERS for every dollar of police officers’ salaries are projecting that it could go to 75 or 80 cents within a few years.

California’s public employee pension systems have immense gaps – called “unfunded liabilities” – between what they have in assets and what they will need to meet their obligations to retirees.

The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), the nation’s largest pension trust fund, and other state and local systems are desperately trying to close those shortfalls, or at least reduce them, mostly by ramping up mandatory “contributions” from public agencies.

Everyone is getting hit by those rapidly escalating demands and it’s no secret that they are pushing some school districts and cities to the brink of insolvency, forcing them to slash other spending, even vital police and fire services, and/or seek higher taxes from their voters to keep their heads above water.

Moreover, the squeeze is destined to get even tighter. For instance, cities that are now paying 50 cents into CalPERS for every dollar of police officers’ salaries are projecting that it could go to 75 or 80 cents within a few years.

School districts are feeling a double whammy – a more than doubling of their mandatory payments to the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) for their professional staffs, plus increasing demands from CalPERS for their support staffs.

The state government itself is not immune. Last week, CalPERS told Gov. Jerry Brown and legislators that they must include $6.3 billion in the 2018-19 state budget to cover state employee pensions, making it one of the budget’s largest single items.
[...]

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/04/22/walters-california-cities-school-districts-pushed-to-the-brink-of-insolvency/

The solution is pretty simple.... There are lots of rich people in California. Just take all their money to fund the gap. And build the wall so the rich can't leave without paying their share.

BTW, how's that bullet train coming?

[Topper]

Nearly all of my friends from my youth are staying put, but I understand why non-natives would forsake the Golden State once they become pensioners.

Are they staying to be close to children and grandchildren? Or are you simply in an income class where people can otherwise afford to stay?

[Topper]

Just love the exclusionary practices of California elite:

“Tomorrow night, Scripps College will be hosting a*pool party**at the*Sallie Tiernan Field House pool*that only non-white people will be allowed to attend.
Organized by Scripps’s Latinx group “Cafe con Leche”, the event was*announced*via*Facebook*(click*here*for archived description) under the claim of being the “first ever POC [person of color] pool party in [Clare]mont”.

Of course, in true California fashion:

https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10781

[PaloAltoCougar]

Are they staying to be close to children and grandchildren? Or are you simply in an income class where people can otherwise afford to stay?

Other than housing, I don't think the cost of living in CA is significantly higher than other metropolitan areas in the U.S. Those of my generation got on the housing inflation bandwagon during the Carter/Reagan era (my first house, in '79, had a mortgage of $65K, albeit with 11% interest), so we're in better shape than newcomers. Plus it's worth paying a premium for climate, scenic diversity, national parks, mountains, spectacular coastlines, cultural opportunities, etc.--the kind of things people in Texas enjoy reading about.

[Topper]

Other than housing, I don't think the cost of living in CA is significantly higher than other metropolitan areas in the U.S. Those of my generation got on the housing inflation bandwagon during the Carter/Reagan era (my first house, in '79, had a mortgage of $65K, albeit with 11% interest), so we're in better shape than newcomers. Plus it's worth paying a premium for climate, scenic diversity, national parks, mountains, spectacular coastlines, cultural opportunities, etc.--the kind of things people in Texas enjoy reading about.

With a 13% top marginal rate for your state income tax, it is quite a bit higher and the cost of living converter disagrees with you. But then again, those of you in the high income brackets won't notice much of a difference.

Using Texas as a comparison, no California metro area has costs as low as Houston, Dallas, San Antonio or El Paso. Only NYC exceeds most Californian metropolitan areas.

Here is a conversion for example.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator/compare/houston-vs-san-francisco

[Uncle Ted]

With a 13% top marginal rate for your state income tax, it is quite a bit higher and the cost of living converter disagrees with you. But then again, those of you in the high income brackets won't notice much of a difference.

Using Texas as a comparison, no California metro area has costs as low as Houston, Dallas, San Antonio or El Paso. Only NYC exceeds most Californian metropolitan areas.

Here is a conversion for example.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-l...-san-francisco

Hmm... Bakersfield isn't bad. How are the spectacular coastlines there?

[Topper]

Hmm... Bakersfield isn't bad. How are the spectacular coastlines there?

I have a client who just moved from Bakersfield. I am asked him about the benefits of living in Bakersfield. His reply was, "Welcome to Hell, where you can enter but never leave....."

[Color Me Badd Fan]

My brother went to the UoP dental school which is located in San Francisco. I helped him and his wife move there (San Francisco itself) about a week before I left on my mission. The summer after I got back he was finishing up with school and was commuting in from Sausalito where he was living in an apartment. When I visited him he pointed out that there were attempts to build low income housing up the street which promptly drove all the big-hearted people in Marin County (74% for Obama in 2012 and 77% for Hillary in 2016) batshit crazy and they promptly community organized against the effort.

The massive housing prices are 1 part global/domestic money flooding into the tech industry, 1 part scenic coastlines and cultural activities like the Castro District Film Festival, and 2 parts NIMBYism blocking most/all efforts to increase housing supply.

[old_gregg]

With a 13% top marginal rate for your state income tax, it is quite a bit higher and the cost of living converter disagrees with you. But then again, those of you in the high income brackets won't notice much of a difference.

Using Texas as a comparison, no California metro area has costs as low as Houston, Dallas, San Antonio or El Paso. Only NYC exceeds most Californian metropolitan areas.

Here is a conversion for example.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-l...-san-francisco

el paso. lol.

[old_gregg]

My brother went to the UoP dental school which is located in San Francisco. I helped him and his wife move there (San Francisco itself) about a week before I left on my mission. The summer after I got back he was finishing up with school and was commuting in from Sausalito where he was living in an apartment. When I visited him he pointed out that there were attempts to build low income housing up the street which promptly drove all the big-hearted people in Marin County (74% for Obama in 2012 and 77% for Hillary in 2016) batshit crazy and they promptly community organized against the effort.

The massive housing prices are 1 part global/domestic money flooding into the tech industry, 1 part scenic coastlines and cultural activities like the Castro District Film Festival, and 2 parts NIMBYism blocking most/all efforts to increase housing supply.

ah yes, the castro district film festival is open season for realtors