What is wrong with California?

[Nakoma]

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

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

[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

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[byu71]

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

I don't want to google them and I am sure you are current on who these folks are. If I jumped to the conclusion they are Sanders/Warren types would I be making a leap to far.

My old frat brother this morning called them f'en a-holes but he is in San Diego and is very conservative.

[Topper]

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



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

Maybe the Petition should be a Petition to Return California to Mexico, so that it can be ruled from Mexico City.

[byu71]

Maybe the Petition should be a Petition to Return California to Mexico, so that it can be ruled from Mexico City.

If they seceded and given enough time, they might just join up.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I don't want to google them and I am sure you are current on who these folks are. If I jumped to the conclusion they are Sanders/Warren types would I be making a leap to far.

My old frat brother this morning called them f'en a-holes but he is in San Diego and is very conservative.

I don't know who they are, but it's safe to assume they're a very small group, excluding all of the rabble-rousing illegals like Uncle Ted. It's kind of fun to imagine secession, like buying a Powerball ticket, albeit with lousier odds.