California in ten years (2022) (Georgetown: sales, houses, employment)

[dmode]

Originally Posted by WesternPilgrim

One plausible scenario:

In ten years California will be broke, perhaps bankrupt, and severely crumbling economically. As a result, the state will not be able to enforce the massive legal and regulatory burdens it imposes on its citizens. So we will face a situation common in the third world: an endless tangle of laws, many of them contradictory, but a culture of non-compliance due to chronic non-enforcement. Translation: increasing contempt and disregard for the law. Squatting on the state's vast unoccupied lands will be ubiquitous and there will be no will to evict. Substandard buildings will be erected, roads constructed, and neighborhoods developed without any regard for code, regs, taxes or fees. Businesses will operate without regard to legal permissions, restrictions, or standards. Etc.

At the same time, while the state's infrastructure is neglected and many of its laws abandoned, the state's social and ideological agenda will be pushed to extremes. Homeschooling will be illegal and prosecuted. Religious schools will have a mandatory curriculum imposed on them. Large families will be harrassed. Acceptance of homosexuality will be demanded for employment. All remaining inconveniences with respect to abortion will be removed. The Catholic Church and other Christian organizations will be forced to close colleges, universities, hospitals, orphanages, adoption agencies, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, food pantries, and so forth, because they cannot in good conscience comply with the state's demands.

The end game: economic ruin and social tyranny, combined with a massive population transfer. Those harrassed by the state's social climate will leave, and those attracted by the de facto anarchy in other respects will flood into the state.

Is that your concern or hope?

[dmode]

Originally Posted by atvwife

Hopefully the rest of the free-loaders swarm there and it falls in the ocean.

Thanks for referring senior citizens, youth population and working class people as "free loaders" and hoping for their death.

[WesternPilgrim]

Originally Posted by CarawayDJ

The only thing you can say with any certainty regarding CA in 10 years is this: the voters who have been in the majority will be getting everything they deserve; be it good or bad.

AND - mark my words - they will find a way to blame it on the rest of us.

[WesternPilgrim]

Originally Posted by majoun

What a scenario. Extreme free market capitalism combined with hardcore atheism, anti-religiosity, and anti-clericalism, in an apocalyptic, violent state.

Sounds like a combination of Ayn Rand, BRAVE NEW WORLD, and Catalonia in 1936 with a little MAD MAX mixed in.

Ever thought of writing science fiction novels?

Actually, it sounds a lot like Mexico in the 1920s and 30s. The "free market", insofar as it existed, was an accident due to lack of resources; and the inability (or unwillingness) of the government to effectively enforce contracts turned capitalism into mere pillage and banditry.

[dmode]

Originally Posted by WesternPilgrim

AND - mark my words - they will find a way to blame it on the rest of us.

[WesternPilgrim]

Originally Posted by dmode

Is that your concern or hope?

A little of both, to be honest.

I'm a fourth generation Californian and too old to call anyplace else "home". If I leave the state, I'll always be a refugee, a foreigner, a Californian. So I would much prefer that California get turned around without going through this kind of catastrophe.

That said, I have a hard time imagining how anything but a large-scale disaster is going to do the trick. In all likelihood the state will have to hit rock bottom before it finally begins to sober up. It's hard not to hope "the sooner the better".

[WesternPilgrim]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

Nobody is stopping you from moving back to West Virginia. I guarantee you the second you arrive the first words out of your mouth will be "but back in California we..."

That's true, I can't deny it.

[yowps3]

California isn't as broke as one might think..

Literally the richest companies from both the U.S & the world are headquartered and have their operations in California..

No matter how you put it, that's money on top of California's soil..

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

Never had to deal with that.

Same with that one. Mudslides are confined to the canyons and wildland interface areas, usually after a wildland fire

Still waiting for the big one, here at my house, which is a mere 10 miles from the San Andreas. If you don't hear from me for awhile after it lets loose, I'm probably homeless. Curmie will put me up for awhile.

Durn tootin'. Settle ya in the booming metropolis of Blue Eye - 129 folks, one gas station, three liquor stores, one greasy spoon, a post office, Jim Bakker's latest scam (Morningside) and five churches, including his church and show. Figure all that and the sparkling clean Ozarks air will clear yer head if it don't kill ya. Ya might not ever wanta leave. Oh yeah. Great hunting and fishing too.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by TimC2462

Ah, a worthless fear-mongering post.

LOL This doesn't even qualify for fear mongering. City-Data can attract some amazingly talented fiction writers though.