Is california as bad as people say it is? (car registration, crime)

[Amercity]

I never hear anything positive about California. 48th in the country in education, running a deficit, well into debt. Then there are the droughts, mudslides, pollution in los angeles and the endless droughts. I have read horror stories about fresno being a literal wasteland dominated by illegal immigrants, drugs and poverty. Then of course there are the high taxes i read about. How in the world can you people afford 3.25 for gas with gas taxes and car enviorment taxes? California ranks highest in the country for children in poverty and tons of businesses are leaving. Many metropolitan areas even rank dead last in job creation, most of which are in the northeast and california. The highest job creation rates are in the south and interior west. how can any middle class person afford to live there?

[Huckleberry3911948]

When I got here from France in 1977 it was the land of milk and honey
Still is

[Sydney123]

Nothing better to do than to start a thread bashing Ca huh? Get a life!( preferably not here).

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by Amercity

I never hear anything positive about California. 48th in the country in education, running a deficit, well into debt. Then there are the droughts, mudslides, pollution in los angeles and the endless droughts. I have read horror stories about fresno being a literal wasteland dominated by illegal immigrants, drugs and poverty. Then of course there are the high taxes i read about. How in the world can you people afford 3.25 for gas with gas taxes and car enviorment taxes? California ranks highest in the country for children in poverty and tons of businesses are leaving. Many metropolitan areas even rank dead last in job creation, most of which are in the northeast and california. The highest job creation rates are in the south and interior west. how can any middle class person afford to live there?

Title is a bit misleading, isn't it? What sounds like a question ends up being a rant. If you don't like California stay away. If you are already here, then bon voyage

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by Amercity

How in the world can you people afford 3.25 for gas with gas taxes and car enviorment taxes?

Gee, $3.25 would be CHEAP for gas where I live in California

That said, I've lived here 30 years and I'm in no hurry to move elsewhere. I love the wide open spaces, wonderful weather, and pace of life here. IF you have a decent income, there's no better place to live, in my humble opinion. (If you don't have a decent income, many parts of California are more problematic).

Do we have problems? Yep. But name me somewhere that has no problems.

As I said, I'm not going anywhere. California suits me just fine.

[Robertfchew]

Come visit. Visit the amazing places and the dumps and decide for yourself. Ive been to a handful of states and I don't see anywhere this diverse, in landscape, ethnicities or whatever you wanna call it, incomes, climates. Parts of the states you will think you are in china then an hour away you're in texas, 30 min away you're in a redwood forest camping next to the unambomber.

[modernist1]

Are leading questions and thread titles with presumptive attitudes and perceptions as bad as people say they are?

[OwlKaMyst]

(Popcorn anyone?)
I never hear anything positive about California. 48th in the country in education
But we have an economy bigger than many countries. We lead in the technology industry, provide the country with many fruits as well as dairy products, we are number 1 when it comes to milk production. For the most hated state in the Union, we get the most of the tourist dollars....go figure.
running a deficit, well into debt....the whole country is in debt? Do you have debt?
Then there are the droughts, mudslides... other places have these occurrences. It's just nature. Some places have tornadoes....I'd rather deal with an earthquake.
pollution in los angeles ...California is a BIG state.
and the endless droughts. ....they end, then we get floods....we have fires too.
Then of course there are the high taxes i read about. Born and raised here, I've got a roof over my head, two cars in the driveway, and food in the fridge...taxes are not breaking me.
How in the world can you people afford 3.25 for gas with gas taxes and car enviorment taxes? Gas is currently 3.09 here....taxes, again. $88 for car registration and $120 for commercial truck registration, don't know how that compares to other states, but I don't find that excessive.
California ranks highest in the country for children in poverty and tons of businesses are leaving. it hasn't always been like that, and I am sure it will eventually change again. Some other state will have the most children in poverty and business will flee.
Many metropolitan areas even rank dead last in job creation, most of which are in the northeast and california. I'm assuming you have a typo there and it's to say Northeast of California?....Have you been there? There are no 'metropolitan' areas in the northeastern corner of the state....but maybe I am misunderstanding your statement.
The highest job creation rates are in the south and interior west. Can you say Hollywood and Silicon Valley?....I'm not seeing a problem here. Many states have pockets of no-growth and just keep on doing what they have been doing for decades...like the dairy cow farmers.
how can any middle class person afford to live there?....a little better off than the poor people who live here.

[wac_432]

Originally Posted by Amercity

how can any middle class person afford to live there?

Peons like you can't. Stay in sh--ty Omaha with the rest of the poor uglies.

We're all rich, successful, movie stars and tech startup CEO's out here. We are the best looking people in the world, and we stay sexy into our late 80's. I write apps that make me a million bucks a month from your dumb overweight kids downloading them while I'm out surfing.

Oh, and some of our state's stats are low because our awesome lifestyles are subsidized by illegal immigrants working for practically nothing, and their kids can't speak English, so they don't do so well on tests.

Anyway, try not to be too jealous when you're floating around the watercooler of your awful cube farm with the other manatees, hating on us. Stress is bad for your overworked heart, yo. I wouldn't know because I got none. Gonna be rock-climbing and kitesurfing in February, and I sure won't stressin' about you flyovers.

[It is 57 below zero]

California has a whole bunch of HEAVILY regulated, strict laws.

They also have a lot of crime and unemployment, because of the cost of living being high and salaries not matching up with it.

The air is polluted half the time in some places.

Overcrowding is also a common issue in California, it's also the most populated state, holding as much as 15 percent of the US population. This is probably the reason why they have a drought.

It also has a large proportion of illegal immigrants, I'd say anywhere between 10 and 30 percent of California's residents are illegal aliens.