Opinion Piece: The Golden State isn't worth it (Los Angeles, Orange: violent crime, bankruptcy)

[LexusNexus]

Originally Posted by AnUnidentifiedMale

I think you're making huge generalizations that are inaccurate and unfair.

Do you really think the current state of affairs in California is good? Long-term, I know the state will survive, but are we really getting the services you think we should get?

Housing is the biggest expense we deal with, but one big reason it's so expensive is because of the government regulations and restrictions on how and where housing is built.

I do wish we could combine the fiscal conservatism of Texas with the social liberalism of California. Unfortunately, with our current system, you either get social and fiscal liberalism with Democrats, or social and fiscal conservatism with Republicans. I'm registered as a Democrat because social liberty is more important to me than fiscal liberty. It's sad that I have to make that choice.

I think that 49 states in this country have been scrambling to recover from 8 years of Bush and CA was more negatively impacted than most of them. I believe this was by Bush design. I don't know what the hell is the matter with people who try to ignore the fact that Bush and his Republican administration f--ked this country up. You can't expect any state to come out of those years smelling like roses...except Texas. Unfortunately for Bush, as California goes, so does the nation. Obama understands this.

With a new governor on the horizon, we may finally get someone who knows how to solve problems. We haven't had that with Arnold. This state is too important to risk its governance at the hands of an unqualified guy like Arnold. It has been unfortunate. He didn't have a single ingenious idea that could help this state during the Bush years. Quite a waste, but I don't think any other state did either.

The main reason housing is so expensive is because this is California, one of the most desirable states in the country to live. Ideal weather. There are restrictions to prevent overcrowding for good reason.

Being such a desirable state to live in, it's going to require a great deal of education, skill, and know-how to flourish here. Those who fall short in this regard, complain and/or leave complaining. Republicans complain just because Obama is in office and according to them everything is broken.

There is nothing about Texas that CA needs to emulate. Two completely different animals and what works there more than likely will not work here. We need a high level of fiscal intelligence and novel creativity, not more of ineffective republican fiscal policies. These don't work as Arnold has shown.

[LexusNexus]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

Excuse me... since when has this country been dominated by Republicans???

Seem to recall sweeping Democratic control of Congress and just look at California... or just about anywhere in the Bay Area...

By the way... I'm not and never have been a Republican...

I just find it so convenient that everything can be blamed on one Man... you would have thought Bush is the Almighty...

As to those "Horrific 8 years this country and the world endured under Conservative and Bush" no one I know was out of work or worse... the last 12 months have been Horrific from my perspective.

Yes, we have already been through this have we not? You better believe that I lay the blame on Bush and his inept administration. No one you knew was out of work, yet we were swiftly headed for a sure Depression, so a few people weren't doing as well. Quite a few people were only 30 cents from a quarter.

Bush and Republicans created an environment that facilitated failure and that's what happened not only in this state but nationally. Economic, wall street, housing, medical care, illegal immigration, education, crime, infrastructure, you name it, he failed. As Obama has repeatedly said, recovering will take patience and time. Already, it has taken him 9 months to lift the country out of recession. His work continues.

Better times are expected all around, but you're nuts if you think that digging this country from under the mess that Bush built is going to be remedied in a matter of months. It is happening however, but it's clear now that Republicans flat out stink.

I know you're sensitive to that, despite "never being a Republican", but that's reality.

[LexusNexus]

Originally Posted by OC Investor2

Did you even read the article? Or just spew these ridiculous ideological talking points w/o thought?

The whole point of the article is people are paying more AND not getting anything for it becuase the self serving gov't employees are sucking up all the tax money:

So I guess in your world its not ok to screw the people in the name of free enterprise, but it is ok to screw the people as long as the bureacrats get theirs, right?

UIM - Thanks for posting the article. Interesting read.

Yes, I read it, then gave my opinion. OP, thanks for posting the article. It was a good read.

I think it is far more complex than simply saying that taxes are too high and services are low. My point was that under the Bush administration, CA was burdened by Bush policies and Texas wasn't. This doesn't make Texas' way of doing things better.

[UB50]

Originally Posted by mikejcalis

The part that interested me the most were the scores between the 2 states. I clicked the report link in the article and I noticed the disparity between Hispanics/Latinos in California with those in Texas. California Hispanics are significantly behind those in Texas.

I always hear, form the occasional personal experience, that Hispanics in California are different from their Texas counterparts. Houston doesn't seem to be suffering from the black and brown war like in LA.Why is that? Just by looking at the surface, you would think Texas would have more problems with test scores and racism, because of the rigid conservative nature of the state.

I didn't click on that link until now.

One thing about California: We have a lot more languages than just Spanish and English. Black students, for the most part, speak English. Asian students may or may not speak English and there are about 100 Asian languages. I notice the McKinsey charts leave Asian students off while still including black students? (I don't get that -- we have 12% Asian, Texas has 11% black. Blacks are significant enough to get noticed but Asians aren't?) The study doesn't make it clear: Are all of the people counted native English speakers? It makes a big difference if they are.

I think the color someone is is significantly less important than the language they speak as a first language. Someone who comes to the USA from a foreign country and barely speaks English is going to be at a huge disadvantage regardless what color they are. In California, we have a lot of white people who don't speak English as a first language.

I don't like the way the survey was done. I would request another survey based on language, not color or ethnicity.

But that's just me.

[UB50]

Originally Posted by Alexus

With a new governor on the horizon, we may finally get someone who knows how to solve problems. We haven't had that with Arnold. This state is too important to risk its governance at the hands of an unqualified guy like Arnold. It has been unfortunate. He didn't have a single ingenious idea that could help this state during the Bush years. Quite a waste, but I don't think any other state did either.

Arnold wasn't that bad. We should count our blessings that he turned out to be quite a liberal Republican. He had zero motivation to mess around with social issues and he actually let some important gun control issues go through on his watch.

[UB50]

Personally, if 3500 Californians who like Texas better would just move to Texas every week -- I would LOVE IT!!!!!!

Go on! Get outta here! Go to Texas and live your lives in unrestricted freedom! Just go for it!!

That would thrill me to bits. Plus, California would get rid of a lot of the complainers, the people who think we ought to invite development to Yosemite and quit worrying about the otters and the seals and the whales and the eagles and the bears.

[UB50]

Regarding gasoline prices/availability in the future:

I go to the Costco on Los Feliz fairly often. It's not a suburban Costco by any means. Everytime I've been there in the last six months, I've seen a Smart car in the parking lot. I also see a lot of those hybrid Priuses, both in the parking lot and on the street. This is really like, kind of a lot of electric cars, for these things to not be the thing of the future. If I only saw one every now and again, I could say "FAD!" But I am seeing them all the time around here. Sometimes I'm seeing two and three of them together.

Now I understand that Texas is aiming for sprawl because they have no laws against it and they are a low tax state, damm it! But if I was from Texas and I was just hanging out around the Los Feliz Costco and I saw all those dang electric cars in the parking lot and all the kimchi and Asian foods inside the Costco, I'd be thinking "Dam! What is going on here?!"

I'll admit that that probably wouldn't mean a thing in Texas. That Texan would go back to Texas and say "You won't believe what I saw at the Costco Los Feliz" and everyone would say "You're a liar." And they'd still buy into the sprawl and big SUV model of American life.

And meanwhile, the mice are working away in Los Feliz.

I see big changes on the horizon and I think a lot of America is going to be caught by the changes. It will be like HDTV. Changes that communities haven't anticipated because of their own biases.

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

Originally Posted by Alexus

The main reason housing is so expensive is because this is California, one of the most desirable states in the country to live. Ideal weather. There are restrictions to prevent overcrowding for good reason.

Prevent overcrowding? Los Angeles is the most overcrowded metro area in the country. In fact, of the 10 most overcrowded cities in the country, eight are in California.

Crowding Now Way of Life in California - Los Angeles Times

Being such a desirable state to live in, it's going to require a great deal of education, skill, and know-how to flourish here. Those who fall short in this regard, complain and/or leave complaining. Republicans complain just because Obama is in office and according to them everything is broken.

You really don't believe that the government has anything to do with the cost of housing? Believe me, it does. The more restrictions and requirements you put on housing construction, the higher the cost will be.

There is nothing about Texas that CA needs to emulate.

Wow. I don't agree, and I doubt most Californians would mind their state being a magnet for large corporations and high-paying jobs as Texas has been in recent years. I also doubt that most Californians would mind having a lower cost of living. Obviously, they can move, but the bottom line is that government does play a major role in the high cost of living in California.

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

Americans have been brainwashed into this idea that suburban living and driving your car for everything is "superior".

Are you saying this with a straight face? You think the American auto industry became what it is/was (sadly) because of brainwashing? You couldn't be more mistaken.

Americans' love for the automobile and a little elbow room around their living space grew simply out of recognition of their benefits. The brainwashing attempts come from those motivated by fringe ideology who are trying to take it away from them.

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

I'm registered Republican because I don't think social liberty matters much if you're in poverty and/or have a financially unstable government/economy.

Most people in America aren't living in poverty, so to equate electing Democrats with living in poverty is rather silly.

And a financially unstable government/economy? That's exactly what George W. Bush gave us - record national debt, nearly a second Great Depression, and two unfinished wars.