Why is Obama ahead in this state which he has screwed over? (Burbank: sale, receptions)

[hoffdano]

The OP's complaint is an interesting one. No way I vote for Obama, but I don't see his bailouts as "lets help Ohio" or "lets help Michigan" choices. I don't doubt that some of his choices were very political (such as protecting unions), but that same political slant could be as simple as "California will vote for me no matter what so I don't have to do anything special for it."

Most of California's troubles are its own doing. And California can fix itself if the legislature and the voters quit acting like idiots. I respect Jerry Brown for a few of the things he is trying to do that are a bit anti-Democratic party. He can probably do a few of those things that a fiscal conservative with an R next to his/her name can't do.

Gnutella - Chrysler has been f'd up for a long time, well before Daimler. They should have been allowed to fail the first time. It would have been a terrific lesson to large American companies that you can't build a crappy product for decades and ask taxpayers to bail you out when consumers stop buying. After their bailout, they inflicted K-cars on the market and slipped into their old ways of building crap.

California should also consider the effectiveness of its Congressional delegation. Are Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer good for California? Does Henry Waxman do anything useful? Or he is in Congress just to hold hearings that show how government can meddle in things in front of cameras.

The list of state specific problems is long. Pension spending and corruption. Spending on prisons. Prop 13. Over reliance on volatile income taxes. None of these are federal issues.

[Capt. Dan]

Originally Posted by .highnlite

There is a simple reason for the outbound Californians, because of the relative high prices for real estate here, many Californians can sell their home here, move, buy a larger house, or more land, and retire a bit more comfortably.

Many western states have been getting California retirees for many years.

DING DING DING! We have a winner ladies and germs!! I sold an average,nothing special home in San Luis Obispo for ALOT of $$. And I came home to west Tennessee where,if I may say, I live VERY well with the low cost of land,houses,taxes and grub.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by Capt. Dan

DING DING DING! We have a winner ladies and germs!! I sold an average,nothing special home in San Luis Obispo for ALOT of $$. And I came home to west Tennessee where,if I may say, I live VERY well with the low cost of land,houses,taxes and grub.

and you can still come back and enjoy California when you want, while living cheaply in Tennessee.

[SportyandMisty]

Obama's "enemy list" makes Richard Nixon look like a boy scout.

Strassel: The President Has a List - WSJ.com

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by yeahthatguy

.. This means the brightest minds in the world buy into propaganda and work like slaves making some of the most foolish things sometimes in order to hopefully get bought out/IPO and barely get enough to just afford a home... It's what is referred to as 'artificial competition' and most often results in sub-optimal output as the motivation is not genuine... But lets dive in ..

Agree for the most part. That's why I said its like Vegas. Roll the dice and hope you get lucky. With Facebook going IPO soon there will be a lot of new young wealthy ppl in the SV. So it still does happen *for some*. A friend of mine works there and got in at the right time. Obviously not eveyone is so lucky. However that's not to say it it can't happen in other places as well.
...

In 2012 w/ a mature global economy, geographic location is becoming less and less relevant to success.. The hold the valley used to have was on centralization of VC funding ... Solution : Distributed direct funding from consumers .. A couple of bright minds living in timbuktu can come up w/ an idea tonight, put it on the web and receive millions in funding directly from consumers ... Competition is global and no longer local .. Commerce is now on the web and becoming moreso ..

Sure this will happen in more places. I'll be visiting areas in Oregon soon like Portland (Silicon Forest) and Hood River that are seeing growth in their tech sectors. But I still think there will be hubs. Oracle, eBay, Facebook, Google, Cisco, Craigslist, Intel, etc.. will maintain a strong presence in the SV. Add to this the startups from Stanford, Berkeley,... grads and out of staters continuing to come here as well. Zuckerberg and his amigos left Harvard and never returned. Maybe the next Zuckerberg will head to India or North Carolina instead. But there will still be an inflow to the SV for a variety of reasons.

Hollywood puts on the movies and propaganda pieces .. MTV puts on the propaganda pieces .. travel magazine puts out the pieces and suddenly you have to be in location X to enjoy life ...
Beverly hills wasn't as big as I thought it was .. the homes either for how much they cost .. Have seen bigger and flashier ones that costs less than 500k .. but I guess when you are surrounded by a slum, you have to go in complete excess to set yourself apart ... L.A felt like there was a BIG divide between the have/have nots...
the main hollywood strip where they have movie premiers looked like a slum.. The music studios are in the ghetto .. venice beach felt like a slum where all the bums hang out .. Santa monica was nice but no different than other mixed use development areas i've been too .. Manhattan beach was beautiful .. *4 stars... and is the more tucked away spot ...

... Rodeo drive was a joke .. Seemed like a place for rich people to dump gobs of money just to feel important .. I have never seen soo many strip malls and used luxury car dealerships (I guess everyone is trying to look wealthy) in my life ... As a whole it felt like one big strip mall in decline .. But .. But.. compare the reality to the depiction in movies/shows.. I was like omfg, is this a joke? I felt scammed x100

Most of what you have described is the underbelly of CA, especially tinseltown and its surrounds. Its always been that way. The big exception to this is the South Bay including Manhattan Beach which I agree is a great little beach town still. But I'm kinda partial to it since I grew up there. However Hollywood and downtown LA have always been gross for the most part. Yet that's where the tourists flock to. I've never understood why someone would spend thousands of dollars to come out and visit Hollywood and Santa Monica/Venice when there are so many better places to vacation in the state. Of course the media hype plays the largest role. And that has always been the case. This doesn't mean more films won't be made abroad in Australia, India, New Zealand, etc... But Hollywood is still the hub and will continue to draw the young and restless with stars in their eyes hoping to make it big.

All that said I'm ok with these things spreading out more on a global scale. The higher unemployment has already begun to slow the huge influx of new residents which has been a constant for decades. For those who have lived here for a long time we remember what it was like with fewer ppl. So we don't mind losing some to the Midwest, East Coast, the South, India, etc... In fact it could be a good thing in a number of ways. Though I doubt the population would drop all that much. California is still the largest state by 12 million people. Still I prefer slower growth.

Derek

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by maurb

It amazes me to no end how a state with the world's 5th largest economy has been screwed over by this administration. Think about it, he has bailed out other states like Ohio, and Illinois which once had much higher unemployment rates, at the expense of this state. Now this state has a higher unemployment rate than Ohio and other similar states that Obama bailed out.

Why the heck is he in the running here, let alone being in the lead?

There is no reason at all why a first class state like California should ever have a higher unemployment rate than a state like Ohio...Come on!!! Also. why isn't Jerry Brown being recalled? As I recall(pun intended) Gray Davis was recalled for a much milder recession which was blamed on him.

... isn't that what the free market is for?

[SportyandMisty]

Originally Posted by maurb

...There is no reason at all why a first class state like California should ever have a higher unemployment rate than a state like Ohio...

Actually, yes there IS a reason. Read here: How Retirement Benefits May Sink the States

[intelfan11315]

Originally Posted by maurb

In my opinion, the Bush/Obama bailout never should have happened. GM and Chrysler are perfectly expendable companies and Ford, Toyota, Honda(need I go on?) would have been more than happy to step up in place of those two has been companies.

Parts suppliers???Don't kid yourself- Those jobs are in the mid-west. They should be here but they're not. The ones that are here, are primarily for the foreign companies, the ones that didn't get bailed out.

Unemployment might not be your choice but I'm sure there are plenty of others who would beg to differ with your theory.

Again, I'm not posting out of some political agenda. I'm sure McCain or Romney would have pulled the same gimmicks Obama did. However, the bottom line is Obama has done it and he's getting away with it here, in a state he could never win without.

The auto industry bailouts were great for the midwest economy and not only saved the auto industry but saved the entire manufacturing industry. Jobs are back in Michigan and people are doing much better than they were 7 years ago. Before you start to bash a decision and talk bad about something, you should look into just what kind of effect they have had on the midwest states.

What makes you think California is better than Michigan? It is not Michigan's fault that California is plagued by a bunch wannabe actors with no education and find themselves without jobs.

[Capt. Dan]

Originally Posted by jbunniii

Why would they move to one of the most expensive regions of the country, with relatively high unemployment of its own, especially for unskilled laborers? This isn't the California of Steinbeck's era. If any mass unskilled migration were to occur today, it would be to the likes of North Dakota.

Ask yourself---Would I rather be unemployed in North Dakota in the middle of the winter? Or California??

[Capt. Dan]

Originally Posted by Tex?Il?

and you can still come back and enjoy California when you want, while living cheaply in Tennessee.

Thats right! As a matter of fact I will be in Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo in late July!! Cant wait!!!