Where does all that money collected by outrageous taxes, fees, fines, and costs go in California? (buying, go bankrupt)

[Lockdev]

Originally Posted by candalf

I question the notion that California is in a terrible shape. Compared to where? As someone who immigrated from abroad a couple of decades ago, I have some idea what a place in a terrible shape looks like and trust me: California ain't it.

In fact, judging by the huge demand for housing, parts of it appear to be one of the most desirable places in the country. If it was truly a "mess", world-caliber companies would not be headquartered here and population would be declining.

Maybe taxes could be spent better but this gloomy assessment of the entire state needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

Your English is impeccable. What country are you from?

You also can't compare your country with the United States.

Comparing state-to-state and the amount of taxes taken in, California roads are in bad shape, especially given they don't face the same weather/snow/salt problems of places like the north east, rust belt, and mid-west. Roads in Sacramento are straight laughable. The highway looks like they broke up the asphalt to laid new asphalt and never did.

[tikkasf]

These are the states with the worst roads - Business Insider

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by Lockdev

Your English is impeccable. What country are you from?

You also can't compare your country with the United States.

Why not?

[tikkasf]

Total State Expenditures per Capita | The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by tikkasf

These are the states with the worst roads - Business Insider

Total State Expenditures per Capita | The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

Right. Good links.

So, we see California is sixth worst for road conditions compared to other states. But, if you look at the data from national DOT that was used to create the list tikkasf provided, you'll also note that withina few % points are a dozen other states. Overall, worse than the median, but definitely not the worst in the nation.

Now, jump to the next link tikkasf provided for State Expenditures Per Capita. You'll find California middle of the pack. What is interesting about this is, so many posting on the forum complain about one crappy California issue after another - such as road conditions. But, if the state spent more fixing them, the same whiners would complain about per capita expenditures being too high.

We are the busiest, most populated, most complex state with the most traffic in the nation. And y'all wonder why our roads need repair? Really?

Too funny. I have an idea. Go fishing. Or something. Enjoy life. Relax. Candalf is right: there's lots o' places in the world in terrible shape - and California isn't one of them.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by citizensadvocate

I did, in the end the simple answer is the state just cannot manage itself.

So you weren't asking a question at all, you were just trolling?

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

That's exactly right, and I often complain about overpaid non-military government servants as well. Just look at a BART train operator. BART is mostly automated; this person is mainly there to hit the bakes in an emergency, but they also open the doors and make sure everyone gets on the train safely. Still, if they work overtime they can make up to 100k! And they are allowed to go on strike!

Imagine if we had unions in the military. "I'm sorry, Mr. President. My Navy SEAL team cannot go into Pakistan after Osama bin Laden. We are on strike because we don't make enough to buy a SFH in an excellent school district in San Francisco."

We join the military to serve our country, not to get rich. Non-military government workers should do the same. The Legislature should pay the workers what the State can afford after paying for everything else, not what the unions extracted through threat of a strike.

Also, their pension should be "defined contribution", like a 401k, not "defined benefit". That is much cheaper for the State.

Unionizing the military would not be a problem, they would not be allowed to go on strike, just as local public safety employees (police and fire) aren't allowed to

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by V8 Vega

Public employees, most make twice what they would make if the worked in the private sector. Not only they're unbelievable pay but then retire early with full pay plus healthcare.
Calif. is 38 million so there is a LOT of teachers, their union is the strongest in the world. Your paying for all their pensions and healthcare.
Firemen make 100,000 a year, with overtime the make two or three times that and they retire at 50, your paying for this crap.
If you can land a job working for the goverment in Calif. any job its better than winning the lottery.

Ha! Ha! Don't look now but your pension envy is evident once again. Your incorrect info as well. You conveniently forget or ignore the fact that we all pay into our pension fund and it reaps huge investment dividends each year.

To answer the question posed by the OP, obviously all that money goes to overpay civil servants!

For the record, I retired at age 62.

[tikkasf]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Ha! Ha! Don't look now but your pension envy is evident once again. Your incorrect info as well. You conveniently forget or ignore the fact that we all pay into our pension fund and it reaps huge investment dividends each year.

To answer the question posed by the OP, obviously all that money goes to overpay civil servants!

For the record, I retired at age 62.

Regarding "pension envy", I think it is worth noting that the lose of a sizeable portion of manufacturing
jobs in this country over the years, has been a major contributor to the reduction of defined pension plans in the private sector. I used to work in manufacturing.....a facility that employed up to
2,000 employees in the Bay Area....a large number of those employees were referred to as "indirect" labor: jobs in maintenance, materials, quality assurance, clerical in addition positions engineering and management. Everybody got laid off in the latter part of the 1980s.....expect the president & VPS were guaranteed jobs by the mother corporation back in NY & CT ;

[honobob]

Brexit Means California Could Soon Be World’s Fifth Largest Economy - 24/7 Wall St.
From 8 to 5 in a little over a year. It was a good idea to export those less productive Californians.