August Jobs Report: North Dakota 2.1% unemployment Los Angeles: 5.4% unemployment rate

[Loveshiscountry]

Originally Posted by lvmensch

CA GDP first in the US. 30% larger than TX. Per Capita GDP in the top ten and a little better than TX.

That is prosperous.

Originally Posted by James Bond 007

I regret to inform you, but California is indeed prosperous. In fact it is the 9th wealthiest state in the US, ranked by median household income.

GDP is a meaningless measure that amatuers use. It doesn't measure quality. It can have some value when comparing states on one year to the next as long as it's figured the same. It's formula has changed over the years.
Texas had over a couple billion dollars put into the Super conducting super collider, nothing was produced yet GDP went up because of the money that went into jobs.


This year, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, who has led the state for 16 of the last 43 years, unveiled a 2018 budget calling for $179.5 billion in spending, a 53% increase since just 2010. And, in a surprise, Brown said he expects a $1.6 billion deficit, in large part because tax revenues are lower than expected.

The problem is so bad that debt-rating agencies have warned the state about its overdependence on its wealthiest citizens, in particular the volatile tech industry, for its tax base. Because of this, Moody's Investors Service last year rated California as one of two states "least prepared" to weather a recession. (The other was fiscal basket-case Illinois.)

Worse, actual spending in California next year is expected to be closer to $284.5 billion, thanks mostly to $105 billion in federal spending in the state. Now home to one-third of all U.S. welfare recipients, millions of illegal immigrants, and a fast-growing Medicaid population, California depends on federal money for 37% of all its spending.

Yet California's top marginal income tax rate of 13.3% remains the highest in the nation. Last year, it ranked dead last in Chief Executive magazine's "Best and Worst States for Business" survey for the 12th year in a row. And the state got an "F" in Thumbtack.com's "2016 Small Business Friendliness Survey."

Since when does mountains of debt and a failing infrastructure equate to prosperity? Spending means nothing to the economically challenged.

[James Bond 007]

High tax rates and high debt levels have NOTHING to do with whether or not a place is prosperous. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. If high debt levels were a sign of poverty, and low debt levels thus a sign of prosperity, then Brunei, Burkina Faso Burma and the Central African Republic would be the world's most prosperous nations, because they have the lowest debt levels in the world. The same is true of tax rates: The nations with the lowest personal tax rates are all poor nations, and nations with high personal tax rates tend to be rich nations.

You don't even know what the word "prosperity" means!

And the "failing infrastructure" spiel is the tiredest rant in the world. California is legendary for its massive freeway system, with 8, 12 and 16-lane freeways all over the place, which tend to look like this and this and this, and some nimwit has to come along and declare that it's all "failing." If every shmoe who declared that some state's infrastructure was "failing", then every state's infrastructure would be "failing" because there is always some schmoe somewhere ranting about some state's infrastructure.