California....what happened?

[TT1]

Quote from CaptainObvious:

Mexicans, the illegal type. Combine that with the lunatic left that believes that all the illegals have the same rights as everyone else and, viola, implosion.
It's a simple matter of fact that trying to be all things to all people is a recipe for disaster.

Add to that all of the other immigrants (Political Refugees) from Eastern Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, and South American who come to "Kalifornia" who receive free housing, free food, and a free education from the tax payers.

Public Employees (State, County, City) receive bloated salary and benefits . Some employees nearing retirement after 20 or 30 years, will work as much "over-time" they can in the last 5 years before retirement because they know they can maximise their pension pay outs. Some receive 100% of their base salary as pension til death!!! On top of that they get free medical coverage for life!!!

Public vs Private sector. Its a no brainer!! Everyone wants to be on the governments pay roll!!!

 

[Banjo]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-money9-2009feb09,0,1729122.story


Campaign donations add luxury to California politics
Some lawmakers use the gifts to finance the good life, expenditure reports show.

 

[Stosh]

Quote from Pa(b)st Prime:

You all hit it on the head. Modern day California voters are the stupidest species of douchebag known to man......

True, but it is not only the voters. Those who sell stuff to the takers (Chambers of Commerce, Walmart, Home Depot, CiCi's, the shopping malls, car dealers, homebuilders, etc. etc.) have politicians on their payrolls and even responsible voters are fooled by all the political smoke and mirrors. Stosh

 

[tradersboredom]

inner schools and cities are deterioting from gangs and drug trade.

migrant workers or illegal immigrants who aren't integrated into mainstream society but can collect welfare etc.

california has huge prisons from drug trade.

drugs and prison trade only growth industry.

Quote from Stosh:

How could a place with such beautiful weather, huge coastline, great farmland, innovative entrepreneurs, huge tourism industry, huge energy resources, forests, etc. etc. be such a financial basketcase?? What is the root cause of such a screwup?

 

[blackjack007]

for the last 20 years, california has ranked between 2nd and 11th in the USA in total tax burden per capita (as a percentage of personal income).

when a state consistently brings in high tax revenue and STILL has an epic budget problem, that leads you to the answer: the state can't control its f**king spending!!!

 

[Pa(b)st Prime]

I think you'll dig this data. These are the leaked results from an auction on a building in DTLA, held yesterday. If you ask me, despite the desperate climate these numbers show the L.A. market to be quite buoyant.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?gmaildup&key=pEI_mqrfQyqG3KMqJoXHKaQ

Quote from Dr. Zhivodka:

I've got rental pricing power in the units I currently own here. Demand is fairly strong as evidenced by price. And there is lot'sof competition for other quality properties coming on the market.

I'm convinced that those who aren't familiar with this market think everything south of Santa Barbara is Riverside and the I.E. There are too many people reading the same gloomy headlines. I'm here to tell ya...its just not that bad here in this little sub-market of L.A.

 

[Stosh]

Quote from blackjack007:

for the last 20 years, california has ranked between 2nd and 11th in the USA in total tax burden per capita (as a percentage of personal income).

when a state consistently brings in high tax revenue and STILL has an epic budget problem, that leads you to the answer: the state can't control its f**king spending!!!

So, why can't they control the spending????

 

[IanMacQuaide]

Quote from Stosh:

So, why can't they control the spending????

My old Captain used to say "Can't means won't!"

 

[Eliot Hosewater]

Quote from RiceRocket:

Part of California's problem comes from the many ballot initiatives that get voted in. The problem is that the ballot measure doesn't allocate the funds from any tax revenue. They are typically financed by debt.

Take the last election in November. Voters approved a $10 billion high speed rail system, plus a couple more items for about a billion each, even as the governor was warning about a multibillion dollar shortfall.

 

[Stosh]

Quote from IanMacQuaide:

My old Captain used to say "Can't means won't!"

Okay, why won't they??? Most of the responses in this thread blame results as being the CAUSE. Is the real cause just flawed human nature, poor gov't framework, what? It may be inevitable...just cycles....you get too fat to get around, so you go on a diet.....you spend all your money, so you cut back....drive too fast, have a wreck, so then you slow down......same tendencies in large groups......shame but that may be the way it is and will always be. Sort of like good traders say trade the market you've got, not what you want. Stosh