California: ‘Friends and neighbors talk incessantly about where they are planning to move in pursuit of a lower cost of living and better economic opportunities.’
May 17th, 2012Via: Bloomberg:
California is at the top of “most hated” states, according to a recent national poll. It’s easy to see why a lot of Californians themselves agree with this assessment, after Governor Jerry Brown’s latest scary description of the deepening hole the state is in.
The state’s budget deficit has grown to $15.7 billion from $9.2 billion since January, proof that a governor who promised to provide an honest budget ended up relying on the same overly optimistic economic forecasts and kick-the-can-down-the-road gimmicks used by his predecessors. Brown is back to his same-old ways — threatening draconian cuts unless the public votes for massive tax increases next November.
California taxpayers rightly feel overtaxed by a government that spends more than other states on services that are increasingly shoddy. The unions run the state for their own benefit, and the Democratic Party, which controls every constitutional office and has iron-clad control of the Legislature, doesn’t feel the taxpayer’s pain. Their attitude seems to be that if people want to leave, well, good riddance to those stingy, greedy whiners who block tax increases.
Californians do leave. In the last two decades, nearly 4 million more people have left than have come in from other states. According to a new University of Southern California study, the state’s population growth is slowing significantly, with increases driven by native-born children of immigrants, or second-generation immigrants.
Related: Surreal Situation in U.S. Post Office
