It's the stuff of legends - magnificent beaches and mountains, movie stars and Rodeo Drive, exotic cars and perfect tans - and now it's virtually broke. According to The Guardian, California is on the verge of becoming America's first failed state:
From its politics to its economy to its environment and way of life, California is like a patient on life support. At the start of summer the state government was so deeply in debt that it began to issue IOUs instead of wages. Its unemployment rate has soared to more than 12%, the highest figure in 70 years. Desperate to pay off a crippling budget deficit, California is slashing spending in education and healthcare, laying off vast numbers of workers and forcing others to take unpaid leave. In a state made up of sprawling suburbs the collapse of the housing bubble has impoverished millions and kicked tens of thousands of families out of their homes. Its political system is locked in paralysis and the two-term rule of former movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger is seen as a disaster – his approval ratings having sunk to levels that would make George W Bush blush.
From its politics to its economy to its environment and way of life, California is like a patient on life support. At the start of summer the state government was so deeply in debt that it began to issue IOUs instead of wages. Its unemployment rate has soared to more than 12%, the highest figure in 70 years. Desperate to pay off a crippling budget deficit, California is slashing spending in education and healthcare, laying off vast numbers of workers and forcing others to take unpaid leave. In a state made up of sprawling suburbs the collapse of the housing bubble has impoverished millions and kicked tens of thousands of families out of their homes. Its political system is locked in paralysis and the two-term rule of former movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger is seen as a disaster – his approval ratings having sunk to levels that would make George W Bush blush.
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Much of the blame for California's fiscal mess lies with America's leaky border. Something is wrong, when Chicano gangbangers outnumber cops on LA streets. The massive flood of (largely illegal) Latin American immigrants is encouraged by California's powerful real estate, development and construction sector.
Like their kinfirms up here, the developers and construction companies need constant population growth, in order to justify the construction of housing and associated infrastructure (roads, schools). Thousands of illegals waltzing over the porous joke of the U.S.-Mexican border supply the warm bodies...just like our LEGAL, quarter million plus per year immigration intake. These people avail themselves of California's generous county hospital system, social benefits and schools. The infrastructure costs of this ballooning population get tacked onto State and local deficit budgeting.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of groups like ACORN, voter-fraud by illegal aliens is fairly common. State and local politicians pander to this growing vote-rich bloc. Like Canada is supposed to be, California is a defacto multicultural State. Everybody from cops, to paramedics now have to function in Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean and other languages, because the immigrants can't be bothered to learn English.
There are three things that would have to be done in California, to restore that State's solvency. First of all, the centralization of power. Local governments have too much financial and political latitude. Secondly, stripping unions of their power. Making California a right-to-work state, allowing employers to fire striking workers and mass privatizations would lead to huge cost savings. Finally, something HAS to be done about the illegal immigrant problem. Tightening the U.S.-Mexican border, aggressively removing illegals, SEVERELY punishing firms and individuals who hire them (jail time and seizure of property), restricting public services to U.S. citizens, abandoning bilingual education and public services, eliminating Spanish-language TV and Radio licenses, requiring voter ID and--most importantly--eliminating birthright ('anchor baby') citizenship are things that would benefit the entire U.S.
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