California a failed state

California is in crisis. The state is $24bn short of balancing its books this year - and it may run out of cash to pay its bills in a matter of weeks. It is a local story with global implications. California's economy is the largest in the US and the eighth largest in the world - as big as Brazil and three times the size of Saudi Arabia. If California fails, the shock waves of this economic crisis will be felt around the globe. Enter the Hollywood action hero. In his final year as governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger has a radical plan. He is trying to balance the budget entirely by slashing government spending - mostly programmes for the poor. Millions of Californians would lose welfare and health care benefits, thousands of teachers and state workers would be fired. State prisoners would be dumped into county jails. Avi Lewis travels to South Central Los Angeles to learn about the political causes and the human impact of shock therapy, California style - and gets a glimpse of how the next chapter of the global economic crisis is likely to unfold.

[edit on 12-6-2009 by joe82]

[edit on 12-6-2009 by joe82]

[edit on 12-6-2009 by joe82]

Legalize, then start manufacturing hemp products, then posit a surplus within 3yrs.

EASY

Your video doesn't work. Youtube says its unavailable.

reply to post by joe82


I hope Arnold does slash spending. That is obviously the only solution. No entity can go on spending more than it makes, and the California voters have proved they are sick and tired of state tax increases.

Originally posted by contemplator
Legalize, then start manufacturing hemp products, then posit a surplus within 3yrs.

EASY

California's problem is that it's spending more than it takes in.

If you legalize anything and everything and put a tax on it all, those geniuses running the government will simply find ways to spend even that.

Within a decade or less, they'd be back where they are now.

It liberal pro-environmental laws have shutdown the manufacturing sector in Calif to the point that there in not enough taxes comming in from the companies or employees that used to work in this state.
Most of these companies and employees have left the state taking the high payed high tax jobs with them.

Calif used to be a leader in gold production and mineral in the US till the environmental movement started mine free program about 40 years ago.

Many of these jobs payed $15 to $20 dollars a hour.

And the environmentalist think that replacing them with jobs that pay $6.50 per hour is how to grow the state. its not working.

I use to deal with many companies that were in Calif that are now in Nevada and there high payed employees went with the companies to Nevada because there is no income tax in Nevada. and Nevada is close enough that the employees can still drive to Calif to visit friends or relatives that still live in Calif.

In about 20 more years the population of Calif will be rich retirees. illegals and low payed non skilled worker type jobs flipping burgers.
and none of them will pay much taxes.

Most of the workers in the new green jobs are working construction and most are from other states and just come to Calif for the jobs and leave as soon as the jobs are over.
Plus i know from when i worked construction that some of these workers from other states list more dependent then they really have so that they have to pay less taxes.

The state of Calif never checks to see if a temp worker in Calif really has wife and 6 kids in some Midwest or eastern state.

I knew of one worker that claimed 5 dependents that he said lives in washington state and he had no real dependents.
He was also working with counterfeit journeyman's paper from the same state.

Most of the rich retirees keep there money in other states where they made the money in the first place and maintain legal residents in these other states just for tax purposes.
they just claim they are on extended vacations in Calif.

Actually, this is what happens when a legally elected Governor is unseated and replaced with the "Terminator" with the belief that he would somehow pull out a Hollywood ending. Never mind that the state was in shambles after Enron was allowed to nearly bankrupt it with a manufactured energy crisis, then exempted by the Bush administration from having to pay restitution to the state for the economic devastation they unleashed. The economic drain of the illegal immigration problem is huge too. Billions of dollars being spent annually to birth, feed, educate, and house the children of illegals while NO tax dollars are being paid by their parents to contribute to the state having to birth, feed, educate, and house them. When Reagan opened the floodgates in the 1980's to the illegals by offering amnesty started that mess in California. It only took 30years for the rest of the country to wake up to what California has been facing for decades. But now that they've become entrenched, and the welfare system which subsidizes them has become generational, how will it ever end? It won't. California will never deny illegals these unearned benefits, but they'll fire or demote every state employee, cut or eliminate pensions, close parks and libraries, etc, until there is nothing left to the state of California but an extension of Tijuana north of the Mexican border. Why do you think so many native Californians (like me) have moved east? It's a sinking ship folks. It's only a matter of time before it entirely collapses and Mexico reclaims it.

And as much as the conservatives want to blame it on the "liberals" they really can't. Reagan (the Hollywood actor-turned-God of the conservative party) opened the floodgates with amnesty. Enron, under the protection of the Bush administration, brought the state to the brink of economic collapse with the fake energy crisis. Gray Davis, the democrat, was "impeached" and replaced with the republican "Terminator" (another actor in republican's clothing) with no real experience to oversee the full collapse of largest economy in the country. That's the time line of the collapse and most all of California knows it. What's scary is that the country will soon follow wherever California goes and right now it looks like its going to hell in a hand basket, fast.