California’s Cacophony of Calamities (updated 20apr17)

George Rebane

[This is the addended transcript of my regular KVMR commentary broadcast on 19 April 2017.]

California is, and has been for decades where it matters, a one-party state – the state’s legislature has been dominated by the Democratic Party since 1959.  The Democrats have called the tune and run things pretty much as they see fit.  In this once rich state, whatever is not working fiscally or socially, they now own lock, stock, and barrel.  And with the supermajorities they have in both houses of the legislature, it is clear that the majority of Californians either approve of the state’s downward spiral, or they simply don’t know what’s going on.  All of our wounds are self-inflicted. (more here)

California’s cacophony of calamities grows year after year even as our state now finds itself on or near the bottom of the nation’s barrel as more rankings are compiled.  We lead the country in everything from under-performing public schools, to the various categories of the poor and destitute, to sky high taxes, and the worst business climate.  California companies continue to head for greener pastures taking jobs and tax revenues with them.  New companies and plants are started elsewhere, even right next door in Nevada, as long as they don’t have to put up with what this advanced laboratory in socialism has to offer.

Things have gotten so frustrating that there are now active groups on both the Left and Right seeking to restructure the state.  People on the right correctly feel that Sacramento has ignored them for decades, and today many of them want to split the state into North and South California.  People on the left feel that California’s progress toward socialism is hindered so much by Washington that they want to secede from the Union.  The only really happy campers in the once Golden State live in the coastal clusters of millionaires and billionaires.

But now we hear that even there the rumblings of discontent have grown loud enough to reach Sacramento.  Given all California’s other problems, it turns out that our anti-development policies statewide have now created a housing crisis, especially in the so-called affordable housing category.  This crisis has grown to where even middle-class Californians are being priced out of the market.  If you haven’t heard about any of this, perhaps it’s time to widen your sources of news.  In any event, even the state’s major leftwing media outlets such as the LA Times and PBS television’s KCET have each published detailed coverage of the ongoing housing debacle (more here and here).

Today Governor Brown wants the state to solve the housing shortage with more regulations, cynically called “streamlining”, and more subsidies.  But it doesn’t have the money.  The $4B from bonds to rehab 57K units for low income residents, passed in 2002 and 2006, has been blown away on other more politically expedient needs.  Hoping that you don’t remember, the Sacramento mavens are now fashioning a new $3B bond measure for us.  They promise this time to really use it to help build some of the 1.5M units still needed to house all of California’s 39M Americans and 2.35M illegal aliens.  (here)

In the meantime, by various estimates, this wannabe sanctuary state’s net cost of illegals is over $30B annually, or almost 18% of the state’s budget.  The illegals, in addition to tax losses, criminality, and welfare payments, contribute one of eight kids in California’s K-12 schools.  The litany of how Sacramento has and continues to mismanage the state’s fisc and impede its economy goes on and on.  Here we have only time to scratch the surface of this scandalous saga.  And each such report is vigorously denied and papered over by the much louder progressive voices which dominate what we read and hear in our news. (more here)

The takeaway is a leftwing state government that has been running for years with no adult supervision in Sacramento, creating a situation that is well beyond any imaginable point of return.  Even KCET reports that, “California’s leaders are not addressing the housing crisis, and are merely professing to help with costly gimmicks that are no substitute for freeing the market to align supply with demand.”

My name is Rebane, and I also expand on this and related themes on Rebane’s Ruminations where the addended transcript of this commentary is posted with relevant links, and where such issues are debated extensively.  However, my views are not necessarily shared by KVMR.  Thank you for listening.

[Addendum]  Our local cartoonist Bob Crabb published an excellent viewpoint on the housing crisis in the 18apr17 Union from where I have filched it for your edification.  Great minds and all that 😉

There are many more issues to consider which are part and parcel of California’s considerable collection of calamities beyond housing.  But I will post a list of factors here that complement and expand the above commentary.

1. A dollar buys less in California than in almost any other state.
2. Silicon Valley median household income is $94.5K while the entire state’s median is $61.5K. The national median household income is $54K.
3. We are still building the goddam bullet train to nowhere, water tunnels to SoCal, and providing the delta smelt with fresh water that should be stored in new reservoirs, allocated to agriculture, and used to replenish drought diminished central valley aquifers.
4. California households number 12.8M with 2.9 members per household.
5. According to the government, affordable housing is that which costs less than one third of a household’s take home income (that includes rent/mortgage, insurance, utilities).
6. Gov Brown abolished Community Development Agencies as “wasteful and inefficient” to be substituted by his new “by right” (sic) developments which will use the new “streamlined” permitting process that is already opposed by organized NIMBY groups.
7. All subsidized housing units must be designed and built in the ‘stack and pack’ formats in urban areas as called for in Agenda21 (q.v.). The new housing units will be in developments that are still subject to all CEQA regs and employ workers at union pay scales.
8. CEQA forces developers to pay all mitigations for all factors which conceivably MIGHT disrupt the status quo as defined by bureaucrats.
9. Gov Brown’s “streamlining” plan passes on additional environmental and local planning strictures that will make housing developments eligible for $400M of subsidies if developers include 5-20% units built as state defined affordables for low income families. The new units will not be any cheaper than existing unit costs, and may be even more expensive to build.
10. For the same house built in California and Texas, the Californian will pay twice as much as the Texan.
11. California is essentially broke (the recent surplus was a hoax) and has an overhang of unfunded liabilities in excess of $200B.
12. In all likelihood the new $3B bond income for affordable housing will be pissed away in a manner similar to how the last $4B was. The state has a long history of such malfeasance – for example, the gas taxes destined to keep our transportation infrastructure in repair have been reallocated to more visible vote buying programs, and the new additional gas tax and registration fee hikes for road repairs will very likely suffer the same fate. 

In sum, Sacramento is populated by crooks, charlatans, liars, and con men (or is it con persons?).  Given our voting history and the state’s dominant constituencies, there is no relief in sight.

[20apr17 update]  In today’s Union Ms Linda Erdman's op-ed ‘Lining pockets instead of fixing roads’  underlines the points made above.  And if you want even more detail of the travesty that the Sacramento scumbags are making with SB-1, check out this revelation (below) from the CA Federation of Republican Women of where the monies will really be spent.  With the railroading of this new tax on gas and registration fees Gov Moonbeam again demonstrates that he’s basically a bamboozler having promised to pass no new taxes not put before voters for approval.  All of it underlines the standing Rebane Doctrine tenet that government is the likely source of ALL of our socio-economic problems, and should be treated as guilty until proven innocent.  Call (916) 445-2841 or go online (here) to contact the governor’s office and demand his veto on SB-1.

Governor Brown still has not signed SB 1 yet, the giant transportation tax increase that was pushed through the legislature two weeks ago. Although just speculation, the reason may be because the legality of the bill has been questioned. Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R, Lake Elsinore) has sent a letter to California Attorney General Xavier Beccera asking for an investigation into the “arrangements” made to trade votes for SB 1. When asked about whether or not bribery was used to secure votes for SB 1, Governor Brown said, “When somebody says, ‘Here is $10,000, I want your vote,’ you got bribery. It’s illegal. When someone says, ‘You know, I think this bill would be better if you included these projects or these ideas or these rules’ we listen, because that’s democracy and that’s openness and that is a compromise spirit that makes democracies work.”

Governor Brown’s idea of openness included drafting a separate bill to include the over $1 billion in side deals for district projects to get around Prop 54’s constitutional requirement that bills be in print and not amended for 72 hours before a vote is cast. SB 132 (Senate Budget Committee) now includes all the pork that was used to wheel and deal the transportation bill. Governor Brown’s idea of compromise included bullying an Assembly Democrat on the Assembly floor to vote for the gas tax when said Assemblyman was on the fence. That Assemblyman, Rudy Salas (D, Bakersfield), was removed from his chairmanship of the Assembly Business and Professions Committee this week, but still does not regret his decision to vote against the gas tax. He stands by his campaign promise, the same campaign promise broken by Governor Brown, to not support new taxes that are not put before the voters for approval.

Speaking of openness, the Governor and Legislative Democrats also promised that the revenue from this tax increase would only be used for roads. But, upon further examination, money is doled out for other projects: $750 million a year for transit, $100 million a year for biking and walking paths, $7 million a year for university research, and more still. Only 5% of the new tax funding goes to reducing traffic and road congestion. You may also be hearing and reading that this is a “ten year plan” or “over a decade” but the truth is that these taxes do not have a sunset. These are permanent taxes, save for a veto by Governor Brown or a legislative repeal. In the spirit of openness and compromise, Governor Brown should listen to voters when we ask him to VETO SB 1! There is still time!

Comments

[joe smith]

Another glass half full perspective from a curmudgeon. Dwell on the negatives and somehow your personal bias is vindicated. Instead of relentlessly focusing on the "evils" of California, try spending a single morning focusing on the attributes of California. No state comes close when it comes to private investment in Research and Development. More patents come out of California than any other state, and no, to cut you off at the pass, these are not just patents on high tech Silicon Valley gadgets. We lead in agricultural research and related patents. Except for pockets of grumpiness, California is the "happiest" state in the union with the least number of suicides and highest general outlook for the future. No one moves to Arkansas or Texas for the sun, beaches, mountains, and fresh fruits, vegetables, wines, or artisanal breads. If your basis of value is simply the cost of a house in which to dwell, move to Texas. If your life's value is based on a home in which to raise your family in a rich, diverse, and multi faceted community move to California.

[fish]

Posted by: joe smith | 20 April 2017 at 07:19 AM

Looks like "jons" brother joe dropped by to offer a preview of his latest "Visit California" pamphlet. I bet that took at least a masters degree to churn out.

Marketers......like car salesmen they are!

[jon smith]

Good eyes fish. I don't know how to kill off joe in the auto fill. It is the default and I have to manually correct it, but frequently forget.

[fish]

Sockpuppeting is hard work isn't it "joe".....err.....I mean "jon".

[Todd Juvinall]

He/it trashes GeorgeR and the ommenters here on the FUE's and has the gall to come here?

[fish]

Posted by: Todd Juvinall | 20 April 2017 at 08:40 AM

75% of the blogosphere is character assassination Todd. You do it! I do it! They do it!

No sense complaining about it cuz it ain't going to change!

[George Rebane]

joe/jons 719am - I do believe that you and yours, since you are in the ruling class, tend to confuse what you have 'achieved' with what was achieved before and since without your benefit. You remind me of the zealous and perennially optimist tour director on the Titanic pointing out the ship's fine woodwork, excellent cabins, great food, and fastidious service while most are concerned about the water pouring in through the gash in the hull.

[Gregory]

The Misters Smith seem to think those of us who have had patentable inventions are somehow barred from pointing out the warts on our overlords who art in Sacramento who had nothing to do with the process.

Here's a less than rosy summation
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-12/16-reasons-not-live-california

[jon smith]

Gregory 8:46
UCD is a hotbed of ag patents and has been for 40 plus years. The funding for the research that led to said patents can largely be attributed to the forward thinking "overlords who art in Sacramento."

[Gregory]

Roughly speaking, the state has about a trillion dollars to pay off in formal debt (the money that has been borrowed) and unfunded liabilities, not including the repairs and improvements that our crumbling infrastructure needs.

Which of the rocket scientists in the state legislature should get a Misters Smith gold star on their forehead today for their funding of the University of California?

At the moment, we have a ticking time bomb in them thar hills, a massive snowpack that will be melting with much of it escaping out to sea under the Golden Gate bridge. Don't pray for nice warm April and May rainstorms to accelerate the process.

[Bill Tozer]

Joe Smith.

Indeed, CA offers the mountains, beaches, Mediterranean climate in the southern part of the state, special jewels such as Yosemite Valley. No denying the geography facts. Also, CA has been on the cutting edge of innovation and a trail blazer (ahead of the curve) of cultural trends. Ok, redwood bathhouses are the not the new rage they used to be, but I digress.

With the above said, the post is about regulations that affect housing and by extension, affordable housing in CA. Kitchen table issues. Can you afford to live in such and such place? Are there enough dollars left over to get to the end of the month or next payday? These are critical issues of one's Quality of Life. It's is not a matter of do you want to buy a home or rent a bigger place. Nay, it boils down to 'can you afford to live here?'

Let's look at the reality today, not yesteryear. The cost of education and housing is why 1/3 of the young folks between 18-34 move back home with their parents. Sure, a national problem, but exasperated in large areas of our State.
CA has 12% of the nation's population, but 30% of all welfare recipients.

Once while attending an out of state private college and invited over to a Thanksgiving dinner at a local's home, the host ( a public school teacher and mother of a classmate) asked me why in the world did I not attend one of those fantastic state college (now universities) in CA? Sure, the local private college was fine, but more expensive and farther away from home. Why, with CA's great and affordable (top notch ) education system, why would I ever consider going out of state??

That was then, this is now. Same for housing. Why do those with the empty nest more out of state to retire? So they can afford to live in the Golden Years. Plus, CA taxes retirement benefits, highest or very high sales taxes, gas taxes, local regulations, etc.
Same reason young families with the pioneer spirit pack up the U Haul, have a yard sale, grab the babies and head off to pursue the American Dream. To get their own little piece of the pie. Some have simply looked around and realized they will never have home ownership in CA and afford car insurance, not to mention keeping gas in the tank. The housing market saying is true in vast swaths in CA: 'Inside those houses are milk crates used as furniture.

Beautiful geography and wonderful climate, no doubt. Unfornately, all of CA's grand visions and social experiments have ended up hurting the poor and carved out the middle class, IMHO. The last gas tax went to cover the bullet train shortfall and 700,000 low income housing units, bike paths, and of course roads. This new round of gas taxes will go for making up the shortfall of the projected carbon tax (to pay for the bullet train to Bakersfield), workforce training, walling trails, and of course, roads. Don't ya think that hurts the poor(er) folks the hardest?? You know, the ones that have the longest commutes to work because they cannot afford to live closer in.

Solution: more zoning and building regs, higher taxes, and the myth of "affordable housing". Surveys have shown that people living in the NE, NY, NJ, and within 40 miles of the Pacific Ocean prefer higher taxes and more regulations than the rest of the USA's land mass. NIMBY if you want to put "affordable housing" anywhere an ocean view.....and those are the one's who want higher taxes, more regulations, and control every aspect of one's life.

[Gregory]

LA traffic now said to be the worst in the world, 'Frisco is #4. Baghdaddies by the Bay, don't give up, you can get worse if you try hard enough.
http://www.laweekly.com/news/la-has-the-worst-traffic-congestion-in-the-world-7953381

[fish]

Posted by: Gregory | 20 April 2017 at 10:20 AM

But the bread Gregory.....the artisanal bread?!

[jon smith]

Yes fish, artesinal bread. I spent a few very long cold months in Eastern Montana with wheatfields as far as the eye could see. Wheat Montana billboards sprout from every rest stop and grocery store. I never realized how great California bread is compared with the so called top shelf breads in the wheat capital of the USA. Our own Duprey's bakery right here in town is something to missed should you desire to move to El Paso for a cheap house. Mybe you'll acquire a taste for tortillas.

[fish]

Posted by: jon smith | 20 April 2017 at 11:15 AM

I already have a taste for tortillas! Was wondering if you ever planned to acknowledge your blunder regarding the election?

[Todd Juvinall]

Here is a video of that poor little innocent gal that was knocked on her ass at the Rally I was at. She was there looking for a figh and had a pair of brass knuckles. Anyway watch it ans see the intent of those people wearing masks.

https://24husanews.com/2017/04/19/things-get-worse-for-decked-hippie-as-internet-learns-about-her-dirty-past/

[Bill Tozer]

Congestion: Is there one penny allocated for lane additions to relieve traffic jams on our Urbanite Jungle Freeways in the new gas tax and/or the new jump in vehicle registration (licensing) fees? Anybody know? Jon Fleischman knows, whoever he is.

[According to Jon Fleischman “30% of the new tax revenues will go to projects other than roads (including parks, workforce apprenticeships, rural bike lanes, boats, trains and local planning grants).” Incredibly, the plan mandates that less than 5% of funds can go to traffic relief or lane expansion. This is insanity.]

In other news that affects CA but kinda off topic.....maybe muddled middle stuff.....

http://truthfeed.com/breaking-court-ruling-stands-illegals-do-not-have-constitutional-rights-of-review/66464/

http://www.breitbart.com/california/2017/04/19/fresno-bee-mocked-fears-radical-islamic-terror-february/

[George Rebane]

jons 1115am - Perhaps a smidgen of common ground; I'm also a baker.
http://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/rebanes_ruminations/2014/11/ruminations-15nov14.html

[jon smith]

Blunder? I miscalculated based on what felt was the best information at hand. It is abundantly clear to anyone who listened to my prediction (that Hillary would win the general election), that I was mistaken. I don't take particular solace in the fact that many of my Trump voting friends have been less than enthused by his version of "draining the swamp."

[fish]

Posted by: jon smith | 20 April 2017 at 11:39 AM

Well......5 or so months late....and with more rationalization than I generally care to see in an acknowledgement of error but not horrible either!

B+

Didn't know you had it in ya!

[ScenesFromTheApocalypse]

re: Upstream somewhere...

" More patents come out of California than any other state, "

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/gov_pat_iss_percap-government-patents-issued-per-capita

No doubt quantity has a quality all its own, but statistics built atop the fact that California has a large population probably don't mean much.

(I don't doubt that Delaware is high due to it's status as a corporate haven.)

[Bill Tozer]

. "I don't take particular solace in the fact that many of my Trump voting friends have been less than enthused by his version of "draining the swamp."

Posted by: jon smith | 20 April 2017 at 11:39 AM

Well, one man can only do so much in 12 weeks. The biggest Swamp Draining so far has been POTUS term limits on Obama, but Trump can't take credit for that. Probably can't do much about this waste, fraud, and abuse either;

"In 2014, state analysts noted that Caltrans could lay-off 3,500 employees, save $500 million and not miss a beat. But reforms are blocked by unions who favor white collar welfare"

Heck, back in the day they called Reagen's Star Wars "white collar welfare" too, especially if you saw all the waste over at JPL in Southern Cal. Very expensive area to live around JPL....home prices off the charts. Ain't no Beverly Hills, but not far down the Totem Pole either. White collar Beverly Hills, if you prefer.
Just had bring CA housing into the thread in the guise of staying on topic.

How's your Turkish friend doing??

[Todd Juvinall]

The tech industry breeds those stats. We are the state of tech.

[Bill Tozer]

Forgive me, Dr. Rebane for veering off topic for one comment. I repent in advance and will promise to make future Sandboxish comments fewer and farther between.

Speaking of our Turkish friends, I don't know Jan Bohnmermann of Germany or Bilgin Çiftçi, a doctor from western Turkey, but I like their style.

"When a German comedian, Jan Böhmermann, read out a deliberately offensive poem on TV, claiming Erdogan was sexually attracted to goats, he demanded Germany prosecute him using an obscure, forgotten statue defending the honor of foreign heads of state.
His cavalier attitude to free speech (which extends to locking up political opponents and smashing up TV stations) has not dented his popularity at home, however."

https://heatst.com/world/turkish-man-taken-to-court-over-meme-comparing-president-to-gollum/?mod=sm_fb_post

Ok, stomping on free speech and extinguishing the modern day Free Speech Movement by protest and violence is definitely a California Caphony of Calamity thang....judging by recent news events at Berkeley. :)

[ScenesFromTheApocalypse]

re [email protected]:11PM

"We are the state of tech."

That's less true than you might think.

https://andrewferguson.net/2014/04/17/list-of-states-by-number-of-professional-engineers-per-capita/
http://www.economicmodeling.com/2011/09/20/where-are-stem-jobs-concentrated/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2013/11/20/the-surprising-cities-creating-the-most-tech-jobs

[fish]

California Calamities indeed......! I wonder if the same cadre in yesterdays tearful defense of Delicate Porn Flower will have anything to say about Professor Lock Swinger?

Marquess of Queensberry and all that!

http://theralphretort.com/report-violent-antifa-u-lock-attacker-from-berkeley-identified-as-college-professor-eric-clanton-4020017/

Make sure you watch until the very end of the youtube clip.

[Bill Tozer]

Fish @ 1:49 pm.

If you think the Good Professor U-Lock is a formidable foe, you ain't seen nothing yet. The Ainfas sent in its big gun, Big Fred, aka, The Morher of all Bombs. If that don't leave you quaking in your boots, nothing will.

https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/1072563812877655/?type=3&theater

(Oh course this is spot on in reference to the post, California's Cacophony of Calamities.)

[fish]

Posted by: Bill Tozer | 20 April 2017 at 02:16 PM

BILL......THERE ARE RULES! YOU JUST BROKE THEM ALL!

[Walt]

Those singing the praises of gov. Moonbat, Forget his "promise" of "no taxes without the people's approval". That sure worked out well. I didn't see the new gas tax, or the car registration tax on the ballot. This is what lost Gray Davis his job. We were better off with Davis. Arnold "F"ed us over even worse, then Brown Gets a repeat?

Now the latest is that vote buying. Ooppss,, excuse me. It isn't vote buying unless Moonbat and the boys say so. Another "redefining" to suit one's needs.

[ScenesFromTheApocalypse]

re: Fish @ 1:49PM

Things happen pretty quickly in this timeline:

https://imgur.com/8CYP0Ov

[jon smith]

GR 1129. Two crumbs up. There must be a right way and left way to making bread. I'm the left way. I nurtured sourdough starter for about a decade (inoculated with yeast from Deer Creek wild grapes). It made killer pizza crust, waffles and hotcakes but my bread was always hit or miss. With Morgans and Dupre's at our disposal my bread baking became rather irrelevant and pointless. Congratulations on doing it right. It isn't easy.

[George Rebane]

jons 552pm - Had no idea I've been making bread the "left way" for the last nineteen years. However, I'm told that no commercial bakery yet touches in crust, crumb, and flavor the loaves I pull out of my oven. And in the end, it is the making of it with your own little hands that gives the greatest satisfaction. When it's right, you can feel the dough ball alive as you hold it, no precise measurements are needed.

[jon smith]

Consistency is the mark of a good baker. I can make great bread, but inconsistently. When it hits the sweet spot I understand exactly what you mean about it coming alive. To good bread!

[ScenesFromTheApocalypse]

I thought you all might like this article:

http://blog.dilbert.com/post/159792630956/big-red-flag-for-cognitive-dissonance

[Bill Tozer]

California was the trend setter before libs became the perpetually pissed off. That was then, this is now. Happy holidays you racist old hippies!

"Ah, April 20, the day of drug consumption—and an annual reminder that people who celebrate it are society’s most infuriating people.

The origins of Thursday’s holiday, known colloquially as “420,” remain unclear (probably because stupid stoners got too high to write anything down). But most people generally agree that a group of high-school teenagers in California started smoking pot at 4:20 after school in the 1970s. Somehow, millions of people now celebrate by lighting up and embarking on a pilgrimage to 7-Eleven for salty snacks."

https://heatst.com/culture-wars/whoa-dude-internet-deems-420-racist/?mod=sm_fb_post

[Don Bessee]

BT- It came out of Marin county. ;-)

[Paul Emery]

Don B

60% nationality favor legalized Rec Pot according to the latest polls. It was all over Fox News last night. 71 percent said they opposed the federal government's efforts to stop marijuana sales in states that have legalized it.

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/the-five/article/2017/04/20/poll-support-legalize-marijuana-all-time-high

Support for Medical MJ is around 80%

[Account Deleted]

Paul - thanks for stopping by. You did read the topic of the post, no?
I really wouldn't be taking that side right now. Have you read about the trash and mess your compadres of the weed have left behind at the 4/20 festivities?
Anyhoo - just got back from 2 weeks visiting the once great and now lamentable state of California. Bounced along 99 North dodging major potholes whilst admiring the towering concrete edifices just to the east of the freeway. Yessir, another 200 billion and you guys might actually be able to ride a train from LA to SF in less than a day. Still waiting for the map showing the route through the Tehachapis. Actually we're all still waiting for a registered civil engineer to testify under oath before state Senate hearings as to the viability of trying to shove a passenger train from LA to SF in less than 3 hours for anything close to several multiples of what they promised it would cost in the first place. Talk about anti-science. The Dems in Kali are science-free.
But of course, the bread is great so who the heck cares, right?
And - it's something we can all agree on!
Huzzah!
As was politely pointed out - ahem, the ship seems to be taking on undue amounts of sea water, sir.
Oh pooh! Don't be a spoil sport. The bread's almost out of the oven.

[Russell]

Middle Class Exiting California - Trend Intensifies

The San Francisco Bay Area lost more than 600,000 net domestic migrants between 2000 and 2009 before experiencing a five-year respite. Now, sadly, the story seems to be changing again. Housing prices, first in the Bay Area and later in other metropolitan areas, have surged mightily, and are now as high as over nine times household incomes. In 2016, some 26,000 more people left the Bay Area than arrived. San Francisco net migration went from a high of 16,000 positive in 2013 to 12,000 negative three years later.

Similar patterns have occurred across the state. Between 2010 and 2015, California had cut its average annual migration losses annually from 160,000 to 50,000, but that number surged last year to nearly 110,000. Losses in the Los Angeles-Orange County area have gone from 42,000 in 2011 to 88,000 this year. San Diego, where domestic migration turned positive in 2011 and 2012, is now losing around 8,000 net migrants annually.

[...]

A dive into Internal Revenue Service data shows distinctly that, while poor people are, indeed, leaving, the largest group of outmigrants tends to be middle-aged people making between $100,000 and $200,000 annually.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/04/24/leaving-california-after-slowing-the-trend-intensifies/

Taxes and regulations have consequences that seem to escape the idiots in Sacramento.

[Account Deleted]

"Taxes and regulations have consequences that seem to escape the idiots in Sacramento."
It goes beyond that. There exists now in the California govt a blatant disregard for the law. Enacting illegal taxes by the semantic maneuver of calling them 'fees'. Stealing money from special funds and ignoring court orders to repay them. The [email protected] Train was promoted on a pack of lies. Even now, the backers are admitting it will never perform as was promised, nor are the funds for it's construction going to be from private money. If a private firm were to have suckered investors on a sham deal like this, they'd be in prison. On top of all of that, we now have the gov and several mayors openly calling for breaking fed law and vowing to shield (and reward with tax dollars) law breakers based on ethnicity and voting proclivities.

[Bill Tozer]

https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/1075936719207031/?type=3&theater

[George Rebane]

Gentlemen - Does it not continue to be remarkable that California liberals are totally ignorant of all these happenings, and can only respond to such reports by calling the messengers names? Exhibit A is right here in Nevada County.

[Bill Tizer]

https://heatst.com/politics/maxine-waters-leads-the-charge-to-impeach-trump-but-forgets-her-own-russian-connections/?mod=sm_fb_post.

[Bill Tozer]

Oh my. This will get who believe in their heart of hearts that larger government is the solution to problems will be rioting and busting up things....a California Cacophony of Calamities for sure. Good to see Trump getting the ball rolling. He's an instigator! And an agitator!
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/26/donald-trump-pull-feds-out-k-12-education/

[Don Bessee]

An article on the new DHS office of Victims Of Illegal-immigrant Crime Engagement (VOICE) detailed how the victims will have a resource office in every state. It sounds like CA will need more than one.

The article noted some numbers that had been actively suppressed under 0;
Stats from the DOJ and the sentencing commission show 13% of convictions in 2014 were illegals.
Illegals are estimated in the article at 3.5% of the population.
The GAO is showing murder number ranging from 22% to over 30% depending on what year group. ;-(

[George Rebane]

DonB 805pm - Thanks for that heads up Don. I hope that such data now beginning to see the light of day will finally have the pro-illegal alien crowd start pulling in their horns. They have been arguing (lying) for years that the illegals are a net contribution to our economy and QoL.

[Bill Tozer]

Not so fast there, Dr. Rebane. Remember, this is CA we are talking about. Liberal corrupt California and quite the basket overflowing with the cacophony of calamities.

"Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch president, reported that Waters' friend and fellow California Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren helped delay her scheduled 2010 House ethics trial on the matter by stalling subpoenas and improperly firing two attorneys working on the investigation. Six of 10 House Ethics panel members quit the case in 2012 over questions about their partiality. An outside investigator absolved Waters of any wrongdoing.

The newfound Maxine Waters Fan Club might want to know that Waters' government cronyism and self-dealing earned her a "Most Corrupt member of Congress" designation from the left-wing Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington five times — in 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2017.

Now, Muddy Maxine is leading the charge to drain the swamp that sustains her. What a riot."

http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/michelle-malkin/muddy-maxine-waters-what-riot?ref=yfp

[Don Bessee]

Do. R, I would expect as the new administration gets its teams in place in the various Secretariats we will be getting a real education on stats that don't fit team lefties narratives. ;-)