California 'Hell-Hole' to Run $7 Billion Budget Surplus

[Badger]

The totally jelly so-called fiscal conservatives in this thread are hilarious

[Badger]

Conservatives label CA a hell hole because of demographics and nothing else. You never hear them complain about quality of life in WV, KY, OK, KS, ect.

No. We call it a hellhole because it's prohibitively expensive in most metropolitan areas due to terrible zoning laws and rent control, which traps the working poor in a situation where they spend a huge percentage of their earnings on rent and gas. Oh, and violent drug addicts wander the streets in the cities. I love my state, but the people in this thread trying to pretend that it's some sort of progressive Xanadu (just because the government collects a lot of revenue from techies) are definitely not well-informed with regards to what it's actually like to live here.

So awesome to see conservatives give a flying f*** about the Working Poor when used solely to dunk on a successful liberal state.

[Badger]

The totally jelly so-called fiscal conservatives in this thread are hilarious

Aren’t we past the date you re-registered yet, Badger?

May of next year. How about you?

[Badger]

Completely misleading for the reasons dead0man said. Also if it's so great how come there are homeless people everywhere and people leaving the state because they can't afford it. Not to mention the fact that Newsom has an approval rating in the 40s and the state legislature has an even worse approval rating than that.

The truth is we have massive bond debt and a massive pension problem that gets overlooked because muh surplus.

Overall the state isn't a hellhole. However major cities have a tendency to be, because they are filled with homeless people living on the street. I no longer take BART in the bay area because you're likely to get robbed or a homeless person will be pissing on the train. It's not a great place to live. Although there are still some good areas.

I don't know how anyone can look at the past years of democratic control in California and come away with the thought that yeah this has been good we're doing great.

The homeless people are there because the weather is good enough and the cities aren't complete a-holes to them...because of course, lots of homeless are simply those evicted out, and not the druggies that you and Smiling John seem to lurve portraying them all as.

Also it's very f*(king easy to praise Dem control after seeing the walking disaster things were when Der Sperminator was in charge, or the 16 years of prison build-up under Duke and Wilson.

But you have a point, I think it was Dem controlled and Dem majority even in the 70's when the DINOs crossed over to Jarvis and put through the most monstrous proposition ever passed. And boy howdy could so have been done if not for those tax freezes

Um no CA was at its peak after those 16 years of Republican control and hasn't recovered from those 5 disastrous Davis years.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-dec-14-mn-54020-story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/wilson010299.htm

I cannot add enough "ha"s after "hahaha" to properly and fully ridicule the notion that California's current economic situation is due to the influence of its sub anemic Republican party. What a hack and worshipping the altar of alternative facts take that is, osr.

[Badger]

Just going to conclude before I go play some computer games after taking off early for the weekend that it is particularly adorable to see California conservatives b**** and moan about what a horrible socialist it managed hellscape thirst aid is.

California conserva tards - - I hate California! The price of housing is immense. Taxes are high. Democrats have ruined this state!

Everyone else - - ok, the road to Oklahoma or Arkansas is that way. Need help packing?

Conserva tards - - um, well.....

[Badger]

Just going to conclude before I go play some computer games after taking off early for the weekend that it is particularly adorable to see California conservatives b**** and moan about what a horrible socialist it managed hellscape thirst aid is.

California conserva tards - - I hate California! The price of housing is immense. Taxes are high. Democrats have ruined this state!

Everyone else - - ok, the road to Oklahoma or Arkansas is that way. Need help packing?

Conserva tards - - um, well.....

Texas> California

In terms of obesity, people without health insurance coverage, High School Dropout rates, sub proficiency scores in math, science, English, bad highways, executions, oh, and to their advantage fossil fuel deposits. Sure.

On pretty much everything else that matters, except in your eyes electing Republicans to Statewide government, Texas is clearly horribly behind California

[Badger]

Just going to conclude before I go play some computer games after taking off early for the weekend that it is particularly adorable to see California conservatives b**** and moan about what a horrible socialist it managed hellscape thirst aid is.

California conserva tards - - I hate California! The price of housing is immense. Taxes are high. Democrats have ruined this state!

Everyone else - - ok, the road to Oklahoma or Arkansas is that way. Need help packing?

Conserva tards - - um, well.....

To be clear I don't hate California, but outside of a surplus how exactly can you look at it and say this is great? You'd have to be living under a rock to think that things are going great here. We have a pension crisis, massive bond debt, rising homelessness and increasing crime in inner cities. Not to mention how sh**t the DMV is, which the democrats blocked an audit of. Also every highway seems to be permanently under construction and again the cost of living is ridiculous.

I'd be saying this regardless of what party is in charge or what state I live in.

.

Your last sentence is completely correct. You could be saying things about the rising crime rate and homelessness, plus having a sh**ty DMV and Highway seemingly always under construction, and in truth even to a large degree the Bond debt and obligation to long-term pensions, in just about every state in the country.

The difference is red States just love to dunk on California for their economic success because, well gee by golly, it's just not supposed to happen that way! And the reality that a progressive run economy with a liberal immigration policy can be a rezoning worldwide success just confounds and pisses them off to no end.

Well, to no end other than maybe reconsidering their core beliefs and preconceptions about what makes an economy strong, of course. Conservatives seem to be literally incapable of such self-analysis nowadays

[Badger]

Texas> California

Dallas/Fort Worth + Austin > California

California >>>>>> The rest of Texas

Not Houston as well?

[Badger]

Conservatives label CA a hell hole because of demographics and nothing else. You never hear them complain about quality of life in WV, KY, OK, KS, ect.

No. We call it a hellhole because it's prohibitively expensive in most metropolitan areas due to terrible zoning laws and rent control, which traps the working poor in a situation where they spend a huge percentage of their earnings on rent and gas. Oh, and violent drug addicts wander the streets in the cities. I love my state, but the people in this thread trying to pretend that it's some sort of progressive Xanadu (just because the government collects a lot of revenue from techies) are definitely not well-informed with regards to what it's actually like to live here.

So awesome to see conservatives give a flying f*** about the Working Poor when used solely to dunk on a successful liberal state.

Badger, I have tried to take you seriously on multiple occasions. But your constant insistence on assuming the worst of everyone you argue with makes this impossible. You add nothing to this forum's discourse aside from cheap generalizations.

There's nothing generalized about it. It's a very specific indictment about Republican policies. Sorry if reality intrudes on your cool dunk on California.

[Badger]

Just going to conclude before I go play some computer games after taking off early for the weekend that it is particularly adorable to see California conservatives b**** and moan about what a horrible socialist it managed hellscape thirst aid is.

California conserva tards - - I hate California! The price of housing is immense. Taxes are high. Democrats have ruined this state!

Everyone else - - ok, the road to Oklahoma or Arkansas is that way. Need help packing?

Conserva tards - - um, well.....

Are you even trying to express an idea beyond "love it or leave it" chauvinism?

That's not even remotely close to what I put in my post. My point is that it is rather ridiculous for these conservatives to come out of the woodwork damning what a hell hole California is based on what their ideology says should happen to 8 liberal run economy with liberal immigration laws as opposed to what's actually happening. Yes, the cost of living has reached crisis levels in parts of the state, but as accurately pointed out conservatives are equally afraid of liberalizing zoning laws to allow cheap affordable housing anywhere near their neighborhoods, so blaming that entirely on liberals is facetious at best. In short, California is being hoisted by its own petard of success in population growth which Most states would do damn near anything to achieve.

The only one that comes remotely, and I emphasize remotely, close to a point is fuzzy noting that California is on track to (gasp!) lose a congressional seat in the next census. And still remain the largest state by far. Which is something several other states that have largely been run by Republicans for most of the last 10 years are facing as well.

Even The conservative Californians here aren't exactly lining up to leave the state. Sure, the state has its problems as noted here in, but the conservative reactions to it in this thread are just somewhere lunacy women reality confronts their ideology, and laughable for the same reason.

[Badger]

Conservatives label CA a hell hole because of demographics and nothing else. You never hear them complain about quality of life in WV, KY, OK, KS, ect.

No. We call it a hellhole because it's prohibitively expensive in most metropolitan areas due to terrible zoning laws and rent control, which traps the working poor in a situation where they spend a huge percentage of their earnings on rent and gas. Oh, and violent drug addicts wander the streets in the cities. I love my state, but the people in this thread trying to pretend that it's some sort of progressive Xanadu (just because the government collects a lot of revenue from techies) are definitely not well-informed with regards to what it's actually like to live here.

So awesome to see conservatives give a flying f*** about the Working Poor when used solely to dunk on a successful liberal state.

Badger, I have tried to take you seriously on multiple occasions. But your constant insistence on assuming the worst of everyone you argue with makes this impossible. You add nothing to this forum's discourse aside from cheap generalizations.

There's nothing generalized about it. It's a very specific indictment about Republican policies. Sorry if reality intrudes on your cool dunk on California.

The generalization is that conservatives only care about the working poor when they criticize liberal policies. Has it crossed your mind that people might be libertarians or conservatives because they genuinely think those policies will help the poor the most?

Honestly, no. If you believe that, you are honestly the first libertarian I ever conversed with, and I've conversed with a hell of a lot, who genuinely believes that. At least Beyond some b******* cut billionaires taxes and that will help the homeless out by creating more jobs crap that even they don't seem to believe

[Badger]

Just going to conclude before I go play some computer games after taking off early for the weekend that it is particularly adorable to see California conservatives b**** and moan about what a horrible socialist it managed hellscape thirst aid is.

California conserva tards - - I hate California! The price of housing is immense. Taxes are high. Democrats have ruined this state!

Everyone else - - ok, the road to Oklahoma or Arkansas is that way. Need help packing?

Conserva tards - - um, well.....

Texas> California

In terms of obesity, people without health insurance coverage, High School Dropout rates, sub proficiency scores in math, science, English, bad highways, executions, oh, and to their advantage fossil fuel deposits. Sure.

On pretty much everything else that matters, except in your eyes electing Republicans to Statewide government, Texas is clearly horribly behind California

I am certainly no defender of Texas, but every cited educational deficiency seems to be made up based on stereotypes. The high school graduation rate is effectively at the upper quartile of US states whereas California is at the lower quartile.

As far as test scores, Texas is considered 'significantly above' the national average for both average and number of proficient students for mathematics and science. California is considered 'significantly below' in both subjects. Both are considered 'significantly below' for English. All subjects seems to have a very obvious north/south divide except for when Texas bucks the trend.

https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/profiles/stateprofile/

Interesting. Still, Google the u.s. & World Report ranking of State education systems. California ranks at least a moderate 21st in the nation, where is Texas ranks a rather dismal 34th.

No note about health insurance coverage from anyone I see.

[Badger]

Interesting. Still, Google the u.s. & World Report ranking of State education systems. California ranks at least a moderate 21st in the nation, where is Texas ranks a rather dismal 34th.

No note about health insurance coverage from anyone I see.

I found this source. California is dragged up by its #4 ranking for colleges (which is a great deal less important for residents than K-12 on account of choice and how it affects everybody). Its K-12 ranking (37th) on this source is also lower than Texas (33rd).

I obviously give California credit for creating an incredible public college system (with some help from the likes of Stanford, Pepperdine and the plethora of Catholic colleges up-and-down the state) since this attracts permanent residents who will be providers of the innovation that drives the state's economy. New Jersey has the exact opposite problem of losing talent to everywhere else despite its incredible K-12 ranking, so it's a valid economic strategy assisted by corporate capital. But in spite of having ~10% of the top high schools in the country for the children of its richest residents, the rest of the K-12 system is rated as subpar for the rest of the people who are already there. It's a tale of severe inequality where even the very strong top can't bring the overall averages up very much.

I am in complete agreement with you on healthcare. California is clearly superior in that respect.

An accurate assessment. I will simply note that California's secondary education system clearly needs Improvement, but looking to conservative Texas as some type of noteworthy Improvement is incorrect. You are dead on in the fact that California's commitment to a reasonably well funded Public University system has contributed immensely to its economic and population gains.

[Badger]

Meanwhile in KY:

Memo: Gov.-elect Beshear to face a massive budget shortfall

A memo from outgoing Gov. Matt Bevin's administration says Gov.-elect Andy Beshear faces a massive budget shortfall as he prepares to take office.

The memo from Bevin's budget director estimates the shortfall could exceed $1 billion during the next two year

Any autopsy results as to why? Is this because of some recent downturn in the Kentucky economy ( beyond the half-century downturn in the coal industry it's been suffering)? Or did Bevin and the Republicans in the legislature try to recreate brownback's failed Kansas experiment in Kentucky?

[Badger]

To put this into perspective ...
The California 7 Billion dollar surplus, is larger than the entire yearly budget for some states (5 states to be exact: DE, SC, MT, NH and VT).

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_budgets

South Carolina's entire state budget is less than 7 million a year? What a crap hole that place must be

[Badger]

California’s State and Local Liabilities Total $1.5 Trillion

Our findings may appear to contradict reports that suggest a state budget surplus of about $9 billion. But the state’s spare cash and rainy day funds pale before the mountain of long-term liabilities that California governments at all levels have accumulated. Moreover, if the stock market drops, personal income tax and capital gains tax revenue will decline precipitously, wiping out these surpluses.

Our analysis differs from government reporting in a few ways, the most significant of which is governments’ use of a very generous expected rate of return on their pension fund investments. Using a more accurate rate, we calculate the total of unfunded pensions in California at $846 billion – $530 billion more than the official estimate of $316 billion. But even using only the officially reported estimates, California’s state and local governments are about $1.0 trillion in debt.

Debt doesn't matter.

Oh please. That figure includes government bonds which are the Lion's Share. Those tend to be safe as houses in terms of repayment. Yes, I'm sure you can link to some article like when Orange County defaulted or the like, but it's so damn rare.

Even hardcore Libertarians wood agreed it taking out a bond to be paid out over a few decades is basic government management 101. To include this is disingenuous by this organization implies California is spending Ashley Beyond its means. If so, it would seem to be set of every one of us who holds a 30 year mortgage.

more over, how serious is even one and a half trillion in terms of share of State GDP?