Why do conservatives keep saying California has "collapsed"?

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Conservatives keep claiming California has collapsed or is close to collapsing. Alex Jones has said so, Ann Coulter says it is now a third world country, and conservative commenters on Breitbart and Youtube keep referring to it as a failed state. California's economy just surpassed that of the UK, and unemployment is at an absolute record low. WTF are they talking about?

[OSR stands with Israel]

Prices are way to high


Also CA up to late 90s was a better state than Texas , now I would say Texas is a better State

[Mr. Smith]

They can't comprehend reasonable taxes that actually can do stuff [CA and NY like most of Europe understand this concept] and high immigration doing anyone any favors, both are happening, with 9 specific counties having a larger economy than Saudi Arabia. It's just too much.

 

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

They keep saying that because thanks to Proposition 13 it almost did.

[Beet]

The city with the worst traffic in the U.S. is...Los Angeles (San Francisco #2)

Highest gas prices in the Lower 48... California

4th most taxed state... California

Nation's highest poverty rate...California

High Hispanic unemployment... California

Highest number of people fleeing the state... California

Children living in shacks next to billionaires... in California

20 pounds of human feces found bagged on sidewalk... in California

Trash on every block of diseased streets... of California

Conventions pulling out, citing fears for safety... from California

Poorest roads in the nation... California

$2.3 trillion in debt... California

Highest debt to income ratio... California

Unprecedented hepatitis A outbreak... California

The future of America if we elect Democrats... California. (As if Detroit and McDowell County, West Virginia weren't enough warning)

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Blatant trolling from a moderator should not be allowed.

[darklordoftech]

Californians elect liberals to deal with the poverty that they see, but conservatives see it as "liberalism is the cause of the poverty".

[TJ in Oregon]

Newly moved to the West Coast (albeit not California), I get the impression that the way in which liberals try to deal with poverty on the state and local level is fatally flawed. For example take the homeless situation in Portland for example, I get bombarded with campaigns to pass bond issues to "deal with" the problem by enacting a government program, yet no effort is made at all to alleviate the structural problems that result in such extreme problems with homelessness in the first place: the high cost of living, restrictive zoning laws, land use policies, NIMBYism, tolerant drug culture, the state lottery, etc. Oregon is willing to pay lip service to the problem of poverty, and indeed runs massive campaigns upon it, but completely unwilling to even seriously consider the sort of lifestyle changes needed to address the structural causes of poverty.

[DINGO Joe]

The city with the worst traffic in the U.S. is...Los Angeles (San Francisco #2)

Highest gas prices in the Lower 48... California

4th most taxed state... California

Nation's highest poverty rate...California

High Hispanic unemployment... California

Highest number of people fleeing the state... California

Children living in shacks next to billionaires... in California

20 pounds of human feces found bagged on sidewalk... in California

Trash on every block of diseased streets... of California

Conventions pulling out, citing fears for safety... from California

Poorest roads in the nation... California

$2.3 trillion in debt... California

Highest debt to income ratio... California

Unprecedented hepatitis A outbreak... California

The future of America if we elect Democrats... California. (As if Detroit and McDowell County, West Virginia weren't enough warning)

Glad to see you on the WV hate train

[Izzyeviel]

Do they think it collapsed because facts tell them this, or do they think it because Trump News told them to think it?

[Blue3]

They forget the Governator has left and  Moonbeam cleaned up much of the old messes.

[TJ in Oregon]

Do they think it collapsed because facts tell them this, or do they think it because Trump News told them to think it?

One could easily rewrite this for just about any topic as:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

There are multiple flavors of kool-aid.

I'm assuming "Trump News" (whatever that is) refers to media you do not think very reliable, but if someone doesn't believe the rest of the media, surely you can see why you aren't reaching them?

[Sumner 1868]

Newly moved to the West Coast (albeit not California), I get the impression that the way in which liberals try to deal with poverty on the state and local level is fatally flawed. For example take the homeless situation in Portland for example, I get bombarded with campaigns to pass bond issues to "deal with" the problem by enacting a government program, yet no effort is made at all to alleviate the structural problems that result in such extreme problems with homelessness in the first place: the high cost of living, restrictive zoning laws, land use policies, NIMBYism, tolerant drug culture, the state lottery, etc. Oregon is willing to pay lip service to the problem of poverty, and indeed runs massive campaigns upon it, but completely unwilling to even seriously consider the sort of lifestyle changes needed to address the structural causes of poverty.

Basically this. I would also note a phenomenon exists in Seattle at least where the locals are fine with increasing federal and state taxes but not city taxes. This is very problematic in a city with over half a million residents for obvious reasons.

[dead0man]

yeah guys, California is doing fine, nobody is leaving, they totally don't have a problem with homeless people or debt. /s

[Mr. Smith]

yeah guys, California is doing fine, nobody is leaving, they totally don't have a problem with homeless people or debt. /s

That doesn't mean it'll "collapse" in the way the GOP and far-right keep envisioning. U.S. as a whole hasn't done that despite most of those things arguably being true as well, except with greater debt.

[RINO Tom]

yeah guys, California is doing fine, nobody is leaving, they totally don't have a problem with homeless people or debt. /s

That doesn't mean it'll "collapse" in the way the GOP and far-right keep envisioning. U.S. as a whole hasn't done that despite most of those things arguably being true as well, except with greater debt.

Obviously, it's not going to collapse.  But there is also a segment of liberals who will pretty much brush any problem the state has under the rug and throw out some stat about its GDP instead.  California is always going to have a massive tourism and entertainment economy, regardless of how badly its government can damage other areas.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

California is expensive for a reason and that's because so many people want to live there.

California has it's problems, especially with the homeless. However, California can and should improve.

Conservatives solution to California's problems will not solve it. Cutting taxes and regulations will NOT lessen poverty. If that was the cases then states like Mississippi and West Virginia would have the lowest poverty rates in the country (they don't, they are the poorest states).

Better solutions need to be made. No California is not being "turned into Venezuela" as many conservatives suggest but it's not the 100% problem free utopia that many liberals envision. More work needs to be done.

[RINO Tom]

California is expensive for a reason and that's because so many people want to live there.

California has it's problems, especially with the homeless. However, California can and should improve.

Conservatives solution to California's problems will not solve it. Cutting taxes and regulations will NOT lessen poverty. If that was the cases then states like Mississippi and West Virginia would have the lowest poverty rates in the country (they don't, they are the poorest states).

Better solutions need to be made. No California is not being "turned into Venezuela" as many conservatives suggest but it's not the 100% problem free utopia that many liberals envision. More work needs to be done.

"Conservative" solutions didn't seem to harm California while it was becoming the California "everyone wants to move to."

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

The median home costs more than half a million dollars. What more do you need to know?

That's the inverse of collapse. It's an indication of extreme growth, in which housing supply has not kept up with demand.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

California is expensive for a reason and that's because so many people want to live there.

California has it's problems, especially with the homeless. However, California can and should improve.

Conservatives solution to California's problems will not solve it. Cutting taxes and regulations will NOT lessen poverty. If that was the cases then states like Mississippi and West Virginia would have the lowest poverty rates in the country (they don't, they are the poorest states).

Better solutions need to be made. No California is not being "turned into Venezuela" as many conservatives suggest but it's not the 100% problem free utopia that many liberals envision. More work needs to be done.

"Conservative" solutions didn't seem to harm California while it was becoming the California "everyone wants to move to."

That's because of Hollywood. Hollywood is the main thing people moved to California for. If Hollywood didn't exist then I'm not so sure about that statement.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

California is expensive for a reason and that's because so many people want to live there.

California has it's problems, especially with the homeless. However, California can and should improve.

Conservatives solution to California's problems will not solve it. Cutting taxes and regulations will NOT lessen poverty. If that was the cases then states like Mississippi and West Virginia would have the lowest poverty rates in the country (they don't, they are the poorest states).

Better solutions need to be made. No California is not being "turned into Venezuela" as many conservatives suggest but it's not the 100% problem free utopia that many liberals envision. More work needs to be done.

"Conservative" solutions didn't seem to harm California while it was becoming the California "everyone wants to move to."

That's because of Hollywood. Hollywood is the main thing people moved to California for. If Hollywood didn't exist then I'm not so sure about that statement.

Surely you could see how this would work in the inverse—that Silicon Valley is the reason that cost of living is skyrocketing, and that the simple existence of a draw to the state does not indicate an overall greater livability, nor a reason that other residents should appreciate this demand. Economic opportunity need not lead to broad-based economic viability.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

California is expensive for a reason and that's because so many people want to live there.

California has it's problems, especially with the homeless. However, California can and should improve.

Conservatives solution to California's problems will not solve it. Cutting taxes and regulations will NOT lessen poverty. If that was the cases then states like Mississippi and West Virginia would have the lowest poverty rates in the country (they don't, they are the poorest states).

Better solutions need to be made. No California is not being "turned into Venezuela" as many conservatives suggest but it's not the 100% problem free utopia that many liberals envision. More work needs to be done.

"Conservative" solutions didn't seem to harm California while it was becoming the California "everyone wants to move to."

That's because of Hollywood. Hollywood is the main thing people moved to California for. If Hollywood didn't exist then I'm not so sure about that statement.

Surely you could see how this would work in the inverse—that Silicon Valley is the reason that cost of living is skyrocketing, and that the simple existence of a draw to the state does not indicate an overall greater livability, nor a reason that other residents should appreciate this demand. Economic opportunity need not lead to broad-based economic viability.

There's some validity in that statement.

However, like I've said...MULTIPLE times, there's room for improvement. Much more needs to be done in California.

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

Dodging used needles, panhandlers, and piles of human fecal matter on your commute while paying 70% of your income on housing is about as close to civilizational collapse as Americans have ever known.

[Wisconsin SC Race 2019]

Have you guys seen Oakland, Inglewood or the non-gentrified parts of East LA? C'mon. "Collapse" is a kind word for it.

[Storebought]

Yes, the future envisioned for us by the northern CA tech bros is deeply dystopian for anyone who isn't a tech bro. But that future cannot be called negative from a conservative standpoint.