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California
is a strange place even though there are
many wonderful and interesting things
located there. The strangeness is mostly
limited to the people who live there and
those they continually elect to run the
state’s business. It’s a liberal state
and seems to be on the cutting edge of
new fads, screwy ideas and laws
restricting just about every freedom
available to its denizens. Kojak, the TV
detective, regularly called it “Fruit
and Nut Land.” That pretty well sums it
up.
Presently,
the Golden State has a big financial
problem. Their budget is running about
$40 billion short of their fiscal
obligations. Overspending and
entitlements seem to be the chief causes
of their money problems.
People and
businesses are packing up and leaving
California and its high taxes behind.
According to Investor’s Business
Daily “Businesses face huge costs to
remain or expand. According to the
Milken Institute's Business Cost Index,
California businesses face overall costs
that are 23% higher than other states on
average.
Taxes are
21% higher, and industrial and
commercial space costs more. Even wages
in a state that has millions of low-paid
illegal immigrants are on average 15%
higher than other states' wages.
When
Silicon Valley-based Intel said this
week that it would invest $7 billion to
expand, it should have been a time of
rejoicing for California. But it isn't.
Indeed, it only underscores the state's
problems.
The
world's leading maker of microprocessors
plans to create 7,000 jobs in new and
expanded plants that will churn out
computer chips 30% more powerful than
the current generation of chips. But
California-based Intel won't make them
in California.” They are expanding to
Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico. The
state has become so unfriendly to
business that corporate CEOs have found
other states more business friendly.
Another
problem is illegal aliens. According to
the Federation for American Immigration
Reform (FAIR) the costs of education,
health care and incarceration of illegal
aliens, and concludes that the costs to
Californians is $10.5 billion per year.
That’s a quarter of their budget
shortfall alone.
"California's addiction to 'cheap'
illegal alien labor is bankrupting the
state and posing enormous burdens on the
state's shrinking middle class tax
base," stated Dan Stein, President of
FAIR. "Most Californians, who have seen
their taxes increase while public
services deteriorate, already know the
impact that mass illegal immigration is
having on their communities, but even
they may be shocked when they learn just
how much of a drain illegal immigration
has become." Despite the obvious, the
state isn’t planning on doing anything
about it.
California
also has a lot of oil and gas. They are
self-sufficient in both reserves and
refining capacity. Right now the state
could generate something like $15
billion in new lease royalties if they
would allow new offshore drilling.
Drilling
technologies and the industry’s track
record in the Gulf of Mexico – 99.999
percent clean drilling since 1975 – show
that offshore drilling for oil is safer
than ever. But the state won’t hear of
it. Said one LA resident, “The ground
under our feet is just oozing with oil.
When they put in the subway system in LA
they had incredible problems with
methane gas from all the oil down there.
The La Brea Tar Pits are just that, TAR
PITS! Hollywood High School has
‘Grandfathered in’ OIL WELLS on the
property. The ancient ‘Signal Hill’ area
still pumps oil, everyday! At Pasadena
City College I took Geology classes
where they discussed how all of the
earthquake faults create underground
mud-dams along their contact zones,
trapping oil, and we can’t touch any of
it because of the enviro-weenies.”
So, what
did the California legislature do to
solve the budget problem? They did what
Democrats in power do so well—they
raised taxes and fees. They are also
counting on the Obama bailout money to
bridge the gap. If they had a sliver of
common sense, that wouldn’t have been
necessary.
You say, “Why worry about California,
Hubbell, we live in Texas?” One reason
is because many of California’s wacky
notions find their way into the statute
books of other states. Legislators in
other states, those with little
imagination, pay attention to what
happens in California. They introduce
“me too” legislation in their own
states, even if they make less sense
there than they do in California. We
here in Texas need to not only watch
what California is doing, but also what
our own lawmakers are up to, lest we end
up hopelessly in debt with only tax
increases offered up as a solution.
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