Chinedu writes: The “California economy” is Silicon Valley and Hollywood. That’s it. A booming economy does not make a state great.
California has one of the most advanced and diverse economies in the world. It is hardly just Silicon Valley and Hollywood. Read the article I posted.
Screw the “booming economy.” It sure ain’t booming in a lot of this state, that’s for sure. And the state’s economy was going great all through the 1950’s and 1960’s and even 1970’s for that matter.
Everything’s not all down to “the economy” anyway. That’s neoliberal talk. Let me give you an example. In a 15 year period in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the Guatemalan economy grew by 5% per year. During that period, the poverty rate went from 87% to 93%. After all that growth, the poverty rate went up even more, and 90% of the people were not getting jack from the “booming economy.” This is sort of what is going on in California right now except on a much milder scale.
I am wondering if the commenter lived in this state in the 1950’s, 1960’s or 1970’s? If not, then he does not know what this place used to look like.
I would say it wasn’t worth it. Yes, we have a decent economy for some, but we used to have a good economy for most average folks. We have the second highest poverty rate in the US above only Mississippi if you figure in housing costs. Housing is not affordable. Even rents are not affordable. College used to be almost free in this state. Now it will cost $50-100,000 just to go to college. There’s serious overcrowding everywhere. There are ghettos, barrios and other assorted shitholes along with lots of poverty and gangs everywhere you turn around. None of this was going on before.
All the negatives were not worth it for a good economy that doesn’t even benefit most folks anyway. And anyway we had a great economy before. Now we still have a good economy, but only for a few instead of a lot, and we have a ton of new problems to boot.
Mass immigration has been a gigantic negative for California.
