California was built by men like Nathan Weston Blanchard, who in 1850 at age 18 left his home in Maine, survived a fire on his first ship out of Boston, boarded another ship in New York, arrived weeks later on the east coast of Panama, traveled on a mule train 47 miles across the isthmus (no canal yet), and once he reached the Pacific boarded a steamer that eventually arrived in San Francisco Bay by way of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii).
The bay was littered with ships, hundreds of them, some visible only by their masts lying like litter on the docks, a legacy of the past two years when even ship captains and their crew infected by gold fever abandoned their vessels for the mother lode. No wonder ocean passage to California was usually a one-way ticket. You could get there but you couldn’t get back.
That was then.
This is now:
The best gauge of the quality of life between locations A and B is the different price of a U-Haul from A=>B vs B=>A.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) January 8, 2013
Current rental cost of a 10′ UHaul truck from LA=>Austin: $1309. Same truck, Austin=>LA: $485.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) January 8, 2013
Debate over Proposition 30, the November ballot initiative to raise sales taxes on everyone and income taxes on “the wealthy,” revolved around whether it would solve a problem or lead to lower revenues. Being in the latter group, and foolishly believing that a majority of my fellow Californians were similarly rational beings, I wrongly predicted that it would lose.
Alas, the consequences are now clear of the income-tax hike that the proposition actually made retroactive to the beginning of last year (via Examiner.com):
After Proposition 30 passed on November 6, 2012, the State of California experienced a decline in the total state revenue for the month of November. California State Controller John Chiang reported that the total revenue for the month of November declined by $806.8 million, which is 10.8 percent below budget.
The State of California experienced a decline in its revenue as several of the high income earners have relocated to other states, and have also relocated their businesses out of state. This led to a decline in corporate and income tax revenues by more than $1 billion.
Even more predictably, California’s legislature—which the voters in their infinite ignorance turned into a Democrat supermajority, thus enabling unlimited future tax increases sans ballot initiatives—spent the money before it came in.
As a result of the decline in tax revenues collected, and the increase in spending, California’s deficit increased to $27 billion for the first five months of this fiscal year.
Don’t worry, though. The Democrats will solve the problem by raising taxes.
UPDATE: A reader writes in to note that John Chiang, California’s controller, says that revenues actually increased for the month of November by 10 percent over 2011—but were more than 10 percent below expectations. Only sales tax as a category exceeded expectations. Income taxes and corporate taxes both failed by wide margins to meet projections. Corporate taxes collected for the month fell 213 percent below 2011 and 160 percent below expectations. Remember, too, that November was the month Prop 30 passed, meaning its full impact won’t be known for sometime. Not everyone can just pack up and leave in a U-Haul.
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If Blanchard were alive today he’d probably be heading to Texas.
Or Tennessee, as Nissan did a few years ago. Also, the Mrs is currently in CA moving a large Japanese-based oil company to Tennessee. Talk about getting the high incomes out of harms way of increasing state income taxes, some of the people moving will be taking pay cuts and still will live better since the cost of living is dramatically lower–housing, taxes, food, gasoline, etc. Plus, we have winter, spring, summer and autumn, as opposed to smog, wildfire, landslide, and earthquake seasons.
Started the house hunt in earnest after Jerry Brown was reelected. Moved to Idaho the following April, having completed our house hunt by late February. Never looked back. California is done. The people still living there are nuts or, if not nuts, think they’re trapped. I think that probably most of the people I have met in my new state are displaced Californians. We didn’t move because we didn’t like the state. I love California, the state. But the politics, the crime, the stupidity of its people – no, just couldn’t take it anymore.
The only problem I have with people leaving California and coming to my state is that some of them think, “THIS TIME we will get it right.” Then they immediately start in with the progressive causes in local politics…
when they start that silliness, i suggest you immediately beat them with large sticks until they stop. from my experience with them here in Failifornia, reason, logic and facts have no effect.
Yeah, the Calis pretty much screwed the whole PAC-NW, and now they’re taking that sh!t to Mountain States.
I suspect that when/if California west of the fault-line slides beneath the Pacific Ocean, California will turn purple or maybe even red again.
I believe you’re more spot on than you know, TJS.
We were planning to move to RR, TX just before the housing market took its dive, but with subsequent family growth and the arrival of grandkids, now feel at best “stuck” in stupidland for a time. However, I’ve noticed the neighborhood “activists” from the past five years have all moved, mostly out of state. What is left now in my subdivision seem to be “do-ers”, not “dreamers”, and wherever the latter are now their new neighbors must deal with their clatter and nonsense. So in some ways our locality has been self-correcting, but more than a couple of miles away it’s still a cuckoo’s nest. Still watch real estate news in RR, though.
That’s not why I left. I left those politics behind. Unfortunately, I’m finding some of the most vocal leftists here in Idaho are native Idahoans, the younger ones, the ones who were educated in the public schools. I do believe the public school system will be the downfall of the country. The books are being written by leftists, the teachers all come from leftist colleges – no, it’s the young who will be the ruin of us all.
You’re precisely right about people feeling trapped here. My wife and I both have state specific credentials that (I believe) won’t be honored by other states. Also, my dear old Mom remains and she’s not about to leave. Definitely feeling trapped with a sprinkling of despair as well.
At least we still got the Lakers … never mind.
I left California 6 years ago, have had zero regrets since.
I still keep up with its politics, though– it would be funny if they didn’t keep demanding federal bailouts. and I’m sure they’ll eventually get it. Too many House Reps and Dem voters in Cali to ignore or cut loose. You can leave, but you’ll still end up paying for it.
actually, i think the national Demonrat leadership could ignore the voters here in the PRC, as these fools would still reliably vote the straight st00pid ticket no matter what.
i’m a native and i can now see leaving. i just haven’t figured out how, nor have i fully convinced HRH, but at least we are talking about it now.
Sometimes people get smarter as things get worse.
It doesn’t matter how reliable the voters are– it matters how much juice the Ca. House Reps have. And they’ve got plenty.
Besides, all they have to do is point out that the Dems are doomed if they ever lose Calif.
Smartest thing the other 56 states could do would be as a condition of further assistance insist CA breakup into at least four smaller states. Upshot of that move would be three of the new states would reverse their economies and thrive, and could help support the fourth, failed state. Will leave to your imaginations what area the fourth would encompass.
If we’re going to separate the Bay area from the real world, let’s make certain that we do a thorough job here and lump Portland and Seattle into the Bay area state, while severing the interstates from the rest of the US so that those people remain there. Heck, we might even come out ahead since both Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington are fairly conservative areas.
A state that runs all the way up the coast between L.A. and S.F Bay Area? Both are deep, deep blue. Plus, I don’t think Redding and Eureka are too red, or even purple for that matter.
Then what are the other three?
The solution is obvious, the should have raised it higher…right Palosi!
There’s more to it.
The Romneys are moving to CA. Surely they are fully aware of the state’s fiscal condition. Hedge fund money is flowing into RI.
There has to be more to it.
I wonder if Yahoo would like to buy California’s name?
“YAHOO! STATE.”
he best gauge of the quality of life between locations A and B is the different price of a U-Haul from A=>B vs B=>A.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) January 8, 2013
Current rental cost of a 10′ UHaul truck from LA=>Austin: $1309. Same truck, Austin=>LA: $485.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) January 8, 2013
—————————————————
Out of the pot into the frying pan. Isn’t Austin about as liberal as place as S.F., L.A. or any of the other ‘mecca’s’ of liberal insanity?
Its the difference between TX vs CA state laws that make it attractive. Its all the liberals fleeing blue states that make Austin liberal.
NH has the same problems with liberal MA residents that flee to NH for the low taxes. They stay liberals when they get to NH and are screwing the place up. NH residents refer to them as “Massholes”.
So you have Massholes from Massatwoshits. Isn’t that a little bit ass-backwards?
The rest of Texas insulates itself from Austin.
Actually, Austin is a fun town. Since the border towns have become like a cross between Beirut of the 1980s and Baghdad of today, Austin is a fun place to go, have fun, act stupid for a weekend and not worry about anyone you know seeing you, or the locals giving two sh!ts, because they think you’re one of them.
Austin may be as Liberal as the major cities in California, but fortunately for us Texas residents most of our legislature does not live in Austin. The vast majority of them live outside urban areas, and are therefore largely inoculated from the Liberal madness that takes hold in those urban areas.
The other advantage is that our legislature only meets every other year. That basically forces the legislators to have a “regular” job back home, and thus actually LIVE under the conditions imposed by the written laws, rather than be insulated from them as other “full-time” legislators are.
You are absolutely correct, Austin is loaded with liberals. Of course, so is the actual city of Dallas, as well as Houston. It’s an interesting phenomenon, big cities attract liberals.
Then TX will be changing for the worse cuz its the urban areas that decide elections.
The difference between an SF liberal and an Austin liberal is like the difference between an aircraft carrier and a canoe. If your fishing vessel meets the former in a narrow channel it’s overwhelming, but meeting the latter is merely something you notice.
“The best gauge of the quality of life between locations A and B is the different price of a U-Haul from A=>B vs B=>A.”
I can testify to that. I spent two years as a regional traffic control manager for U-Haul. Part of my job was crunching numbers and setting those prices.
Our “equipment” (standard term for trucks/trailers, etc) moved almost exclusively by rental. If prices were equal A>B vs B>A it would all end up it TX, FL and AZ. Getting equipment where we needed it, which was where people were moving from, and off the parking lots where it wasn’t needed, was a never ending problem.
There were routes where the same truck would cost 10x more going in one direction over the opposite.
Fortunately, Democrat legislators haven’t discovered this or they’d pass an idiotic law, you know ‘to be fair’, equalizing the rates based solely on distanced travelled. Then, all the rates would double as UHaul and its competitors all had to hire hundreds of drivers to move their equipment out of red states and back to the blue states that people are fleeing, then fly them back to the red states to repeat the process in a never ending cycle.
http://www.uhaul.com
Just punch in the zip codes of start & finish cities, look at the rates, back out and exchange the zip codes.
As one of the last few sane people in the state, I can’t wait for the Illinois edition.
Followed a job out, now in a place much saner. Miss friends & family, but the chance to escape doesn’t come every day.
Iowahawk is a rare sort of character…and thank G-d he is able to mix in a touch of humor into what are some fairly amazing facts. He’s on a roll today thats for sure
David Burge@iowahawkblog
You know who else inherited an economy from Bush? Rick Perry.
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Elections have consequences, vote with your feet if you don’t agree with the majority. Only those who wanted everyone else’s marbles call those who pick up their own marbles when they leave – sore losers.
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” Marcus Aurelius
Yes but who wants .Californivators living next door.
There should be a Meghan’s Law that warns folk when one is about to move in. Lookouts could be placed in Removalist businesses. tobe Forewarned is to be armed!
Also there needs to be a list with all names & addresses of such.printed in the local newspaper or on shopping mall notice boards.
A map with blood red drops above would be handy.
Or you could pass local ordinances requiring their doorframes to be painted red.
They helped create the mess by voting Democrat time after time, now they’re running from it to a GOP state where they will vote to elect Democrats who will do the same thing to TX? I hope the ones who are moving are Republicans.
I think by their voting records you can be pretty certain few CA Dhims are smart enough to think to move. What you are getting is a mix of Repubs and members of the other four or five ??? parties qualified on the CA ballot. Good luck with that lot.
I went to Idaho’s first caucus last year. It was a disaster but that’s another post! Since it took forever, and I do mean forever, we had lots of time to talk to the folks around us. Almost all were transplanted Republicans. I wonder what I would have found at the Democrat caucus.
That $27 billion deficit is only the tip of the iceberg floating around California. I found an NRP website from southern California that said the state is $337 billion in debt total.
http://www.scpr.org/blogs/economy/2012/09/21/10102/oh-look-california-actually-335-billion-debt/
I’m sure the ratings agencies will start to downgrade their debt holdings and will cause a death spiral to accelerate. Problem is that could cause other states like NY and Illinois to spiral out of control too, taking the rest of us with them. I can see a black market rising quickly if that happens.
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