Pajamas Media

54 Comments

1. Keith W. Brown:

As a native Californian, born & bred, I can say that there is just NO way CAs will learn to live within their means. They do indeed want it all…broke, bankrupt or whatever. Witness the lack of self control in not only personal credit card spending, but the lack of any modicum of self-restraint in the cesspool of Sacramento. The Assembly & Senate will simply demand MORE & MORE $ & continue to flush it down the toilet. With the fed bailout, surely they are hoping for Obama to throw ‘em some loose change too.

Californians will show restraint when Hollywood is dominated by conservatives & when pigs fly.

Jan 10, 2009 - 1:39 am 2. DavidN:

I’ve often thought that if you could hypnotize the Democratic lawmakers in Sacramento, and ask them what the biggest crisis in government was, they’d tell you it was two-fold. One problems is how drastically under-taxed the citizens of the state of California are. The other problem is that if their taxes get raised too high, those ungrateful taxpayers leave the state and go somewhere else. I’ve been waiting for someone in Sacramento to suggest raising taxes on former residents of the state who have moved elsewhere. It would save our politicians in Sacramento a lot of grief, because those former citizens who’d be taxed can’t vote against them anymore, not being citizens of the state.

Jan 10, 2009 - 2:16 am 3. Brian:

“I’ve been waiting for someone in Sacramento to suggest raising taxes on former residents of the state who have moved ”

They DO!
I had lived my entire life in CA, that is until a year ago. I abandoned that state and moved to TX. The state of CA still demanded income taxes from me even though my income come from COMPLETELY outside the state and I hadn’t worked a day within CA for over a year. Their reasoning? My family still lived in CA so I still had ties there. What exactly does that have to do with income?

Perhaps the weather isnt as ideal and the terrain not as pretty. But I am happy to have left that state for a state with FAR better schools and ZERO state income tax.

Jan 10, 2009 - 4:59 am 4. Craig:

I arrived in California in 1985, thinking I’d landed in Paradise. I left in 2007, thinking I’d escaped Hell. The demise of that state has been swift and IMO…irreversible.

Jan 10, 2009 - 5:28 am 5. canuck:

There will be some big changes whether they like it or not and it will come in two years when the rest of the country waves the middle 20% of their collective hand at California. I predict the next election will be the rest of us demanding that we not work and be taxed to support these liberals and Congress will become very Red.

Meanwhile they will continue the downslide…business will flee and the taxbase will erode. Schools will be educating a huge chunk of Mexico and their Healthcare system will collapse….Dumbo-elect’s plan or no plan.

In fact, California is probably going to save us from the last two years of the Dumbo Administration. Describing the first two years is not printable.

Jan 10, 2009 - 5:58 am 6. Mike:

2. DavidN:
You hit the nail on the head. The only problem with California outmigration is that too many take their liberal politics with them. It’s probably going to take a whole bunch of pain for California and indeed all the rest of us to learn to live within our means and that there is no free lunch.
—————————————
You liberals need to pay lots of taxes cause someone needs to pay for all the free stuff Obama promised me!

Jan 10, 2009 - 6:25 am 7. seven:

Why don’t the ask Chavez for bail out money.
He is the cultural icon of the left coast.

Jan 10, 2009 - 7:05 am 8. Harry Schell:

The recently exposed antics of the CA Avocado Board members is classic CA government attitude. The very ill thing about CA is that it is effectively a one-party state, the elites of which have more interest in forming a socialist republic than in dealing with reality.

A socialist republic inflates the role of politicians (in their minds and through the favors they can grant for money or favors granted) (see also:Hot Rod from IL) and they love the power and money. They, racist minority activists and the public employee unions have their own little sandbox and they are too dumb to think it will end, too graceless to care about the future.

Born here, but I am leaving as soon as possible.

Jan 10, 2009 - 8:10 am 9. Bill Perron:

Born and bred in the Golden State, we really only have one problem, the stupid leftist mentality of the majority of idiots who live here.

Jan 10, 2009 - 8:47 am 10. keithacita:

the real problem is global warming, isn’t it arnie?

Jan 10, 2009 - 8:49 am 11. LaurieK:

Another problem is the ballot initiative fiascos that plague every election cycle. The result of years of this is so many funds are tied up and committed by these often idiotic initiatives, that the state government has little by way of discretionary funds available to respond to crises.

Jan 10, 2009 - 8:53 am 12. AnninCA:

What’s going to actually work are the fees. Now, the fees are becoming ridiculous. No family here, particularly not our large number of immigrant families, could possibly keep up on all the fees charged. The name of the game then is to nail the person for being out of compliance. That leads to HUGE fees, impounded cars, etc.

That leads to people deciding to return to the homeland.

It’s a strategy, I tell ya!

Jan 10, 2009 - 9:04 am 13. Chris:

Don’t forget the recent news that 23% of the state is functionally illiterate. Not sure how that helps.

Jan 10, 2009 - 9:15 am 14. FLMom:

“The only problem with California outmigration is that too many take their liberal politics with them.”

I hear this all the time from family in New Mexico. Californians move in and the first thing they do is start remaking New Mexico into California. And from what I can tell, with great success.

We have the same situation with New Yorkers moving to Florida and trying to remake our State, but I am assured that California’s escapees are much worse.

Jan 10, 2009 - 9:27 am 15. Lily:

“I hear this all the time from family in New Mexico. Californians move in and the first thing they do is start remaking New Mexico into California. And from what I can tell, with great success.”

They are doing it in Colorado too. They have a name for it here… “Californicate”

Jan 10, 2009 - 9:36 am 16. Concerned Citizen:

Can Californians Get Thrifty?

Sure they can. When they run out of money and hell freezes over.

The problems here would take about 30 days to fix. Kick out all the illegals and save $10 billion a year. Alter prop 13 to get the freeloaders currently paying 10% of their share of property taxes to pay market rate. An earthquake that swallows the state capitol and state franchise tax board would also help.

Jan 10, 2009 - 9:37 am 17. Mwalimu Daudi:

Right now the Great Satan for the Democrat Party/MSM axis is George Bush, and he is to blame for all of the ills in the Peoples Democrat Republic of California. A year from now the “Great Satan” shtick won’t work quite as well. But since ACORN and illegal immigration have already made California elections mostly a joke, the satraps in Sacramento won’t have much to worry about.

Plus, there is the coming Federal bailout. The Messiah won’t let the largest blue state go down the tubes.

Jan 10, 2009 - 9:37 am 18. Eilish:

You know, as an eighth generation Californian, it’s depressing to see what our wonderful state has become. It does gall me a bit to read people from other states complaining about native Californians fleeing there to escape the craziness when we have been accepting the nuts and wannabe actors from their states for YEARS now and you don’t here us complaining. Just saying.

Jan 10, 2009 - 9:38 am 19. Tink:

I was a 3rd generation Californian, lived there for 39 years. During Grey Davis’ reign, we packed up the kids, the dogs and our business, moved it all to the Midwest and never looked back.

Both my brother and sister have done the same.

I fully expected my kids to return to Cali once they became adults, but nope, and to quote my daughter “I can never have there what we have here”.

The state has become a joke. Yes, it’s beautiful and I still miss the ocean and the mountains, but I don’t miss the politics, the entitlement mentality or the general insanity.

We go back to visit about once a year — we’re happy to visit, but we are always very, very relieved to come back home.

Jan 10, 2009 - 9:43 am 20. Tink:

Oh,and as to the Californians moving out and remaking other states… There are few native Californians anymore — Cali has become what it is what it is with GREAT help from all those fleeing other states to the great “liberal paradise” of California.

It’s a cycle folks.

Jan 10, 2009 - 9:47 am 21. Scott A.:

I moved my family to California from Colorado in 1988. Bought a smaller house, all I could afford. My wife and I raised 3 kids there for 6 years. We travelled around the state seeing the sights and educating the kids, but could only afford to do so every 6 or 8 weeks for weekend jaunts. Taxes climbing, cost of living climbing, entitlement mentality everywhere and growing. (Housing prices high? All of the contractors charged enough to earn enough to live in the houses they were constructing. And basically only worked part-time.) Growth limiting policies were being enacted in cities and towns, driving prices up (”we already live here, why would we want anyone else to move here.”)

The entitlement mentality was deeply ingrained in public employees: we vividly remember a public teacher couple we knew, struggling with the difficulty of using up all their benefits…had a hard time deciding on new glasses their vision insurance offered them twice a year. They really didn’t need them but got them anyway (and took time off from work each time to go to the optician). They said they’ed have cost them over $100 per pair if they had to pay for them themselves. I said ‘you’re welcome’ (having paid for them with my taxes). They could not comprehend what I was talking about. We left in 1994. Moved to Texas. Zero income tax, schools funded through property taxes, great economy, good schools, nice climate, hard working, friendly folks, no entitlement mentality evident.

I just returned to Texas after taking my now grown kids and spouses to Orange County for a 5 day trip during the holidays. (Dropped about $10k into the economy out there (”You’re welcome!”).) I couldn’t help but think, seeing the closed stores, poorer people on the street than I last remembered and for sale or rent signs on nearly every commercial building I passed, what could be in California if the elected and unelected elites would stop taxing the producers to death (or to departure). I was explaining to my kids how it was pretty good in CA in the late ’80s when we moved there, but tried to get them to imagine what the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s must have been like with low taxes, a vibrant economy, good schools, bustling universities…that’s when the California aerospace and energy industries were at their peaks, the entertainment industry was booming, electronics and research were going strong…good times. Producers could live there and thrive.

The looters have slowly taken over and I think the point of no return may have been reached in the ’90s when I lived there. A majority of the producers have left the state to go where they will be appreciated. We’ll continue to visit once a year or so. We love California but we love Texas much more. And we will think, occasionally, of what might have been.

Jan 10, 2009 - 9:52 am 22. Dr. Dean:

What we need in California is a “Democrat” tax. All registered Democrats should pay increased taxes to cover the $40B deficit. They should have no problem with that. After all, they fully support wasteful spending and high taxes, so let’s allow them to put their money where their progressive values are…

Jan 10, 2009 - 9:57 am 23. Ken Hahn:

While California Republicans have not been blameless, I will have to disagree with the “law and order” reasoning. Even without three strikes laws, the rising population means more prison inmates and more court orders to relieve overcrowding. And spending on prisons and jails is dwarfed by spending on social programs, some of which seem to be aimed at giving criminals entertainment between jobs.

California Democrats have controlled the legislature for years and will spend every penny they get and then some. They could get double or triple the amount now received and the deficit would increase. They believe that government spending is the answer to everything and there will never be enough money to cover “needs”. If the State found 100 billion dollars tomorrow, they would demand that $99 billion be spent on “vital services”. And would reward themselves by spending the last billion to increase their pay and expenses.

Jan 10, 2009 - 10:00 am 24. Claire Solt:

Californians delude themselves into thinking that they are leading the rest of the country. In reality, most are horriied by California’s inability to face the music. My college roommate was Gayle Wilson and she said education soaks up most of the money. If I were Arnold, I would do an ad campaign with the homeschoolers, the best ed reform. Then I would cut all the nonproductive parasites to redirct funds to classrooms. Close the teacher colleges and bureaucracies.

Ideally, I would challenge the liberals to give up their expensive illegal habits and start charging those who stay for services. If they can remit billions, they could pay a fee for schls and hospitals.

Other states like AZ have faced these problems successfully. Maybe Ca needs to follow for a change.

Jan 10, 2009 - 10:24 am 25. Harry:

“The basic viewpoint from California Democrats is that this state is so wonderful (and it is a pretty wonderful place) that taxpayers aren’t going to go anywhere, even as out-migration of U.S.-born citizens continues from California to locales with far less wonderful weather and scenery, such as Nevada.”

Which is why I left California in 2002 after over fifteen years of living there. There is so much to love about the state, but the sad truth is the majority of the the population is clinically insane; they really think you can have it all and never have to pay for it.

Like some have commented on this thread, California has passed the point of no return. Its future is as a sunnier, prettier version of Michigan and Ohio, a has-been state comforting itself with memories of youthful glory.

Jan 10, 2009 - 10:24 am 26. dpt:

“Certainly, the economy has fallen rather suddenly, but did state officials expect the growth to go on forever?”

Hey, it was good times with rising home prices and, thus, property tax revenues. Even progressive, tolerant Bay Area politicians enjoyed this ride and its largess, while families struggled with rising housings costs. Turns out that even in the land of progressive San Fran and Berkeley, the disparity between rich and poor probably became some of the most extreme in the nation.

Now everyone here will have to pay for this lack of foresight and greed.

Jan 10, 2009 - 11:05 am 27. Whitehall:

Too many Californians have come to believe their own hype – “we’re special!”

The California culture has produced some special gifts to humanity but we need a slap in the face to be reminded that reality is the same for everyone. I don’t think that slap has been delivered hard enough yet to make an impression.

In 2001, the rolling blackouts affected people on a personal level. As a result, they paid attention and threw out the Democrat governor and replaced him with what we thought would be a hard charging, kick butt, Republican action hero. Well, first setback and this coward turns coat and become barely distinguishable from the politician he was hired to replace.

My diagnosis? More pain first, since the illusions are deeply embedded, but sooner or later, people will wise up and we’ll throw out the elite leadership that got us into this mess.

Jan 10, 2009 - 11:06 am 28. paul_unalaska:

I grew up in the East Bay – Concord, CA from ‘80-’90 & later nearby Vacaville in the mid ’90’s when attending U C Davis.

I remember Concord was hailed as ‘#1 Place to Live’ in ‘86 or ‘87. I believed it to be as well.

I bicycled everywhere. Taken the Bay Area Rapid Transit or ‘BART’ to S.F., Oakland, Berserkley, etc., with my other 12-14 yr. old friends. My friends are black, white, indian, hispanic, afghani, etc., It truly didn’t matter. They and their families assimilated, paid taxes, attended our soccer, little league baseball games, sleepovers, camping at nearby Mt. Diablo

I’ve moved since then and visited the Bay area a couple years back. It’s an armpit nowadays. Graffiti, inundated with gangs, the eye sore Section 8 Housing anywhere and everywhere. Truly sad.

California ranked in the low to mid 20’s nationwide in regard to public education when I’d attended 20 + years ago. Today it ranks 47th, in front of only AZ, NV and MS. 2 of the 3 of these states are experiencing their own illegal alien problems. Coincidence? California’s public education system is officially more than 50% hispanic this past school year. You tell me..

Victor Davis Hanson’s, ‘Mexifornia: A State of Becoming’ should be required reading for anyone flirting with moving, attending school there.

A friend of mine from Concord who now lives in Goleta, neighboring Santa Barbara, wrote his Gov. Stating fact, not emotional diatribes, to address the effects of immigration dovetailing his state’s economy. The Gov’s response was a cut & paste type of reply. The 1st sentence along the lines of, ‘if you recall, I am an immigrant too and..’. You get the picture. What a RINO.

Jan 10, 2009 - 12:33 pm 29. Войска ПВО:

Concerned Citizen writes:

“The problems here would take about 30 days to fix. Kick out all the illegals and save $10 billion a year. Alter prop 13 to get the freeloaders currently paying 10% of their share of property taxes to pay market rate. An earthquake that swallows the state capitol and state franchise tax board would also help.”

Concerned, I’d go along with the deportation and the earthquake but the last thing you want to do is rescind (or alter) proposition 13. It would be exactly what the legislators would want and would cause a ton of folks who have been living in their houses for over three decades to be thrown out because they could not afford the higher property taxes.

This isn’t just a case of freeloaders enjoying a lower tax rate, it’s the folks who have been homeowners, (property and sales and income) tax payers in California since before all of this immigrant and liberal tax and spend mania started. Why should they be punished and provide another source of rev enue that the politicians would flush down the rat hole for public service pensions and poorly run education programs?

By the way, Cal Tech says the big one is on the way and the immigrants are beginning to self-deport here in California and in the other border states. When they have all gone, then we’ll see how much of the payroll taxes they really contribute to our society.

My wager is close to zippoid.

Jan 10, 2009 - 1:22 pm 30. Войска ПВО:

..by the way, this is to the author of this piece: Greenhut, I dropped my OC Ragister subscription because of your and Bock’s annoying, ivory tower editorials about a year ago and haven’t missed it one iota.

Maybe you and Alan Bock can climb down off that tower and see about writing the same dreadful crap about the Messiah that you did about Bush. We will really need a revolution fomented and maybe you can do some good for a change instead of being an insufferably arrogant big-L Libertarian.

Jan 10, 2009 - 1:28 pm 31. lee:

Californians vote for money wasting initiatives becauset the sponsors use words that appeal to their liberal sensibilities. The (essentially) “raise the price of eggs” ballot measure was selectively portrayed as a step to free chickens from tight, unsanitary cages. Anyone who opposed it was predictably denounced as a stooge for the big farming corporations.

I don’t think the block at the Orange will actually go out of business. It’s the perfect place for the subarban, clique driven masses. Most OC residents will flock to malls or local “town squares” to watch movies, drink, or have pizza at the ubiqutous CA pizza kitchen or BJs for their nightlife. The holiday season and the after christmas sales is drawing to a close, and school’s starting, so the traffic at the block should be a minimum right now.

Jan 10, 2009 - 1:28 pm 32. ZZMike:

Cutting conspicuous consumption doesn’t make sense: consumption generates tax revenue and helps maintain jobs.

While the government certainly can’t spend its way out of debt, we can. Spend them out of debt, that is.

Jan 10, 2009 - 4:54 pm 33. CJ:

The article mentions, but might have expanded on, Schwarzenegger’s early attempts to rein in spending by initiative measures. From the link provided to a November 2005 news report:

Voters overwhelmingly defeated Proposition 76, the governor’s centerpiece proposal to slow the growth of state spending. Proposition 77, which would have redrawn legislative and congressional districts, was knocked down by a similar margin.

Failing by slimmer spreads were Proposition 74, a plan to make teachers work longer to achieve tenure, and Proposition 73, which would have restricted political spending by public employee unions.

Poll after poll showed it was an election that Californians didn’t want, with a total lineup of eight initiatives that didn’t connect with everyday issues such as gas prices, housing costs and the war in Iraq.

Schwarzenegger’s conflict with the unions made him a target for teachers, nurses and firefighters. Their television advertising blitz helped push his popularity ratings to record lows.

Union leaders and Democrats who opposed the governor chanted “sweep, sweep” at their Sacramento victory party.

Some of the commenters mentioned Proposition 13 which limits annual increases in property taxes. Right now property values are dropping so fast (38% in a single year, repeat, 38% over 12 months) that Proposition 13 may soon be effectively moot.

Jan 10, 2009 - 5:02 pm 34. inmypajamas:

I was born and raised in southern CA. I now live in Texas. My husband was laid off in 1998 and had two job offers in northern CA. We compared the cost of living, housing prices and quality of schools in CA and staying in Texas won hands down. My brother, who lived in San Francisco at the time, was very upset that we didn’t move there (no one else in our family was left in CA by that time) but he himself, our family’s lefty non-conformist, moved seven years later because even he had had enough. None of us have ever spent one minute regretting our choice not to live in CA.

One big advantage to living in Texas is that most of the CA escapees view the state with fear and loathing and stay far away (except, alas, for Austin).

Jan 10, 2009 - 7:15 pm 35. JR:

I was born and lived my entire life in CA up until four years ago when my family moved to the midwest because we just couldn’t afford it anymore.

All of the comments regarding the spending of the Dem legislature are completely on target. They’ve taxed and fee’d people until many just can’t cut it anymore. A politician there never saw a budget line item too silly not to cut, too expensive or ridiculous. It’s not their money, they don’t give a hoot. They’ll keep doing it until the state goes bankrupt. When Reagan left as governor, the state had a SURPLUS. It hasn’t been seen since.

It coudln’t get more fiscally foolish if someone tried to be for a lark. One of the last things that was shot down before we left was the proposal to pay for college educations for all illegal immigrants,even when local residents coudln’t get a freaking student loan to pay their own way. It’s just ludicrous.

Btw, you can’t get rid of Prop 13. Do that and every senior citizen in the state that actually owns their own home would be out on the street. The solution to this problem is not more taxation, it’s about just plain cutting stupid services and forcing the able bodied to actually work for a living.

I said it when we moved and I’ll say it again. This keeps going and there will be only two categories of people living there: the uber rich and those on welfare. Everyone else will be moving elsewhere.

Btw, I will never forget the words of Bustamante (then the atty general and Gray Davis’ crony) during the recall debates when asked why the budget increased by 40% in six years of their administration: “we spent more than we took in”.

Boggles the mind.

Jan 10, 2009 - 7:26 pm 36. DaveinPhoenix:

A considerable amount of time each morning on Fox 10 Phoenix is spent reporting Hollywood news. Just what I need to see each morning ! Who needs the traffic report anyway ? I don’t need weather, it’s always sunny here anyway – if you can see through the brown haze. Sports ? Arizona sports ? Hahahahahahahaaaa ! National news maybe ? Nah – the world doesn’t exist beyond AZ borders (if that’s what they want to call them). Financial news ? No, the wages are so low here and the cost of living so high, we’re all broke anyway…. Nope, just please, please, Fox 10….just keep me informed on the latest drug craze in Hollywood, who’s knocking up who, and which drunken star got tossed in jail for crashing his/her Mercedes on the boulevard. That’s all the news I need in my life. God Bless California !

Jan 10, 2009 - 8:51 pm 37. myth buster:

I can’t wait for the 2010 census. Then we’ll see how detrimental liberal policies have been to the populations of blue states.

Jan 10, 2009 - 9:01 pm 38. PD Quig:

Born and raised in the Bay Area. 56 years old and a lover of the Sierra Nevada, I don’t think I’m leaving. But I did buy shotgun, several hundred shells, MREs for a few months. Mild-mannered, work-a-day guy, but I see it coming. This place is going to h*ll.

Jan 11, 2009 - 8:45 am 39. mhr:

Liberal Democrats believe that as long a need exists, as they define the word, the government must resolve it. They do not and will not accept that there is no money to do the job. In the liberal mind there is always enough money. Their current scheme is to get the public to think their way and to abolish the taxing constraints that Prop. 13 put in place. There are more have nots than haves in the state and anyone who owns a house is in the middle of the liberal target.

Jan 11, 2009 - 10:18 am 40. MarkD:

NY already tried to tax former residents’ IRAs, pensions and 401Ks on the theory that they earned the money in NY so… The Supreme Court shot them down. They also tried a six month residency requirement to limit welfare benefits. Again, no dice.

Jan 11, 2009 - 10:19 am 41. Jeff Perren:

Left in early 2002 after 9/11 polished off the rest of the available job market. Never regretted moving to Northern Idaho, where Californians are, justifiably, treated like outcasts — keeping their political influence to near nothing. That’s difficult to do in more heavily populated areas, of course, but moral disapproval works wonders to keep leftists in line.

Jan 11, 2009 - 12:14 pm 42. Andrew:

Born and raised in Cali, and still here. 48 years old, and planning to leave as soon as possible, within 5 years.
The most recent IN/OUT adult migration numbers are quite scary, and couple these numbers with a demographic (education, income, assets, etc…) breakdown of those arriving and leaving…quite the shocker.
California may just become another place where people just “end up”….

Jan 11, 2009 - 1:05 pm 43. David:

The only solution is to go off the cliff. I’m glad those idiots are gridlocked in Sacramento. Once the state goes into bankruptcy, we can get rid of some of those “necessary” expenditures like paying for legislators who spend more money than they take from us.

They always threaten to take away vital services like fire and police if they run a budget shortfall to scare taxpayers into compliance. How about cutting down on aid to illegals before cutting down on assistance to the people whose house is burning down.

Call me…
Inflamed.

Jan 11, 2009 - 6:08 pm 44. Chris:

JR,
“I said it when we moved and I’ll say it again. This keeps going and there will be only two categories of people living there: the uber rich and those on welfare. Everyone else will be moving elsewhere.”

Spot on. A prescription for second-world (perhaps even third) status. We’re headed quickly in that direction.

Jan 11, 2009 - 7:20 pm 45. vivo:

ONE of the problems in CA is that people vote on financial decisions with no knowledge of finance or simply don’t care how to pay for things. They’re no different from other folks, but the State is so big that the impact is increased. The leaders in the State need to realize this and become smarter and work harder for the common good.

Jan 12, 2009 - 4:31 am 46. deguello:

A state led by democrat demagogues,who buy votes with public money,and stifle economic development with cretinistic enviromentalism will always be a financial wreck. Californians have voted for, and gotten, the government they deserve.

Jan 12, 2009 - 10:17 am 47. Larry J:

Can Californians Get Thrifty? Why should they? With such a huge percentage of the US population and representation in Congress, all they have to do is whine enough and Congress will bail them out. After all, they’re special. California is simply “too big to fail” no matter how badly they need to be bitch slapped by reality.

Jan 12, 2009 - 12:22 pm 48. Jim Baker:

Californians may be tired of California, and want to find greener pastures, but as a resident of Colorado I can tell you that when they arrive here they start right in trying to make the same messes here. They are dense and they don’t learn even from their mistakes. Stay in California, if you live there, and fix your own mess.

Jan 12, 2009 - 12:32 pm 49. Larry J:

Californians may be tired of California, and want to find greener pastures, but as a resident of Colorado I can tell you that when they arrive here they start right in trying to make the same messes here. They are dense and they don’t learn even from their mistakes. Stay in California, if you live there, and fix your own mess.

When I moved to Colorado (not from California!) 23 years ago, it wasn’t uncommon to see bumper stickers reading “Don’t Californicate Colorado!”

Unfortunately, it seems they have succeeded in doing so judging by recent election results.

Jan 12, 2009 - 1:33 pm 50. zanne:

Larry J:
“When I moved to Colorado (not from California!) 23 years ago, it wasn’t uncommon to see bumper stickers reading “Don’t Californicate Colorado!”

Unfortunately, it seems they have succeeded in doing so judging by recent election results”….
I am a native of Colorado. We have a super liberal gov. and mayor in Denver. I hate what this state has become. It is just a little California now. Sanctuary city problems,social services over extended,crime rate that shocks a local like me. Breaks my heart. It was so nice.

Jan 12, 2009 - 3:23 pm 51. Doris C.:

We left California for Nevada two months ago. The only mistake we made, according to my husband, is not leaving 5 years ago. Nearly everyone on our street is a former Californian but the best part is they are conservatives – no danger here of Californicating.

Jan 12, 2009 - 8:38 pm 52. Ann141:

We have found that it works well to spend less than we take in. But then, we’re not professional, public money-processors, so what do we know.

We lived in CA for 28 years, and have always referred to our move out of there in 1993 as “our escape from California”. What a zoo.

Jan 12, 2009 - 8:59 pm 53. Typical Whte Person:

Why can’t we just roll back the spending to 1990 levels and take the surplus to pay off the debts.

The Legislature needs a drastic pay cut and maybe a 50% cut in their budgets and time in Sacramento. They can also learn to take public transportation to Sacramento. I am sure we can put them up in a Homeless Shelter.

I am tired of hopeless liberals running the show and Schwartzenkennedy. Maybe we can recall Gray Davis.

And, the taxpayers are leaving the State – Another five years and the only ones left will be Obama voters waiting for a handout.

Jan 13, 2009 - 12:32 pm 54. Bridget:

Count me as a former Californian as well – that place has beautiful scenery and fun things to do but it is too damn expensive. I have two engineering degrees and had to commute too far to work – my house was a little ‘crap box’ I paid too much for and sold it for too much as well. Taxes and fees are a joke and then the lunacy of the people there – they don’t seem to understand that they need a middle class to fund all of their pet projects. I wanted so bad to live there when growing up in AZ and now am so glad I’ve left. It’s sad because CA truly was the ‘golden’ state.

Jan 14, 2009 - 2:32 am

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