What would we end up with if they were given free rein?
California:
The Golden State isn't worth itTaxpayers are willing to put up with a lot. But there comes a point where they pick up their marbles and play elsewhere. Ask the New Yorkers now living in West Boca. Ask the people of California residing in Idaho. And Nevada. And Texas.
By William Voegeli, L.A. Times
In America's federal system, some states, such as California, offer residents a "package deal" that bundles numerous and ambitious public benefits with the high taxes needed to pay for them. Other states, such as Texas, offer packages combining modest benefits and low taxes. These alternatives, of course, define the basic argument between liberals and conservatives over what it means to get the size and scope of government right.
It's not surprising, then, that there's an intense debate over which model is more admirable and sustainable. What is surprising is the growing evidence that the low-benefit/low-tax package not only succeeds on its own terms but also according to the criteria used to defend its opposite. In other words, the superior public goods that supposedly justify the high taxes just aren't being delivered.
Today's public benefits fail that test, as urban scholar Joel Kotkin of NewGeography.com and Chapman University told the Los Angeles Times in March: "Twenty years ago, you could go to Texas, where they had very low taxes, and you would see the difference between there and California. Today, you go to Texas, the roads are no worse, the public schools are not great but are better than or equal to ours, and their universities are good. The bargain between California's government and the middle class is constantly being renegotiated to the disadvantage of the middle class." [link]
This could have been Virginia. If the taxpayers here had allowed it to happen.
Stay vigilant. Let's not let it happen to our children and grandchildren.
2 comments:
One more democrat governor and a milliom more yankees moving in and we'll pass Ca in total tax load on the working people. Yankees can't help themselves, the move from their home state because they can't afford to live there, but bring the same gimme more goodies/money attitude with them and vote in the suckers who will give it to them. Soon they'll have to migrate to Panama.
X-Firefighter
Good article on California in this week's Time Magazine. Interesting stats and observations. The most interesting take is how conservative and liberal movements both got their start in the Golden State and how California in many ways represents the best of the private market at work (those folks start up, and destroy companies and ideas at a rapid pace = good capitalism).
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