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I've been contemplating a California thread for a while, but I never got around to writing it out. California is a state with a great deal of potential that's being squandered. To quote the West Wing:Arnold Vinick posted:I don't have a 50-state strategy anymore. I have a one-state strategy: the one state that has everything: big cities, small towns, mountains, deserts, farms, factories, fishermen, surfers, all races, all religions, gay, straight, everything this country has. There's more real America in California than anywhere else. Rude. posted:I wish I could move back to Kern county but I don't think I could put up with the insane politics. Or heat. Why would anyone think this Guidos Python posted:Could someone do a write up on the water issue? I'm from Bakersfield and I see signs saying how farmers have had rates increased yet they only revive 25% of the water they were getting 4 years ago. I don't think this counts as a write-up but I think a lot of the Central Valley farmers are just mad that their profit center monsoon crops are more expensive to grow in the desert. Seriously, who the hell would think that corn and rice make sense anywhere south of Fresno? And yet last time I drove from Santa Cruz to LA on I-5 I spotted massive fields of soybeans, corn, grapes, and various other water-intensive crops. Zeitgueist posted:I'll have to dig it up, but I believe the numbers state that erasing prop 13 would easily fix California's deficits. You could double the property tax, run a surplus, and still be below the national average of property tax rates. People always seem to forget, California has a bigger economy than all but the biggest countries. Our deficits are insignificant compared to our GDP. Yeah, the biggest problem with Prop 13 is that it applies to commercial property as well as residential property. Commercial property is mostly only re-evaluated when it's sold, leading many companies to play shell games to dodge tax increases. If the Dems would revise the Constitution (yes I know that requires a ballot initiative as well) the revenue from commercial property that's effectively being taxed on 1970s property values would take care of a lot of our problems. ---- One of my pet projects has been the idea of a state bank, like the Bank of North Dakota. I did a paper on the idea a few years ago since I couldn't find a group with any solid figures on what it would mean for California specifically. I lost the original paper that had the figures, but the state paid the biggest banks about 8 billion dollars for the privilege of watching California's money. That 8 billion was just under half the 2011 budget deficit. The 150 billion that the banks have under management would be one of the 50 biggest banks in America in terms of assets. This doesn't include the value of CalPERS or other pensions run locally. The magic of modern banking would allow such a hypothetical bank to issue very favorable bonds and loans for infrastructure projects; if the charter were correctly written a bank could serve as a 'rainy day fund' without effectively taking that money out of circulation. The bank could also pull up to the Fed discount window and leverage Federal zero interest dollars into real California projects. I fully recognize that this will never ever happen. It's just another one of those ideas that would help ameliorate the effects of modern late-stage capitalism.
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Jun 29, 2013 05:24
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Best Friends posted:People keep talking about "growing crops in the desert" or whatever but only a small part of the Central Valley is even vaguely arid. It is where much of the water being piped south comes from, in fact. Where do you all think the water comes from? Much of the northern Central Valley was originally marshland and wetlands that were deliberately drained to make way for agriculture. Desert might be strong, after all the Central Valley was once home to Lake Tulare, the largest lake in terms of surface area west of the Great Lakes. Sadly when they diverted the rivers for agriculture the lake shrank, just like the Aral Sea and Lake Chad. Aeka 2.0 posted:Geeze, who was the biggest contributor on that? I think my residential property taxes change yearly, definitely goes to show that corporate interests are above all else. Howard Jarvis, the (Mormon) force behind Prop 13, was a businessman, but there were plenty of moneymen behind Reagan and the taxpayers' revolt. Also, I can't believe the California Megathread has gotten to 5 pages without posting We, the Spiteful, because it's all about Reagan and the time when Prop 13 became law.
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Jun 29, 2013 07:16
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I can't help feeling like the prison industry in California is akin to the defense industry in America: lots of money spent on bullshit that's immune from budgetary pressure. I hate that we spend more money oppressing poors and minorities than we do on educating them.
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Jun 30, 2013 21:15
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Cross-posting from a few other threads: Female inmates sterilized in California prisons without approval quote:Doctors under contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sterilized nearly 150 female inmates from 2006 to 2010 without required state approvals, the Center for Investigative Reporting has found. Yet another horrifying facet of justice in California.
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Jul 8, 2013 21:21
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California fun fact for the day: the gold find at Sutter's Mill was first documented by Mormons who were recently released from Army service during the Mexican-American war. They tried to convince Brigham Yound to move out of Utah in favor of settling near the gold fields, but the freedom of running what amounted to his own kingdom was too much for Young to resist.
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Aug 17, 2013 19:25
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predicto posted:Welp, for years I have been going to Camp Mather every year with my family and friends. Some wonderful memories of hiking ans swimming and laughter. I was really looking forward to the Strawberry Festival this year, it's a shame that the whole area is going up.
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Aug 23, 2013 20:10
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nm posted:I don't think you'll see Nuclear in large amounts in CA in the forseeable future. Seismic activity plus the perceived specter of Fukushima. Not saying it is wholly rational, but I believe it to be true. Not to mention the ongoing problems at Diablo Canyon and San Onofre.
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Aug 28, 2013 07:40
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Disney land is OK but what really annoys me are the 20 somethings who act like they're still 8 and go nuts over it. I dated a girl for three months and every weekend she drove 2 hours to Anaheim. She also expected me to go nuts over it when I am indifferent at best to spending so much time among screaming children and tourists with sunstroke. I can understand going a few times a year, but come on, there are more exciting ways to spend your Saturday. e: obviously if you live next door this doesn't apply, i had a great time popping in to Magic Mountain after work when I lived next door. Mayor Dave fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Dec 10, 2013 |
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Dec 10, 2013 19:33
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I've always thought of the dividing line as the Grapevine; once you're over the pass you've left civilization behind.
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Dec 10, 2013 20:24
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Pook Good Mook posted:Considering agriculture use is more than 80% of the total use of water in California and we've been pumping water into the southern end of the Central Valley (which is basically a desert) to grow fruits I don't feel so bad that those farmers are getting screwed. You had a good thing, reality caught up with you, tough poo poo. Fun fact, the southern Central Valley used to be a giant inland lake. Tulare Lake was the largest inland body of water west of the Great Lakes; it supplied fresh fish for the Gold Rush and its remnants were used as an alternate seaplane landing in WWII. If you're interested, this article about a possible restoration is pretty neat: http://www.hcn.org/issues/41.21/the-ghost-of-tulare. e: beaten
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Dec 10, 2013 23:38
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