Comment by barnesto | Hacker News Reader

Comment by barnesto | Hacker News Reader

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You are what's wrong with my state if you think everything is fine.

1st - that $9 billion surplus isn't a surplus. The state has debt and unfunded liabilities of over $1 TRILLION. $9 billion is couch change in comparison. Also, Brown has already said that "surplus" is being spent.

https://californiapolicycenter.org/californias-total-state-l... http://www.capradio.org/articles/2018/05/11/governor-brown-t... https://www.ocregister.com/2018/04/06/with-california-taxpay...

2nd - this state is over taxes and when they can't tax us more, they levy fees. Like the the 12 cent gas tax for infrastructure projects that have already been paid for, and the increase DMV registration fees for the same. This state is one of the worst for business, which is why so many people and businesses are fleeing the state.

3rd - we have the largest homeless population in the country and are doing nothing to prevent or solve the issue. also, over 40% of people living here (citizens and non-citizens) are on some form of welfare or entitlement. where do you think that $9 billion "surplus" is going?

4th - we are at the bottom of schools systems and quality of life. see #3.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/03/01/ca... https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/02/08/geog...

5th - destruction of the middle class. our open borders policies provide cheap labor. we've also allowed non-citizens to obtain professional licenses - construction, lawyers, medical, etc. this takes away opportunities for citizens - you know the ones that are fleeing the state.

6th - speaking of non-citizens. we've issued over 1,000,000 driver's licenses to non-citizens and over 3,000,000 million own homes in our state. you don't think that amount of people, here illegally, have an affect on our middle class, our lower class - come on, this affects everything from quality of life to our school systems.

but sure it's all fine and dandy. where's the meme with the dog in the room on fire?

2nd - this state is over taxes and when they can't tax us more, they levy fees. Like the the 12 cent gas tax for infrastructure projects that have already been paid for, and the increase DMV registration fees for the same. This state is one of the worst for business, which is why so many people and businesses are fleeing the state.

California is the 5th biggest economy in the world. It just surpassed the UK. (http://fortune.com/2018/05/05/california-fifth-biggest-econo...). Despite only having 12% of the US population, it contributed 16% of the total US job growth over the past 5 years. California's GDP went up by $127 billion from 2016 to 2017 alone.

This, despite people fleeing the state. Good riddance--any business that can't stay afloat in California's massive market place without hand-me-outs like tax cuts is a failing business. Hundreds of thousands of other businesses are doing just fine.

I've never understood responses like yours

How does "fifth largest economy in the world" benefit you if you can't even afford to purchase a house?

"Fifth largest economy" benefits Larry, Sergey, Tim Cook...you, not so much

There are plenty of apartments to rent. Purchasing a house is not the end game for everyone, nor should it be. It represents a major investment of time and money in terms of maintenance and upkeep.

And the primary problem with people not being able to afford houses is that they're not able to generate savings due to college loan debt, which is a national problem not restricted to California.

California also has the highest CoL-adjusted poverty rate in th nation, and, IIRC, a fairly high unadjusted poverty rate. [0]

California had an enormous capacity to deliver quality of life to it's citizens, but outside of capitalists and elite workers, it's pretty much failing to deliver.

[0] The good aggregate performance coupled with the intense needs created by the poor distributional performance hurts CA in various federal funding formulas, where federal cost sharing goes down with better aggregate economic performance.

You are assuming that California makes people poor and doesn’t just attract them. That is like saying LA’s homeless problem is self grown and not the result of very good weather.

~wibbles hand~

You might want to check out some rental listings and compare it to the minimum wage. Poor people come to not freeze, but that doesn't mean current circumstances aren't increasing the homeless population all on their own.

I see plenty of units available for under $650/month...well within the reach of someone making minimum wage. They're not the most luxurious units or in the nicest neighborhoods but if you're making minimum wage you don't get to quibble about the lack of a pool or the proximity to a liquor store.

Between Zillow and Trulia, I'm seeing ~60 units in that price range in LA on ~8,000 listings (assuming no duplication). Hitting Craigslist, where I'd expect most of them are, I'm seeing ~100 within 8 miles of central LA. Most of them look like spare rooms.

The census tells me there are ~800,000 people in LA at or around the poverty line. The LA times tells me there are ~50,000 homeless people wondering around.

Now, I don't live anywhere near LA, but the base numbers here make me think that when people say there's a major housing problem, they're telling the truth.

Again, this is just to my satisfaction, but I have looked a little more than just relying on anecdotes.

California is more than LA, and the poverty rate in LA is not as bad as the more rural areas of California. A lot of California’s poverty comes from migrants.

The type of units that cater to people on very low budgets don't usually get posted to the web. You find them by walking the neighborhoods and seeing "For Rent" signs. On my last run, I saw a few dozen for-rent signs in one lower-income neighborhood near downtown, with rents ranging from $250 to $650. Almost none of them are solo units--you'd have roommates--but you'd have decent housing, close to transportation and work.

for perspective - CalPERs has a projected shortfall of over $1 Trillion, meanwhile the entire federal debt of Canada is less than $700 billion.

unlike Canada, the state of California cannot simply print its own currency to address the issue

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