A Tale of Two Californias
As Dickens said "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" and the phrase could be applied to California here in April 2009.
The unemployment data released last week touts California at the top of the jobless lists at 11% - worst in the country - and yet it's not a reflection of reality in California because the sad truth is there are two Californias with very different challenges and for one the problem is a lot higher than 11%.
While Silicon Valley chugs along at 8.3% and decreasing unemployment, a slowly recovering housing market and companies still competing for engineers, we have sister counties with unemployment at depression levels and higher. In the Great Depression unemployment in the U.S. peaked at 24.9% in 1933. Imperial County today has an unemployment rate of 26.9% closely followed by counties like Merced and Yuba at 18% - you can see the sobering Central Valley stats here and a map of California's unemployment rate by county here.
It's too easy to forget how close the poorest communities are to the hubbub of the tech world where Facebook raises $200M and NEA raises over $2B for it's new fund. High end wine stores still do well, and you still can't get a table at the Woodside Village Pub without a reservation.
But with the California budget in crisis and the Governor proposing to drastically cut Welfare and California's Family PACT Program, the most vulnerable members of our community are more at risk now than they have been since the Depression. Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (the largest PP affiliate which is based in San Jose and covers many of the poorer counties in the Central Valley) has seen a 15% increase in the number of visits so far this year because so many people have no other health care options. PPMM provides broad health services (yes, only 3% of the services are abortion - a little understood fact) and families are coming in who have never needed the safety net of PPMM health care before but they have no choice and no access to medical care.
Now, more than ever, is the time to pay attention to your charitable donations and to give to the communities that support the most vulnerable in our society. And while California may seem like the land of milk and honey and Malibu Barbies on 90210 it's the land of tremendous struggle just 100 miles away. When you are approached by a friend to give to the non-profits trying to help please give.
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california has so much wealth it is unbelievable. When I moved here the first thing I noticed is how many rich people there are. There are millions of million dollar homes, tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of millionaires. This is the sixth biggest economony in the world. Even blue collar workers have homes that are now worth a million. Nurses and firemen make 6 digits here. All this wealth and they can't balance the budget. You know why? Cause California is the most capitalistic tax allergic state in the country. All of these so called liberals talk the talk, but it is the most greedy money hungry population you have ever seen. They have no problem enjoying their property make them a millionaire, but you try to tax it and give to the needy, the left coast whines while drinking their pinot wine. Even all the potssmokers out here - they don't talk about peace, they talk about weed and making money on weed. This state is the have a lots, and the have nots. It is the model state of disparity of wealth. The hippie movement is gone, prop 13 and money accumulation are the core values of this sinking state.
Most tax allergic state??????
We are now the state with the highest tax burden out of all 50 states!
You mention that nurses and firemen make 6 figures....THAT'S PART OF THE PROBLEM!!!!!!
These unionized workers have rigged the political system so much in their favor that they have gained positively unsustainable pay and benefits.....far above what a true free market would dictate. These unions have spent millions and millions buying off politicians to do their bidding.
As for million dollar homes???........More unsustainable appreciation in home values that are now severely correcting all over this state.
And the biggest question........Why is any one citizen entitled to that which someone else worked for? Your post reeks of socialist thinking.
"You mention that nurses and firemen make 6 figures....THAT'S PART OF THE PROBLEM!!!!!!"
Uh..... NO, IT'S NOT!!!!!!!! Have you forgotten that your state is the home of an industry that pays 20-something snotnoses MILLIONS to make some of the stupidest movies known to man?
THAT is part of the problem! NOT the paychecks of folks like nurses and firemen. Get you priorities straight!
There need to be many cuts. Let's start with pensions. Why should police, fire, and prision guards make 100% of their pay when they retire at 50?????????? CUT!!! What about all these political friends who are appointed to boards and receive $100,000 or more to meet once or twice a month???? CUT!!! What about the BILLIONS we pay to educate and provide health care for ILLEGAL ALIENS???? CUT!!!
Now that's a start I can live with.
We end up having to provide health care to illegals because of public health. If you just let these people walk around with untreated cases of TB, for example, pretty soon, many other people who may be citizens have it. So unless you have some way to completely prevent anyone from coming, you're stuck taking care of their health problems. A similar thing might be said for education. There's a pretty direct correlation between failure of the education system and expanding membership rolls for outfits like MS13. So once again, if you can't prevent people from arriving, (and as far as I've ever seen in my lifetime, we can't) you need to try and give them skills that will make a career in crime seem less attractive. One thing I might be in some agreement with you on though, is the prison guards. I'm generally militantly pro-union, but the CCPOA needs to be busted. It has way too much power, I worked in the prison system at one point. Pay, fringes and perks for correctional officers eat up so much of the budget that everything else pretty much goes to hell, and you frequently see officers standing around not really doing their jobs.
They would be less likely to come here in the first place if they new that medical care was not free. Anyone who emigrates to another place (even uneducated ones) make a calculation about whether the move may be beneficial to them or not. Knowing they can get free health care any time they want encourages more movement. You liberals always put the cart before the horse.
The future is very very dark for California. If you are a non profit operating in California you will need to seek funding from out of state sources. That is the only way that most non profits will survive. California might have to split into two different states to survive. It is too unwieldy in it's present form. California is the Titanic of states and it definitely is going down.
Popycock!
As a Californian I find it distressing and disgusting that the FIRST thing that comes up from the state legislature and gov. is go after the people least able to afford or ride out an economic meltdown.Why not do the hard thing and go to the people who can do more?I'm retired,not rich,not poor but I would be willing put some on the table.1% on everybody making $25,000 to 50,000 and 2% on everyone to100,000 and 5% on all over that.Tony
California will never recover as long at the legislature, heavy democratic, continues to think that they can deficit spend forever and not have to pay the piper at some point.....
Prop 13 is what's wrong with California.
Here's a very easy way to support your favorite non-profit in these tight times. My birthday was last month. It was one of the big ones. The kind with a zero in it. I planned a great party and in my invitations I asked friends to make a donation to a local non-profit in lieu of gifts to me. I included an addressed stamped envelope to the organization in the invitation. It made my birthday that much more special because I can't afford to give the way I'd like to anymore, but this was a way that I could. Plus I have more than enough crap and there was nothing I especially needed. Everyone liked the idea and I think we raised a few hundred bucks for the organization.
Me and the wife just returned from Newport Beach, "Kalifornyuh" (as the Governor pronounces the State's name). Talk about two separate States! Newport Beach, Malibu, and a host of other "beautiful people" communities are breaking at the seams with BMW's, Mercedes, Porches . . . all parked in front of million dollar homes--when they are not in the parking lots of upscale malls.
We got a gift of a meal at Flemings in Newport and asked our waiter about how the recession has affected the bottom line of his restaurant's business (we're talkin' $200/couple for dinner). His answer? Not at all. Business has decrease maybe 2% over the last two years.
Fast forward to our trip down the coast to Oceanside, a military town (near Camp Pendleton. Check cashing joints, pot holes in the road, McSame "restaurants" up the ying yang--not exactly a prosperous town, even though the people that live there are fighting Bush/Cheney and now Obama's war.
Kalifornyuh is, indeed, two different States. One for the rich and one for those who cater to the rich's "needs".
Never going back there.
good.
Yea, I will get right on those charitable donations after I don't have to spend my money fighting for equality. Right now the battle for Gay rights in California rages on at a time we can afford it the least. Talk about two Americas. What a waste of money on such a simple issue of equality.....meanwhile people go homeless, hungry and jobless. Way to go 52 % of California!
See Penny Herscher's Profile
M1 - I share your frustration. We find ourselves in a bad place as a state when we have to chose between basic equality and food and healthcare for our poorest citizens. The passing of Prop8 was horrific but I believe sufficiently surprising and horrific to enough Californians that if we get gay marriage rights back on the ballot next time we'll get them back.
Four words: Go after Dianne Feinstein!
Two tales indeed. One part overwhelmingly votes Republican and now suffers the consequences (devastated economy, run down local governments, no support services or opportunities for the poor). And another part that votes Democrat and will probably fare a lot better during this economic downturn.
The answer is in the ballot box: overturn the Republican stranglehold on California and there might be more money to help you... Poor people can not afford to vote Republican during an economic crisis.
Where is this Republican stranglehold on California? California has 2 Democratic Senators, a huge majority of Democratic Representatives, an overwhelming Democratic majority in the statehouse and a RINO (Republican in name only) for a governor. California is the Democratic philosophy in practice. How California goes, so does the nation. Pray our nation.
"Where is this Republican stranglehold on California?"
It is enshrined in two very unusual parts of California law. First, we require that two-thirds of the Legislature must approve a state budget. Second, the infamous Proposition 13 requires a two-thirds popular vote to raise any new taxes -- while at the same time capping property tax rate increases for existing homeowners at two percent per year.
It doesn't matter that Republicans comprise only around 40% of California government. Until they are reduced to under 33%, we will have minority rule in this state.
The reactionary republikkkans are institutions in most counties in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys. Kern County voted nearly 80% for blush and over 70% for mcclame . And yes with a hysterical knee jerk hatred of (gasp) new taxes, our roads are potholed, our social services are devastated, and with the passage of prop h8 my sense of community in the state is pretty badly frayed, so I do ALL my charitable giving directly to individuals, I have friends are barely making it, and man there are a LOT of folks panhandling on the streets, and a few quarters or dimes doesn't go very far there either.
"When you are approached by a friend to give to the non-profits trying to help please give."
NO!
It is time to stop with the privatization of the social safety net.
When approached by that friend, demand as a condition of giving that *both* you and that friend write to your congress critter.
Demand that health care reform be passed.
Demand that unemployment benefits be modified so that the newly employed who are now newly unemployed are covered.
Demand that the Employee Free Choice Act be passed.
Stop buying into the idea that a few pennies thrown into a bucket will somehow replace a legitimate social safety net provided by the government.
Pat you are absolutely right. Too many people don't understand how little of the social safety net remains. Here in Colorado the governor (a Dem) vetoed a bill that would have given grocery workers unemployment benefits if they were locked out (FIRED) by their employers. Only grocery workers who are trying to negotiate a new contract.
See Penny Herscher's Profile
You are idealistic and right - and I believe not enough people get involved in demanding change in our laws from our political leaders - but in the meantime real people also need help to survive through the time that it will take to change our country.
Not as idealistic as you are saying I am. I am just demanding services for my money.
If someone wants money they should be doing something more than just slapping a band-aid over the problem.
I don't mind giving money to charities -- I just demand that they be working very hard at working themselves out of a job. Feeding the poor great. But to get my money I better hear less about "X meals / day" and more about how the charity is working to create a social safety net so that the charity can shutdown the soup kitchen.
Its time our leaders start leading.
Its also time for "others" to stop label people like me as "idealistic" as a euphemism for "unrealistic", "impossible" just because the action needed to really fix the problem is hard.
And what about my list is unrealistic.
And now I need to get back to running my business.
The Bay area is purple and diverse-niche markets thrive-flexibility is in high demand-people work hard and are paid well in most cases, but low wages are still a big problem.
The Central Valley is red - fiefdoms of agri-empires/slick mortgage deals-dependent on transient workers at low wages/no health benefits/to keep their little 'NIMBY', red-necked dynasties in place.
San Diego/LA is red - fiefdoms of military/industrial complex with a big ol' dose of "ol' time religion" that keeps everybody in step - dependent again on low-waged "the help" to enable their bubble lives in those locked gate communities.
Now, which area do you think is going to donate the most?
In reply to mommadona: pardon me, but Los Angeles is very much a blue city thank you...compare LA county's voting record to any major city and you will see the days when the City of Angels was a Republican town are well in the past. So please don't confuse LA with Orange County (and even in OC, there are signs of intelligent life: God bless the Sanchez sisters.)
Moreover, some of us who work in the aerospace & defense industry (which I assume is what you mean by the military industrial complex) happen to vote Democratic as well, in no small part due to our disgust with the Republicans running this country into the ground...
More broadly: California may be down but it is not out. Something will change: perhaps that 2/3 requirement to pass a budget, perhaps a Democratic governor who has the courage to stand up to the minority party, or perhaps just an economic rebound. Many people have sounded the death knell for CA before, but this remains the Golden State, and I would not live anywhere else.
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