California Death Spiral

One of thousands of homeless camps.
Richard Brinkley

What is happening to the Democratic Party.  The California Democratic Party refused to endorse Diane Feinstein, wanting, instead, a candidate who was really a leftist radical. The Democratic Party is no longer the bastion of liberalism. On the contrary, it has become illiberal. Defined by Oxford dictionary, opposed to liberal principles; restricting freedom of thought or behavior  (‘illiberal and anti-democratic policies’ )

In California, the Democratic Party is a coalition of tech oligarchs like Tom Steyer, identity politicians, socialists, communists and public sector unions. California is changing . . . for the worse. Between 2006 and 2016, over 5 million people moved away from California.

The Pacific Research Institute, in an article dated February 18, 2018, provided the top reasons why industries are not moving to California. Business executives cite the high cost of real estate as a key factor. Lack of affordable housing complicates the issue of trying to move their employees to California.

Business executives also cited concerns that California’s educational system was not producing the highly skilled workers they needed for their companies.  The business executives also cited high taxes, California’s favorable view on cap and trade, and its crumbling infrastructure.

The State’s changing demographic is also having an impact. As middle-class families leave California, minorities increasingly dominate the electorate. Whites were 70 percent of the population in 1970 and are projected to be 33 percent of the population in 2030.  Already, the Hispanic population is greater than the White population.

California’s population is becoming more dominated by the poor and near poor: approximately one-third of the population. Los Angeles now tops the nation in chronic homeless poor.

It is the new coalition of tech oligarchs, identity politicians, socialists, communists and public sector unions that are responsible for the draconian destruction in California. Saul Alinsky once said that to change society, one had to infiltrate the major institutions, the schools, the media, labor unions and political parties.

The American Socialist Party, Communist Party USA and Democratic Socialists of America all share the same political platform. As recently as 2015, Communist Party USA leader John Bachtell boasted that his Marxist organization “utilizes” the increasingly radical Democratic Party to advance its totalitarian objectives to destroy the United States. In essence, there is little to no difference between a Communist, Socialist, Progressive or Democrat.

From Obamacare to amnesty for illegal aliens, from demands for free health care to more federal jobs for minorities, from restoring relations with a murderous dictatorship in Cuba to destroying our military, from the false argument of climate change to gender transition, the radical left Democrats have promoted looney ideas.

In 2017, the California Senate passed a single payer, government-run health plan without funding it. The stupidity of the plan, besides not funding it, was the potential cost of $400 billion, which is about three times the 2018-19 budget. By announcing that all health care would be free and the State would pay providers, the scenario was set to import freeloaders from around the country and export doctors to other states.

Another whacked out State Senator, Scott Weiner (another Weiner!), sponsored a bill, titled the “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Long-Term Care Facility Residents Bill of Rights,” requiring nursing homes and care facilities to allow residents to use the bathroom of their choice, regardless of biological sex.

The Obama administration pulled the same stunt with K-12 schools. Target management dove right in and ultimately lost a ton of business. Here’s the prime directive (sorry, Star Trek): if you have external plumbing, use the mens’ room; if you have internal plumbing, use the ladies’ room.

California’s bullet train projected costs just jumped to $77 billion. The cost to lay track from Merced to Shafter, 119 miles, will be 50 percent over budget and seven years behind schedule. Currently, the California High-Speed Rail Authority does not have the money to finish the project. And judging by how far behind schedule the project is, it is obvious California does not have the project management experience required for the project. The last plan, presented in 2016, estimated project costs at $64 billion and operating by 2029. Now it appears the projected cost will be $98 billion and who knows when it will be operational.

California is in the midst of a death spiral. Kamala Harris says California is the future. I hope not. California’s poverty rate is almost 21%, twice the national average. Inequality in California is soaring. In fact, in an article by Spencer P. Morrison (Editor –in-Chief, National Economics Editorial),  “if California were an independent nation, it would be the 17th most unequal place on earth, i.e., more unequal than Mexico, Guatemala, and Russia.”

For the Socialists, Democrats, Progressives, Communists, tech oligarchs, identity politicians, and public sector unions, poverty, inequality and fiscal waste are their most significant achievements.