California Is In Big Trouble. 2. What Caused it and What’s Ahead?

Details on What Really Caused the Crisis in California

You can’t blame it all on the recession. Open borders, political correctness, and misunderstanding of the environment and how to protect it have all contributed to California’s bankruptcy. Look to liberalism for the causes.

Illegal Aliens

It is hard to say how much is spent on illegal aliens in California because governments at all levels want to minimize the problems and maximize the potential illegal alien votes (after amnesty) and the number of cheap workers. Controlling the border and denying public services to illegal aliens would solve most of California’s budget problems. But there are other problems that must be fixed or budget deficits will continue to grow in the future.

Taxes

It seams liberals (including RINO’s and Republicans who really want to be Democrats) cannot get it through their thick skulls that there is no free lunch. Every one of their ill thought out schemes based on racism, sexism, and other discrimination, politically correctness, false economic principles, and their misunderstanding of the environment and how to protect it result in higher taxes and a shrinking tax base. From the article cited in Part 1:

“A separate commission is expected to release a proposal to rework the state's tax structure, which is vulnerable to booms and busts in California's economy because it relies heavily on high-income earners.”

This “sock it to the rich” philosophy of taxation does not work. Lower taxes on the taxpayers who make the economy healthy are needed. California has lost billions of dollars of tax revenues because individuals and businesses will flee economic oppression in the form of unrealistic tax burdens and illogical environmental policies. To have responsible and patriotic citizens at all economic levels, all citizens must participate in paying income and other taxes and all must have accountability for their own actions. There can never be a free lunch. IT DOES NOT WORK.

Discrimination Based on Race, Gender, etc.

Racism screened by political correctness, diversity goals, affirmative action, racial quotas, set asides in contracting, disadvantaged areas, HUB zones, etc, etc. allow an unbelievable number of victims to swamp the courts, prisons, schools, health care, welfare, and other public assistance programs at the combined costs of 10’s of billions of dollars per year.

These race-based policies also allow for preferences in everything from births to burials. Here is the nub of race-based (and gender, culture, sexual preference) policies in education, hiring, promotions, and elections. If one is selected by race rather than measures of potential, demonstrated accomplishment, education, intelligence, ambition, reliability, etc., then these characteristics necessary for success are not relevant to the selection and performance of a race-based individual or group.

If one is selected for a job to meet a diversity quota then meeting that quota essentially meets the job requirements. Performance, accountability, qualifications--nothing else matters in reality. This is not an exaggeration. If an agency of government at any level does not meet the affirmative action goals in hiring, promotions, etc. they will feel the full weight of the US Justice Department and court systems with such things as the 4/5 rule, lawsuits, consent decrees, and mandated hiring until the race-based, gender-based, cultural-based bureaucratic rules are met. No agency of government can resist.

It is much the same in the private sector. Companies that deal with government at any level almost always must meet the same general diversity, affirmative action, etc. rules of the government or they won’t be eligible for contracts, grants, or any public funds; and they will be subject to lawsuits. To be safe, most companies just copy the federal, state, and local government rules and policies and adopt them in their business practices. It is cheaper than being ruined and punished and dealing with ever-mounting legal costs. Most unions eagerly adopt the government standards and policies. It is more protection from the market forces and more political power for them.

Because governments and businesses essentially operate under the same biased and discriminatory rules, those seeking jobs or contracts, grants, loans, etc. must also abide by them. Thus, the evils of discrimination in favor of one’s race, gender, culture, sexual orientation, and their resulting plethora of rules and guidelines affect everyone. Of course, selection, evaluation, promotion, and retention based on diversity goals, not merit based goals, means that the inefficiency, size, and remoteness of the government all increase. The total cost is incalculable except through observations of its economic and social results.

Radical Environmentalism as a Political Tool

Illogical and emotionally based environmental views and policies bring on a host of economic problems associated with the environment. Science-based environmental protection and sound conservation principles would save California billions of dollars and help preserve their wonderful environment. A few brief examples are sufficient.

1. MTBE as a Gasoline Additive

The federal government and California passed laws requiring oxygenated fuels to reduce air pollution. One additive selected, MTBE, polluted the groundwater. The result was squealing and lawsuits to replace MTBE. It seems that for political reasons, ethanol (a bio-fuel) is now the gasoline additive of choice. This time the environmental problems were shifted to farmlands where several things happened. Lands best suited for livestock grazing or woodlots were converted to corn production to provide ethanol. The results: increased soil erosion and water pollution from sediment, agricultural chemicals, and the use of food for fuels. Reasoned, scientific determination of gasoline improvements would have prevented the problems of MTBE and ethanol. Alas, environmental reason is absent from radical environmentalists bent on using the environment as a political tool. They care not about environmental protection and resource conservation.

2. Wasting Resources on Unimportant or Fantasy Environmental Problems

Every dollar and every minute spent on global warming alarmism has three major negative impacts. 1) Resources are drained and unavailable for real environmental problems such as air and water quality and protection of soil, plant, and animal natural resources; 2) Good science and good scientists are driven from the public work and dialogue; and 3) The public grows tired of alarmism, emotion, lies, and misuse of environment issues for partisan political gain. This public fatigue results in less public awareness, knowledge, and support for legitimate environmental problems.

3. Who Isn’t Tired of Airhead Celebrities with a Loony Environmental Cause?

Celebrities saving the planet by using one sheet of toilet paper, wearing a “vegan belt buckle”, or jetting around the planet making ill-informed speeches at the cost of megatons of fuel, all reduce our hopes for reasonable dialogue and solutions to environmental problems.

So what’s the Outlook for California’s Future?

I believe the outlook if bleak. Obama and his Clinton era radicals will not let California solve its own problems, nor will they deal with the tax burden, unfair discrimination at all levels of society, whacky environmental laws and policies, or maintaining state sovereignty. The thinking and policies behind mistakes made in California are a large part of the basis for the Obama Administration’s rush to socialism.