*Featured Post* From Leader to Loss Leader
I am a child of the 50’s and for as long as I can remember, California as a State was considered the leader in futures –
- After NYC and Paris, Hollywood set the trends in style and fashion.
- Her industries competed in aerospace against other States like Washington and Texas.
- Schools were considered some of the most productive, well funded institutions of any State in the Nation.
- Business and individuals flocked to California. Some on hope of a fresh start, others to solidify their fortunes, others to taste an alternate lifestyle not available anywhere else.
Now?
Schools
Democrats are now proposing to eliminate the high school exit exam as a graduation requirement. Jack O’Connell, the state schools chief, has says the exam is essential to helping identify students who fall behind.
The state’s budget crisis is taking a heavy toll on school districts such as West Contra Costa Unified, whose financial troubles made it the first school district to be taken over by the state in 1991. Officials say the district, which has large numbers of poor students and English language learners, could face another state takeover if it cannot overcome a $16 million budget shortfall.
“The system is broken,” said school board member Antonio Medrano. “We are being forced to cut all kinds of programs.”
The cuts are expected to lead to sharp reductions or complete elimination of after-school programs, summer school, adult education, guidance counselors, and electives such as art and music. Class sizes are set to expand from 20 to more than 30 students for kindergarten through third grade.
[source]
Industry
For the fourth year in a row, more residents left the Golden State than moved here from other states, according to a report released Wednesday by the California Department of Finance.
The outflow — last seen during the economic and social struggles of the 1990s — started when it became too expensive for most people to buy homes in the state, and has kept going throughout the bust with the loss of so many jobs.
The trend underscores the state’s sour economy as layoffs continue, the fiscal strain on government grows and home values continue to decline.
Though more births and rising international immigration helped boost California’s population a modest 1.16% last year, the state continued its steady stream of domestic out-migration — the movement to other states of people who live here.
[source]
Illegals
You know that your state is in trouble when even illegal immigrants have stopped moving there.
…
The immigrants who do come, according to today’s Pew Daily Number, have been shifting to states other than the traditional California option. Since the state is in a spending binge, population bleed, and general downward spiral, you have to give the illegals credit for being forward looking.
[source]
Lifestyle
To help balance its budget, California has reduced the state tax credit for dependents.
The change will increase a family’s California taxes for 2009 by about $210 per dependent compared with 2008.
A family with one dependent that normally gets a state-tax refund will get back $210 less when they file their 2009 return next year. A family that normally owes money will have to pay $210 more. Multiply that by two or more dependents, and it really adds up.
At the same time it slashed the dependent credit, the state also raised all tax rates by one-quarter of 1 percent.
A married couple with $100,000 in taxable income that paid $4,689 in California income tax last year would pay $4,939 next year – a difference of $250.
The state sent new tax-withholding tables reflecting this change to employers in April. Employers should have started using them in May.
[source]
The common thread thru all this – responsibility.
- The teacher is responsible for providing the best exposition of the subject matter. But it is the STUDENT who has to learn the material.
- The school administrator is responsible for providing the lowest cost effective tools. Yes that includes battling the NEA not to break the bank with unfunded retirement plans.
- It is the responsibility of the State to provide a probusiness environment rather than listening to SEIU and environmental groups exclusively.
- The governor is tasked with overseeing all of this AND making sure that the budget is balanced with reserves.
- Finally it is the responsibility of citizens to engage and report abuse and misappropriation of funds.
The days of passing the buck, raising rates and ‘its the other guys job’ are over. But California IS still setting a trend — It will be the first, but not the last that will have to make the decision to roll back services that cut costs to survive.
This is an opportunity for Conservaties if we are willing to seize it.
![](http://www.parentalrights.org/vertical/Sites/%7BC49108C5-0630-467E-9B9B-B1FA31A72320%7D/uploads/%7B3EA8D754-D841-4FF4-882C-32895D89991D%7D.PNG")
[1]
Awesome post, drdog. I have been SO angry all morning about the state I call home. I love to see Ahnuld so the way of Gray Davis….Total Recall.
[2]
JM,
When does CA administer the exit exam?
We have something similar in Texas. TASS, it is administered twice. Once in 7th and then again in end of 10th grade. Problem is by the 7th grade it is almost to late to do anything and guaranteed to be so by the 10th. Wasted efforts.
[3]
Oh and thanks for the opportunity.
[4]
The people of California, mich like the people of newspaper industry, know Liberalism killed the goose that laid the golden egg.
Yet the Cali Liberals will probably vote in another Liberal (just to see if the Liberalism coming from a new Liberal will be anything different from the old Liberalism.)
[5]
My daughter just took the exit exam, so it is 10th, and I agree that by 10th, it is too late.
I am just ticked that no one has the guts to cut off funding for illegals and drill off the coast. One would help, but both would be a miracle for the state.
[6]
California’s problems are numerous…..I used to work in the City of Glendale….
A sanctuary city with thousands of illegal aliens. Most were visa overstays from the former Soviet Union republic of Armenia….they brought the Russian mafia with them…they vote illegally. When I left 3/5s of the city council had been born in the former Soviet Union….they lowered the American flag every April 24th to commemorate the Armenia genocide….quite the outrage….
In 2006, 56% of the population of that city was foreign born and had the highest percentage of any city in California on public assistance….
This was done to us by the leaders of the city, the state and the Feds…This was done for political power by both sides. They seek to further our destruction with CIR.
We have reaped, what we allowed them to sow and it is too late to go back. That what was, is now gone.
[7]
CK
I lived in Glendale for a while as a kid in the 70’s. I’m sure I wouldn’t recognize it as a typical American city any longer.
Before I left Cali for good in 2000, I was living in Laguna Niguel and my sister was living in San Diego. I had a job for a while in Los Angeles. One of the things that used to amaze me was the fact that as you drove south from Los Angeles and got closer to the Mexican border, there was less of a chance you would run into illegals.
[8]
JustMary wrote:
“I am just ticked that no one has the guts to cut off funding for illegals and drill off the coast. One would help, but both would be a miracle for the state.”
Arnold recently claimed that illegals were not a major factor in California’s financial struggles and has consistently opposed offshore drilling.
[9]
Tony, I started in Glendale in 1979, it was bedroom community of about 155,000 people….walk through the downtown malls now and you will not hear English spoken….when I left there were some 200 different languages and dialects spoken within the GUSD…..
“Cultural diversity” training was mandatory for every employee….and the year before I left, the city council voted that the #1 goal for the police department was to hire more minorities as there were “too many old white males” on the force….
bc3b Arnuld is into PC and has lost sight of the real world….
[10]
I concur with JM about the exit exam being given around the 10th grade. They give it a few years before HS graduation so that if you fail parts, or even all of it, you can retake it over and over again until you finally pass.
Good and timely post Drdog, considering that we are on our last month before they pull the plug on money for this state. This state, as you said, used to warrant the name, “the Golden State,” because it was the place to be — education, weather, lifestyle, employment opportunities. People dreamed of coming here to fulfill their dreams.
Not any more…..
[11]
Bc3b- Exactly why he needs to go. He claims that illegals “only” cost 5bil a year, which is far lower than reality. They pay no taxes, they burden the emergency rooms, children go to schools and overcrowd them with kids who can’t speak english, car insurance rates are higher because law abiding citizens have to get uninsured motorist, DUI is a HUGE problem with them, traffic, etc…..
Drilling can be done in an enviornmentally friendly way, but Ahnuld is scared of the environazis. Another thing Ahnuld could do would be to lower the taxes for businesses so they come back- or stop using Arizona as their corporate hq (my old boss did that).
There are more options for this state than removing my deduction for my kids, and further declining the education they receive.
I say the people of CA push to get him OUT!
[12]
I have the polling round-up typed up, when and how should I post it?
[13]
There are more options for this state than removing my deduction for my kids, and further declining the education they receive. — JM
That was retribution. You and your fellow citizens did not pass the Props so the Pols said @Q#$%#$% to you and did it another way. They stuck their thumb in your eye.
[14]
Brandon
Submit it for review and Mary will take care of it from there. Send her an e-mail to let it know you submitted your post.
[15]
BC,
Liberals like Arnold never really say or ‘claim’ anything. They just go by what other Liberals have said before them. And those Liberals who went before go by what other Liberals have said before them.
No Liberal ever knows why they say anything, except that somebody said it before they did. The only thing they know is that after they say what they heard from somebody else another Liberal is required to repeat it and so on. However, after they say what they heard, they are not required to repeat it. Its sort of an unspoken law. That’s how the “Bush lied, people died” mantra lasted on for so long.
[16]
Chek beat me to it. 🙂
I sent you an email just now with the admin cave address.
[17]
Yep. 👿
[18]
Brandon –
I keep seeking commercial by the Republicans for Environmental Protection aimed at a GOP Congressman called LiBiondo. He appears to be a RINO. Are you familiar with this? Why are they pressuring him if he’s a RINO?
[19]
He’s my congressman, he’s not a RINO. He is a conservative on everything except environmental issues. I saw that commercial last night and it confused me. I’ve never seen an ad against him before. I guess he’s against the cap and tax and they don’t like it.
[20]
JustMary, I think I saved it correctly. I don’t really like the formatting, but I will tweak it in the coming days. Also, it seems a little long, is that a problem?
[21]
In the mid 90’s, and remember driving from West Texas to Las Vegas, therefore passing through Albequerqe, New Mexico. There I saw a sign which read, If you are coming California and just passing by, please do.
That sign just under a Real Estate sign which asked people to stop and see them before passing through, so they could try to sell them about how great a place Alb…que is to live.
VERY APT, I think!!!
[22]
You guys and gals hear about Zero arranging for a question to be asked by someone from the Huffington Post at today’s presser?
[23]
Being on vacation this week I’ve had a chance to see Glenn Beck’s Show for a change. Boy, I would like to see FNC switch Beck and Hannity.
[24]
Brandon, I cleaned it up a little, fixed your links, and added a “more” button to help with the length. I think you’ll like it. I’ll put it up at 5 pst. 🙂
[25]
Thanks! Yeah, like I said, I was having trouble with the formatting, I couldn’t get it to look that great.
[26]
bc3b, on a similar note, I am reading Beck’s book Common Sense, and it is just making me depressed. Some of the numbers related to our debt are just mind-blowing.
[27]
Brandon –
$1,000,000,000,000 = 1 Trillion. That’s a lot of zeros (no pun intended). The problem is Obama made so many expenditures (and is trying to make more). It’s appears that by 2012 the country will be so far into debt, there may well be no money or credit available.
[28]
BC,
Long before we get there most of the foreign investors will have fled to better offers, me thinks.
[29]
Now Obama says about Iran, “we’re apalled and outraged.” That’s a far cry from “good debate.” He thinks we’ll listen and be intrigued by whatever he says.
This reminds me of the new toilet seat my wife bought last week. She said, “Look, if you watch it, it closes real slow.” I said, “If you want me to watch as it closes, you should have gotten one with a built in Bugs Bunny cartoon. At least that will hold my interest for 15 seconds.
I guess my wife just doesn’t understand me, but then again, we’ve only been married 21 years.
Obama also has a hard time understanding what people want. Every time he thinks he’s got it, the crowds have moved on and he stands there looking like an even bigger dope.
[30]
Of course school vouchers can’t even be seriously considered. Far more important than the intellectual future of our country is continued subservience to one of the left’s favorite special interests groups….teachers’ unions. They are almost as precious a natural resource as trial lawyers to the Democratic party.
[31]
We’re rolling in the dung of our own corruption, lol… the trick is to tell yourself it smells good and keep going.
hey, at least the prodigal son remembered where the food and shelter was. We can’t even figure that out.
[32]
RWY. Obama is an expert at polishing a turd.
[33]
CTony,
Obama does not care what the people want. Neither do the house and senate democrats.
2010 will decide whether, or not, the country will put up with it for long, or not.
[34]
“Obama does not care what the people want. Neither do the house and senate democrats.” – RP
Neither do most of the Republicans in DC…We are well and truly screwed….
Any of you with faith in the Republican party leadership…ala Michael Steele, Colin Powell, John McCain…etc…etc… are smoking something….where can I get some of what you are smoking?
[35]
RP,
Obama does not care to GIVE the people what they want but he’ll do anything to say what he thinks they want to hear.
In Iran, Neda has made the protests more about freedom than he would have liked. So now Obama has to be ‘outraged’ because the American people are outraged–except the American people have been outraged for almost two weeks now. Now that he has gotten to the outrage stage, I wonder if the people have moved on. What’s the next stage, retaliation.
[36]
Hang on Brandon, I have to pull it. It looked fine in the preview! Can you email it to me? It is not allowing me to fix it properly.
[37]
This site is called BE John Galt….and yet many of the posters here seem to think that one political party can still save the day…..Did you read the book?
That day is gone…FOREVER! We are well past the point of no return…..Yet most here seem to think it can still be restored. While I like and respect Gov. Palin (and would vote for her in a heartbeat) it is beyond her and it would be beyond Ronald Reagan at this point….
For me it is time to build Galt’s Gulch and I am doing as fast as I can – I hope that I have yet enough time…Time will tell…
[38]
Col KO,
We had a perfect opportunity in 2008 for an independent party to have foud two vialble candidates. Niether the Repubs or dims had a great candidate and were pissed at the Republicans and not very fond of the dims. But no-one showed up.
Maybe in 2012. Who knows?
[39]
My concern is whether the Congressional Republicans have the courage to fight regardless of what happens in2010
I can count the GOP Senators I trust on one hand and the House members on two. Many are more interested in their personal futures, not rocking the boat and being friends with the “right people” than what’s best for the country.
[40]
Bc. You are being generous. I don’t know that I trust any of them anymore.
[41]
It all reminds me of a song…
California, here I go.
Right back where there’s lots of snow.
Where bowers, of flowers
bloom only in spring.
Each morning, at dawning
Birds fly south, they’re on the wing,
A Sun kissed miss said – adios.
That’s why that great state’s now toast.
Enough of Boxer’s golden quotes,
California, here I go.
[42]
Well…the old Colorader Night Owl, how are you?
Interesting times for sure and I’m certainly with you on Sarah.
Our problem is that good moral capitalists are not likely to want to spend their life in a cesspool like DC. Reagan was a rarity. A 3rd party wont solve that, good people will still not want to go to DC.
Nice to see you hear.
[43]
Brandon – Colorado Knightowl has it right. The numbers Beck has talked about has told me that this ball game was nearing an end – it is 42 to 7 with 5 minutes to go. This financial crisis just put it out of reach. I have said before (here and on Polipundit) that we are on the Niagara River and we are past the point of no return – just very few people know it.
Before all is said and done, it is going to get really ugly in the U.S.. It will be a nation divided with alot of blame to go around with people pointing at each other. As far as illegals and foreignors – would not want to be you.
All one can do at this point is prepare – food and bullets. Plus get the right mind set for what is to come.
[44]
gnqanq, so VERY true! Prepare folks, ’cause it IS gonna get ugly!
I would honestly put the odds at our country walking its way out of this at less than 1:1000. Which means I see 999:1000 ways that something horrendous happens to this country before it re-structures itself, potentially into several countries.
Like the father in the movie “Panic in Year Zero” (a GREAT flick, IMHO), my philosophy is clear: my family WILL survive! And I will do all I can to link up with like minded folks…like those here.
[45]
Boosh…..that was a kick. I wonder how long it will be before anyone ever wants to come to California again…..well, except for bureaucrats, lawyers, enviro fascists and ACORN thugs?
[46]
gnqnaq –
“Brandon – Colorado Knightowl has it right. The numbers Beck has talked about has told me that this ball game was nearing an end – it is 42 to 7 with 5 minutes to go.”
Sounds like one of the Lions better games. I can relate.
[47]
CKO,
That is why the sooner we burn this sucker down the sooner we can get to rebuilding this damn country the way the Founders intended.
[48]
brucefdb:
“Boosh…..that was a kick. I wonder how long it will be before anyone ever wants to come to California again…..well, except for bureaucrats, lawyers, enviro fascists and ACORN thugs?”
I can make a far better case for a company to relocate to Michigan over California – plenty of available, affordable buildings, available labor pool, far lower cost of living.
I read an article a few years back about a woman who transferred from SoCal to Nashville with Nissan. She sold her 1,200 sq ft home in SoCal, bought a 4,200 sq ft house in Nashville and had monet left over. Why any company operates in the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia is behind me.
[49]
Too many moochers and reverse racists, dog. Once the constitution sinks beneath the waves, it’s goodbye for good. Law of the jungle only.
[50]
JR,
A very prophetic flick now on DVD is ‘Amerika’. Ran as a TV mini series back in the late 80’s.
[51]
RWY,
The Constitution is already beneath the waves. SCOTUS did that 4 weeks ago with the Chrysler rejection. When the government checks stop coming the moochers have to go play a different game and the race hustlers will too as they won’t those govt checks rolling in either. With the country on its knees the like of Soros won’t see the need to fund leftists, their job having been done.
[52]
“Once the constitution sinks beneath the waves”
—
I think I saw that on “Life after People” a couple weeks back. 😉
[53]
drdogo9 , Bruce and others……I see politics today as more of entertainment (very very bad entertainment) Colin Powell out there saying we need to be more like him, it was him and the other squishy rinos that got us into this mess….for going along with all the claptrap coming out of the left side of the government…..We needed fighters and constitutionalists and we elected “collegial”, “popular”, morally bankrupt people (for the most part) that would sell out their own mother to get reelected…..That money and power seems to more addictive than nicotine…
The point is the political route to fix this country ain’t gonna work…I will still vote, I will try to have good dependable people in office when it collapses, but it will collapse. I think that will be more than evident by the end of this year. That damn Russian KGB who in 1996 predicted that the USA would collapse in 2010 was just a year off. Hell off even the Wall Street Journal had a piece speculating that USA would be better off breaking up into 5 regions rather than 1 country….
The country our forefathers founded we have let slip away with our greed, our laziness and worst of all our apathy. Let it burn down – so we can start again.
[54]
CKO, I hate to say it but I believe your prediction is the most likely outcome. The bad guys own all the institutions that matter, the media, education, entertainment, etc. It is something to see, and like you, I find it entertaining in a ghoulish sort of way, but I had hoped I wouldnt see it in my lifetime. What is weird is just how ignorant the American people have become. I knew we were in big trouble years ago when it became apparent the a majority of people actually believed that carbon dioxide had a significant impact on climate. Game over. And if you try to explain logically and without malice, anything from meterology and climate history to simple economic principles and that historic record, the utter failure of leftist policies throughout history, most just dont want to hear it. Even some of my conservative friends dont want to believe how bad it is.