by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
PJ Media<\/em><\/p>\n After various special sessions of the Legislature, assorted cries from the heart of our Governor, and the usual media sensationalism about an amorphous \u201cthey\u201d who did this to us, California is once again broke.<\/p>\n Very broke, it seems, this time around. The only mystery is whether the annual shortfall is to the tune of $20, $25, or $30 billion. (Remember, we cannot print money, though I suppose we could sell bonds to the Chinese in hopes of undercutting the Fed; or we could ask everyone of us 30 million-plus residents to donate $1,000 to Sacramento this year \u2014 and in fact every year.)<\/p>\n There are no longer many people here of character and civic-mindedness stepping forward to inform us that we have spent like crazy; and to suggest a modest return to per capita spending levels, adjusted for inflation, of about 5-6 years ago; and to create a more attractive climate for businesses to operate and relocate here. Instead, there will be a common narrative that ensues, one that I would call the five-step, since in my fifty-five years in the state it is becoming all too predictable.<\/p>\n 1. The Reality.<\/strong>\u00a0No one will discuss the mass exodus of a particular type of taxpayer. Thousands of highly-educated, highly-paid Californians the last decades have cashed out their ample housing equities, and left the state due to high income and sales taxes, poor schools, high crime, and an unworkable bureaucracy. We don\u2019t seem to regret why they leave, and whether it says as much about us as them. Many move to nearby low or no income-tax Nevada, Utah, and Oregon where they can commute, work over the Internet, and take advantage of far cheaper costs, but still enjoy a Western-state informal lifestyle. Anyone who flies out of the state gets a good aerial view of these expatriate border cities, these post-California communities \u2014 strange phenomena that seem to be referenda on relative state government.<\/p>\n There is no longer the nucleus for any organized tax-payer revolt as in the 1970s; so when the mob-like chorus chants \u2018Soak the rich!\u2019 and the \u201cthey should pay\u201d rhetoric heats up, the targeted now flee rather than fight.<\/p>\n The number of those with bachelor\u2019s degrees who flee is made up by those without high school diplomas who arrive. The state is tailor-made to destroy the 200-acre farmer or independent small businessperson who deals with new myriads of state regulations, fees, income and sales taxes, mandates and environmental, as well as social, and cultural disdain.<\/p>\n And California is tailor-made to enhance his law-suit-minded employee who slips on his shop floor; the official in the state-owned car who shows up to fine him for the inorganic two-by-four spotted in the farm brush pile; and the drunk driver without registration, license or insurance who plows through his orchard, fleeing his wrecked car carcass and thousands in damages behind \u2014 without punishment but with a possible legal grievance for the farmer\u2019s pipeline standpipe being in his way, some thirty yards in from the road. I kid you not.<\/p>\n I say all this\u00a0sine ira et furore<\/em>, because it is a done-deal, and I accept that I used to know dozens of such entrepreneurs and now know very few in agriculture. And in the place of the occasional mosquito abatement officer, I encounter a plethora of ubiquitous mobile clerks. A call to an EPA officer might get through much more quickly than\u00a0in extremis<\/em>\u00a0to a constable. We need a pause and philosophical reexamination of what creates and what monitors and regulates wealth.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0The Taboo.<\/strong>\u00a0No one is to mention the presence of several million illegal aliens in the state that might make California\u2019s meltdown a little bit more severe than say Montana\u2019s or Utah\u2019s. To do so is to be labeled racist, nativist, and indulging in illiberal scapegoating, even though it is a question of funds not culture, much less race. We dare not explore the reality that very hard-working young Oaxacans come illegally across the border at 18, work terribly hard for 20 years and contribute mightily to the economy, but by their late thirties and forties \u2014 still often without legality, without a high-school diploma, and without English \u2014 either become mired in low-income, perennial entry-level jobs, or are finally worn out by sending half their hourly wages back to Mexico, or have been cited, arrested, or jailed for various activities, or have become injured in jobs on ladders and on their knees that take a terrible yearly toll on one\u2019s body, or due to smoking, dietary changes, psychological stresses, or alcohol have premature serious illnesses, or have several children in need of special bilingual prep or anti-poverty program attention. Any illegal alien is one tragedy, or chance mistake away from financial oblivion.<\/p>\n There are thousands of exceptions to that narrative (and they are now the hope of the state), but it is an accurate enough politically-incorrect generalization to explain at least some of the state\u2019s structured deficits. Far better it would be to let in a finite number of Mexican nationals, do it legally, try to insist on high school diplomas, and ensure there are citizen sponsors on this side of the border.<\/p>\n \u00a92008 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media After various special sessions of the Legislature, assorted cries from the heart of our Governor, and the usual media sensationalism about an amorphous \u201cthey\u201d who did this to us, California is once again broke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[736],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-P9","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4024,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/eye-of-the-beholder\/","url_meta":{"origin":3171,"position":0},"title":"Eye of the Beholder","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 12, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson The American Enterprise Online War-torn Iraq has about 26 million residents, a peaceful California perhaps now 35 million. The former is a violent and impoverished landscape, the latter said to be paradise on Earth. But how you envision either place to some degree depends on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "April 2006"","block_context":{"text":"April 2006","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2006\/april-2006\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8930,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/california-is-leading-from-behind\/","url_meta":{"origin":3171,"position":1},"title":"California Is Leading from Behind","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Consider California\u2019s upside-down logic. By Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Tribune Media Services California has given us three new truths about government. One, the higher that taxes rise, the worst state services become. Two, the worse a natural disaster hits, the more the state contributes to its havoc. 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One, the higher that taxes rise, the worse\u00a0state services become. Two, the worse a natural disaster hits, the more the state contributes to its havoc. And three, the more existential the problem, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/california-leading-from-behind.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":167,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/its-hard-to-screw-up-california-but-we-try-our-best\/","url_meta":{"origin":3171,"position":4},"title":"It’s Hard to Screw Up California–But We Try Our Best","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner There is a sort of upbeat\u00a0New York Timesarticle\u00a0arguing that California \u2014 in part, thanks to passing the highest sales and income taxes in the nation \u2014 might be coming back, a sort of recovery that can guide the rest of the US to a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "California"","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/california\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8742,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/can-california-be-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":3171,"position":5},"title":"Can California Be Saved?","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\u00a0\/\/ National Review Online Crime is back up in California. 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