What does California's future look like?

[NEON Cactus Kid]

California has a problem. Actually, it has a lot of problems, and these problems are driving people to leave the state at a rate that increases with each year. Since 2020, California's population has decreased by almost 300,000 people. While this came as a surprise to some, others had seen this coming for a while.

In reality, the trend of more Americans leaving California than moving to California began well over a decade ago. California's population only continued to increase due to immigration (both legal and illegal) and births in the state. However, even with immigration the state's population growth rate slowed as more Americans left the state and immigrants began to increasingly choose different states to start their new lives.

There are many different reasons why California has become an increasingly less attractive place to live. These are:

1. California's high cost of living.
2. Comparatively heavy state income taxes.
3. California's rampant homeless problem.
4. The state's high crime rate.
5. Constant droughts and water shortages.
6. The constant threat of massive wildfires.
7. California's seemingly poor economic future as more businesses leave the state.
8. Political differences

So where are these ex-California migrants going? As it turns out, the most popular destinations for these people are Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Georgia, and Florida, with Texas being the most popular destination. Furthermore, an increasing number of businesses (including tech companies) have been leaving California for other states (mostly Texas) because of California's increasingly unfriendly business environment, which is characterized by ever increasing corporate taxes, regulations, and bureaucracy. Because of this, many economists see California as having a poor future. Others, however, are more optimistic and believe that there is still some time to correct some of California's flaws.

What are your thoughts on California and its future? Is it a doomed state, or is there still hope for it change for the better?

Sources:

https://www.latimes.com/california/stor ... rding%20to
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/11/califor ... ation.html
https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/ ... 63228.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/04/us/c ... cline.html
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/state ... 576e8a526b
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/02/02 ... -in-texas/
https://apnews.com/article/california-h ... 7c65df7b84

[The Black Forrest]

*yawns*. California is terrible post number I can’t count that high.

[Cannot think of a name]

C'mon, we just had a two minute California hate. Go pick on Idaho or something. Give it a rest. Tend your own fucking gardens.

[Nipponkyo]

I have an online friend who is from California. She said that it is a beautiful state with nice weather, but recently she and her family had to leave because it was getting more and more expensive to live there. It was getting harder for them to make ends meet and even afford some basic necessities. Now they live in Texas. She doesn't like the heat and humidity, but their quality of life is better. Even though her husband makes slightly less money in his new job, the cost of living is so much lower in Texas that they actually are able to save a lot more money than they could if they stayed in California.

I guess a lot of people in California are having this problem. It does not look good.

[Kerwa]

I just got some neighbors who moved from California. Mostly we just talk about our dogs, so I have no idea of the details as to why they moved. They did think April was cold though. I feel they are hurtling towards a bit of a shock.

They seem nice enough. I actually wanted to live in Cali when I was younger.

[Arcturus Novus]

It's looking dry, for one.

[Saiwania]

The state is doomed unless if they can fix their economy and water problems. If their economy stays rich enough, they might be able to afford ways of making more water available, like resorting to desalination plants. Its not so difficult these days to have a graphene filter that only lets the water pass through but not the salt. But the less water there is, it is another reason for why people will want to leave.

If or when all of the money dries up, it is too little too late.

[Jabberwocky]

What? No mention of earthquakes?

[Excidium Planetis]

I think we can contribute a large portion of that population loss to conservatives moving to Texas because they don't like California's liberal government anymore.

[Vavlar]

C'mon, we just had a two minute California hate. Go pick on Idaho or something. Give it a rest. Tend your own fucking gardens.

We californians have no gardens but purslane, horseweed, spotted spurge, a few rose bushes, palm trees, birds of paradise, trees, and dead grass. Dead grass everywhere.

[Excidium Planetis]

What? No mention of earthquakes?

Earthquakes are nothing. How many Americans get killed by earthquakes every year?

Compared to every other natural disaster we could have here in California, like tornados, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, etc, I'm glad that we just have the ground shaking a little bit every now and then.

Now if only we could solve the wildfire problem...

[ImperialRussia]

That doesn’t likely mean your chances getting a big quake in California are gonna disappear there gonna decrease los angles is gonna be under water very soon so pack up leave you see signs earth quakes activity increase and cracks of the earths crust seen in something like 2012 or Los angles movie.

[Excidium Planetis]

That doesn’t likely mean your chances getting a big quake in California are gonna disappear there gonna decrease los angles is gonna be under water very soon so pack up leave you see signs earth quakes activity increase and cracks of the earths crust seen in something like 2012 or Los angles movie.

I don't think we should base our decisions on works of fiction, generally.

[Jewish Underground State]

Well cities across america are failing especially in California and the North East.

I don't think anyone in politics will fix the problems out of the goodness of their hearts

[Eahland]

Is it wrong that I'm kind of nostalgic for Mayan Apocalypse conspiracies now?

[American Legionaries]

Brighter than it has any right to be.

[Cannot think of a name]

I have an online friend who is from California. She said that it is a beautiful state with nice weather, but recently she and her family had to leave because it was getting more and more expensive to live there. It was getting harder for them to make ends meet and even afford some basic necessities. Now they live in Texas. She doesn't like the heat and humidity, but their quality of life is better. Even though her husband makes slightly less money in his new job, the cost of living is so much lower in Texas that they actually are able to save a lot more money than they could if they stayed in California.

I guess a lot of people in California are having this problem. It does not look good.

A lot of this has to do with peoples huge ass hard ons to dunk on California so they don't look any closer than their own ideology. And then are full of ideas about what we should do because they met a Californian once.

First of all, we are the most populous state in the union and while population density is not the primary cause of the current speed run in cost of living, it's a factor. It's a digital world. Stay home and become famous. We could use a little relief because the majority of the people are in three metropolitan areas.

We, like a lot of places, are experience the aftershock of the housing crisis in 2008. Investment firms and the like were able to snap up property sold at a fraction of its value to have that property rapidly increase in value.

Instead of just going "yeah, okay. That happens. It eventually bounces back to its value." the investors weren't like my brother who bought at the bottom of the market and was able to use the rebound to buy his business (a music store, he didn't become a captain of industry) they start swapping them with each other sustaining an artificial demand and increasing prices, eventually forcing people out of homes after surviving the last ordeal and increasing the number of houses and properties that aren't in the hands of the residents.

Add to that, new high income housing has taken priority over low income house for the money, displacing the poor and increasing their cost of living.

While nominally the residents would be empathetic to the plight of the less fortunate, they are less empathetic if they can see them.

This creates two problems. Homelessness ends up being treated like an aesthetic issue instead of a humanitarian crisis and the one big bear that will honestly eat California from the inside out, NIMBY. "We're all for solving the states problems, but not in my backyard.' They can support the idea of low income housing but oppose actual low income housing if it's near you. Most of the solvable problems in California would be infinently easier if finding a place for it wasn't so...dramatic.

What people always leave out when they cackle over California having a net loss when it comes to state migration.

The people who are leaving are the poor, people who make around $50,000 a year. The people who are moving in, however...rich people. People with incomes over $200,000.

Sort of shoots that whole theory that it's the taxes right in the dick.

The biggest problem we face had the tipping point come and go. We're still calling it a drought and not 'the new climate.' As long as we act like all we have to do is wait it out until a rainy winter or two saves us things will continue to get worse. And look, part of that might mean less people should live here. We stacked the most people the furthest away from the water. As far as crime goes it's not great, but it's something everyone is dealing with. We don't even make the list of the worst. It's not that crime isn't an issue, rather it's not solely a California problem.

I do delight a bit now that we're fully in this phase where the people who were gloating that California was losing residents are now suddenly fretting because they're still voting like they were Californians. Oops. We also continue to contribute more than we take so the red states can remain functioning and talk about how we're ruining America. (I'm not high and mighty about that whole donor state thing, every state is going to have a myriad of factors that exist before you even put people in it that contribute to these kinds of things and I definitely don't think states need to be 'grateful', just that when the states you're helping out stick their bony middle fingers up our ass every two weeks it's just kind of exhausting.


But here's the most important thing. We know about the problems. We fucking live here. For some we know what to do and the dumb roadblocks to do them, others we're working on it. What we don't need is the unsolicited advice from people in other states who know maybe two things about California and only one of them is true. We didn't ask. And, by and large, your unsolicited ideas are terrible. So maybe instead of snarking about California all the fucking time, how about eyes on your own paper? It's weird for you to be so obsessed with us. Maybe you don't know what it's like to live in state like ours, a state where no one thinks of you at all. Or you're the state that everyone forgets when trying to name all fifty states. It's alright. {I]You[/i] can think about your state. All you have to do is step the fuck off our jock.

[Cannot think of a name]

C'mon, we just had a two minute California hate. Go pick on Idaho or something. Give it a rest. Tend your own fucking gardens.

We californians have no gardens but purslane, horseweed, spotted spurge, a few rose bushes, palm trees, birds of paradise, trees, and dead grass. Dead grass everywhere.

We can get rid of the palm trees. Not only are those motherfuckers not native to the state, we have to fuze the tall part of the palm tree to the foot part of an entirely different palm tree just to get them to grow here. Fuck palm trees and their giant monster blade frawns or whatever they're called. And dinosaur scales.

Man I hate fucking palm trees. Well, palm trees where they don't belong. Here.

[Free Algerstonia]

people that live in california swear too much

[ImperialRussia]

Then stop latching on to the other states which none of your business but your state

[Jewish Underground State]

The amount of problems California has amazes me. A few years ago it was praised and prosperous. Now californians are in a diaspora.

[ImperialRussia]

That doesn’t likely mean your chances getting a big quake in California are gonna disappear there gonna decrease los angles is gonna be under water very soon so pack up leave you see signs earth quakes activity increase and cracks of the earths crust seen in something like 2012 or Los angles movie.

I don't think we should base our decisions on works of fiction, generally.

Would you trust a scientist or nature to be on your side animals are the first to know

[Cannot think of a name]

What? No mention of earthquakes?

Earthquakes are nothing. How many Americans get killed by earthquakes every year?

Compared to every other natural disaster we could have here in California, like tornados, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, etc, I'm glad that we just have the ground shaking a little bit every now and then.

Now if only we could solve the wildfire problem...

yeah I was gonna say there, probably not a good look to get smug about our weather disaster when we have wild fires wiping out entire towns.

I feel like we've been saying "controlled burns, start doing controlled burns again" a lot but...

Every fire season kick off I kinda have the same feeling, "What's left to burn?" But part of the reason our fires spread so fast and burn so hot is we get like 4 months of rain kinda where grasses and the like grow and then eight months of angry sun killing them again so that by July or August they're niiiiiiiice and ready for some jackoff's gender reveal party. Or a shitty power line PG&E would rather have a rolling blackout over than fix.

Fuck PG&E while we're at it. Motherfuckers blew up San Bruno. (well, part of it)

[Cannot think of a name]

people that live in california swear too much

Thanks to all the activists, hippies, naturalists, and philanthropists we have a surplus of fucks and they have to go somefuckingwhere.

[Excidium Planetis]

Would you trust a scientist or nature to be on your side animals are the first to know

The first to know what you're trying to say in this post? Cause I certainly don't.