California Democrats view their state as the progressive model that the country should follow. This model has led to rampant homelessness and the highest poverty rate in the country.
Census Bureau data shows that California has the highest poverty rate in the nation, with an average of 18.2% of the state’s nearly 40 million residents being impoverished in the last three years. Using its own metric, the Public Policy Institute of California determines that over one-third of the state’s residents are at or near the poverty level.
California also has the second-highest homelessness rate in the United States. Only 12% of Americans live in the Golden State, but it accounts for more than 25% of the nation’s homeless population.
The cost of living in California is crushing its citizenry, so much so that many are fleeing the state. The median home value in California is twice the national median, and the median monthly rent for an apartment is 1.75 times higher.
That hasn’t stopped California politicians like Gov. Gavin Newsom from doing their best to drive the cost of living even higher. Newsom recently announced that the state would ban the sale of gas-powered cars in 2035. Newsom also promised that the move to electric-powered cars won’t cost more, but the state hasn’t been great at making such predictions before, as with the indefinitely delayed high-speed rail that was once expected to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco.
Meanwhile, the state is facing a round of rolling blackouts due to its quick transition to clean energy. Writing off the benefits of nuclear energy and sprinting away from fossil fuels left the state with an insufficient power grid that couldn’t withstand the strain of a heat wave. And yes, the cost has gone up: Californians have seen their electricity prices rise almost seven times faster than the rest of the country.
California is the fifth-largest economy in the world, and yet it has the highest poverty rate in the U.S. and can’t keep the lights on for its residents. The state is not a model for how the country should be run. It’s a model for chasing residents away and crushing those who remain under an ever-increasing cost of living.
