Moving to California was my life dream. My husband and I both grew up on the East Coast and lived in New York City before moving to the suburbs and starting a family. Our plan was to one day retire and move to California, where the sun shines year-round, and life is good.
That was six years ago, and while I still contend that California is the most beautiful place to live, with access to the best lifestyle imaginable for many (free beaches, hiking trails, and perma-sun), I also now see in vivid detail the cracks in our “nation-state’s” veneer.
The nation-state of California, as Gov. Gavin Newsom likes to call it, is one of the most expensive states to live in, with the worst public services. This explains why there has been a recent mass exodus of Californians to states such as Texas, Arizona, Washington, and Nevada, where taxes and cost of living are significantly lower. In 2020, several large companies announced plans to relocate out of the state because of onerous taxes and regulations, including Oracle, Palantir, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, and Tesla.
California ranks 43 out of 50 states for fiscal health and budget management. Of California’s $502 billion in retirement benefits, $221 billion remain unfunded due to poor financial planning. Despite its dire financial standing, 340,000 of California’s state employees make more than $100,000, costing taxpayers a whopping $45 billion. One public employee union negotiated salaries between $300,000 and $365,000 for 44 lifeguards in Los Angeles County. This, in a state that boasts the highest homelessness rate and the highest poverty rate in the nation.
Visit any major city in California, and the homelessness crisis will shock you. Prior to the pandemic, California had 151,000 homeless, accounting for half of the homeless in the United States. A state audit revealed that California’s approach to addressing the homelessness problem has been “disjointed,” with considerable mismanagement of funds. The state has spent $13 billion toward homelessness programs, but despite mass investment, the homelessness crisis continues to grow.
It’s not just the homeless who are being failed by the system. There are 7.1 million people in California living in poverty, or 22% of the population. High housing costs are largely to blame, as costs have been rising steadily, while wages have remained stagnant. From 2006 to 2017, median hourly wages actually declined 0.5%, while housing rents increased 16.1%. Many low-income workers are one emergency away from insolvency and even homelessness. And California’s state income tax, the highest in the country, is driving jobs and opportunities for those workers out of the state.
Progressive decriminalization policies have resulted in increases in theft and a public hygiene epidemic. In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed refuses to prosecute public defecation, so human excrement litters the streets. The city received 27,000 calls to remove human feces last year. In response, San Francisco hired six “poop patrollers” to clean up human waste and hypodermic needles at a cost of $830,977 to taxpayers.
Proposition 47, which downgraded various felonies to misdemeanor offenses, is directly responsible for a surge in theft. Former Police Chief of San Diego Shelley Zimmerman called Proposition 47 “a get-of-jail-free card,” pointing out that criminals were exploiting it to commit crimes under the threshold of $950. In one instance, a criminal brought a calculator into a store to avoid stealing more than that amount.
No discussion of the ineptitude of California’s government would be complete without highlighting the state’s mishandling of unemployment benefits during the pandemic, resulting in $11.4 billion of confirmed fraudulent disbursements. A further $19 billion of suspicious claims are currently under investigation. State Labor Secretary Julie Su explained, “California has not had sufficient security measures in place to prevent this level of fraud, and criminals took advantage.”
Claims were paid to tens of thousands of incarcerated prisoners. According to the New York Times, California did not possess the technology to cross check the state prison rosters against unemployment claimants. Mason Wilder, a researcher from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, said that “ultimately the taxpayers are going to be on the hook for California’s errors.” Despite this colossal failure, Su has been selected by President Biden as deputy secretary in the Labor Department.
Californians are beginning to signal dissatisfaction. In a state where Biden commanded 65% of the vote, a number of liberal propositions recently failed. Proposition 15, to raise commercial property taxes to fund public schools, and Proposition 16, to reinstate affirmative action in the University of California’s admissions and in awarding public contracts, were defeated. Initiatives to expand rent-control and abolish cash-bail also failed.
California can be the best place to live. For those who have money, with children in private school, and who live in protected bubbles away from conspicuous homelessness, it can be a paradise. But for many, it is a tightrope between solvency and ruin and a total government failure of competency and accountability. It’s no wonder Newsom faces recall.
Patricia Pan Connor is a freelance writer, investor, and lifestyle blogger residing in California.
