the bubble had to burst (4.00 / 1)

.
Ever since Prop 13, this bust has been coming. They trashed their own future for a pocketful of mumbles, low taxes, high services, lots of Federal money that could be cut off at any time. Their economy has always been way too dependent upon government payrolls, government contracts, government tax breaks: A Reaganaut recipe for disaster. Voodoo economics at work.

Still, I feel sorry for my old friends in NoCal, SoCal and the desert. It really was paradise before the "conservative movement" ruined it. Sad.

They'll prob'ly go Facist before they go socialist. Let's see how their corporatist "leadership" handles this mess.
.

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by: cosanostradamus @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 06:03:08 AM CDT

WTF??? (4.00 / 1)

Their economy has always been way too dependent upon government payrolls, government contracts, government tax breaks: A Reaganaut recipe for disaster. Voodoo economics at work.

As of 2005, California got 80 cents back from the Federal government for every dollar sent to Washington.

Yes, Orange County was built on a foundation of military spending during and after WWII.  And aerospace spending was the foundation of Silicon Valley.  While the former bred a viciously destructive hotbed of narcissistic Meists, the latter has been one of our nations great wealth-producing centers for more than a generation now.

Compare that, if you will, to the Southern states, which collectively are almost exactly California's inverse--getting 19 cents MORE back from Washington than they send:

South	
  Alabama          1.63
  Arkansas         1.40
  Florida          0.95
  Georgia          1.03
  Kentucky         1.51
  Louisiana        1.85
  Mississippi      2.02
  North Carolina   1.08
  Oklahoma         1.35
  South Carolina   1.35
  Tennessee        1.29
  Texas            0.97
  Virginia         1.51
  West Virginia    1.75
Total            1.19

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

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by: Paul Rosenberg @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 07:15:04 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Where did all the water come from? (0.00 / 0)

Without huge government sponsored dams, SoCa would not have the economy that it has. Don't know how that influences your calculations, but such should not be overlooked.


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

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by: SpitBall @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 10:02:16 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

You're Talking DECADES Ago (0.00 / 0)

So, you want to figure in the cost of the Louisiana Purchase and Mexican-American War when you look at the states involved with those?

Heck, the Revolutionary War was pretty damn expensive, too.  Without financing from France, we'd never have made it. That "should not be overlooked" either.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

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by: Paul Rosenberg @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 10:57:35 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Decades are not that long ago (0.00 / 0)

You often cite political actions and events from "decades" past and then get testy when people want to ignore, or degrade the relevance of in those cases. I'd call it a "double standard", but I'm sure you'd have a clever come-back.

Perhaps the dams were built all the way back in the prehistoric times, but we are still paying for them today, especially in terms of the ecological damage wrought. If we are gonna talk about how burning fossil fuels has to include a frank assessment of the "true" costs, I think the same should apply to issues of water-shed engineering and agriculture - especially in the west.


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

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by: SpitBall @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 12:39:27 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Point Is (0.00 / 0)

This has NOTHING to do with our current budget situation.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

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by: Paul Rosenberg @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 14:59:31 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

depends when you start the time-line (0.00 / 0)

The CA "boom" and economy has always been built on unsustainable land and water use policies. No surprise that unsustainable endeavors are expensive and hard to maintain.

"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

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by: SpitBall @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 15:12:50 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The D&D Article Is Really Good! (4.00 / 1)

I never played myself--wrong generation.  But he really spells it out beautifully.  Play is the mother of many skills and much wisdom.  That's why all mammals play for hours on end while growing up.

Of course, "more work, less play" pretty much sums up the "consensus" on education reform, 'cause we're not quite stupid enough as a nation yet.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

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by: Paul Rosenberg @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 06:52:34 AM CDT

US News article (0.00 / 0)

The author is a Republican politician and activist named Bernadine Healy.  Dr. Healy worked in the Reagan Administration and headed the National Instute for Health (NIH) under Bush I.  She ran for the Senate from Ohio in 1984 but lost the Republican primary to Mike DeWine.  Bill Clinton replaced her at NIH.

Healy succeeeded Elizabeth Dole at the American Red Cross in 1999 and was fired for screw ups in administering Katrina relief.  She was accused of raising money under false pretenses (or at least spending it without regard to its stated purpose).

Wikipedia describes her as a Republican activist and Newsweek columnist.  Nothing to see here,  This is the same show as in 1994 only instead of Betsy McCaughey it is Bernadine Healy.

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by: David Kowalski @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 07:10:15 AM CDT

thanks for the roundup -- Make Them Accountable does another great one too -- (0.00 / 0)

http://makethemaccountable.com/

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by: amberglow @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 10:05:08 AM CDT

from there -- "An Obama Lever" from Left Coaster -- (4.00 / 1)

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/...

... President Obama's greatest weakness is his insistence never, ever to be branded as weak or ineffective in national defense or terrorism. President Obama can be easily manipulated pushing defense or terrorism politics buttons.

I vividly remember reading an admiring Glenzilla during the 2008 campaign how Obama adroitly turned aside the juvenile, obnoxious political stab he didn't wear an American flag lapel pin. Yet just a few months into his presidency Obama was wearing a flag lapel pin, calling the United States the galling "Homeland" as he outlined plans to whup Afghanistan ass with American bombs by killing a lot of civilians.

...

The Defense budget-while the rest of the economy crumbles, children are hungry on the streets as the country falls apart-gets and incredulous increase of 5%. Americans (Democrats especially) seem insistent on implacably being in denial over the insane level of American military spending, which has profoundly dangerous effects across the entire American policy spectrum.

...

I, like all liberals, find this military veneration and diligence to every imaginable need appalling. Like hell it's change I can believe in, yet the Obama administration obviously will do everything in its power not to have the weenie liberal Democrat on Defense label stick.

Is it worth it as a price for staying in Executive power? It isn't to me, but it apparently is to most of the rest the Democratic Party.

That's another story, what's important for liberals, Democrats and progressives to know is that Obama will do anything not to be labeled weak on defense or terrorism. Everyone knows it, it's a massive weakness and violation of many of our core values, and using Defense and terrorism tactics is the easiest way to manipulate him.

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by: amberglow @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 10:08:40 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

excellent RollCall piece on healthcare -- "Miller: U.S. Needs a Holistic, Cradle-to-Grave System of National Health Care" (0.00 / 0)

http://www.rollcall.com/featur...

In the 15 years since Congress gave up on universal health care, about 300,000 Americans have died from the lack of health coverage alone, using the government's own data.
...
One choice is the fork that brings us together to weave a safety net. This fork is the Medicare-for-all approach; everybody in, nobody out. Imagine a cradle-to-grave, holistic system based on public health, prevention, wellness, a medical home for everyone and - according to the Congressional Budget Office - doing all of this while saving money. This is the single-payer choice.

Then there is the other fork: forcing everyone to have insurance by building on the current broken system. This is the déjà vu path. Choosing this path continues corporate rationing, procedure-based sickness care, out-of-control costs and obscene CEO and executive compensation. During the last debate on universal health care, Congress fell for industry promises of savings through an expansion of managed care. After a year or so, all voluntary "savings" were gone and the bad old days of skyrocketing costs were back.

Secret Bailout

It's bailout fever now; every corporation and industry wants theirs. Some are out in the open like Wall Street, American International Group and the automakers. One big corporate bailout is secret, disguised as a uniquely American way of doing business.

I'm talking about the for-profit corporate sickness insurance industry. An industry that takes in money, lots of money, much of it from us, the taxpayers, and in return pays for as little health care as possible to maximize profits for their investors.

It is strange to listen to the Members of Congress criticize the Big Three automakers, when at the same time they not only continue to support, but even propose expanding the for-profit, corporate health insurance industry.  ...

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by: amberglow @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 11:04:45 AM CDT

H.W. 's birthday parachute jump....NO! (4.00 / 1)

Who's idea is it to pose an ailing and elderly President on someone's lap and let him scream "wheeeeee" as he falls out of an airplane?

WEAK!!!!  

Nationalism is not the same thing as terrorism, and an adversary is not the same thing as an enemy.

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by: worldlymother @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 11:55:39 AM CDT