🚀 go-pugleaf

David A. Kaye (dk@crl.com) wrote:
: And what HAS changed?  Roads are in worse condition, school teachers have
: to go to garage sales to scare up enough supplies for their classes,
: libraries are closing (Butte County a few years ago had to close their
: entire library system), police departments can't afford to keep patrols on
: duty (Yuba County has 2 deupties on duty overnight; they can't afford any
: more)...it goes on from there.  

California is still recovering from a very long recession. This
recession is worst than the national one and like the ones that
hit New England and Texas in recent years, it is structurally based. 
New England, Texas and California all thought that the good times
were going to continue forever and spent money and made commitments
to spend money that assumed an expanding tax base. California also
passed many regulations to improve the quality of life that also
increased the cost of life, making California one of the most
expensive place to live in the USA. A recent survey 
found that most of the 10 most expensive places to live in the
USA were in California. 

Prop 13 was only ONE of the many measures people took to reduce 
their tax exposure. One other common method was to leave California. 
Many companies either left California totally or did all their expansion 
outside of California. Rather than being a cause, Prop 13 is only
protective response to decades of short sighted planning and spending
by the state. Without the tax relief of Prop 13, even more people and
companies would have left the state and the situation would be even
worst. The situation will not improve until the state wakes up and
realizes that it has spent itself into poverty.

			   Danny Low
    "Question Authority and the Authorities will question You"
	   Valley of Hearts Delight, Silicon Valley
	     HP NSD   dlow@ppg01.sc.hp.com