“That’s it. I’m outta here.” So a friend told me after the blowout recall loss on Sept. 14. This friend long has been wavering on whether to leave California for relief from taxes and the general “Crazifornia” atmosphere.
Several other friends also said they’re leaning more toward the “leave” option.
All these folks would be following the roughly 650,000 who are skedaddling every year. Of course, folks still come here: tech hotshots to Silicon Valley, wannabe movie stars to Hollywood, illegal aliens to everywhere. But as everyone now knows, for the first time in history, in recent years more people are leaving than coming.
Seriously, if that’s possible, with the recall now in the past, what issues now are facing the Golden State?
1. A $1 trillion public unfunded liabilities debt hanging over the state from pensions and retiree medical care. It currently costs $8 billion from the state general fund just to service that debt, not to mention billions more from local and school pensions. The amount only will grow, requiring tax increases.
2. A school system that perennially scores 48th on national tests. “Better than Mississippi” is not a great selling point. The powerful California Teachers Association and California Federation of Teachers continue to oppose school choice, merit pay for the best teachers, and other reforms.
3. A record-high tax burden. Income, sales, and gas tax rates top those in any other state.
4. A crumbling infrastructure. The $5 billion yearly gas tax increase from 2017 only partly has filled potholes because there are so many of them. And the tax increase only was “needed” because of other foolish spending priorities. See No. 1, above. And see the high-speed rail boondoggle, still choo-chooing along despite Newsom’s promise in 2020 to get rid of it.
5. Punishingly high housing prices. What young couple can afford a home when the median housing price is $800,000 statewide, even higher in coastal areas? Efforts to reform the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and other barriers to more construction never get far.
7. Not just the teachers unions, but the other unions will keep getting stronger, devouring more of the state economy. These include AFCME, the SEIU, the Correctional Peace Officers Association (prison guards), the numerous sheriff and cop associations, and the surprisingly powerful California Nurses Association.
After the Newsom victory, AFSCME Local 3299—University of California service workers—sent out this gloating email: “We rose to defend our state from the anti-union and anti-science extremism at the heart of this recall. Together, we united behind a Governor who has prioritized our health, the safety of essential workers and school children, and an economy that works for all of us because California deserves nothing less.”
You can bet they’re going to expect big-time payback during next year’s pay negotiations.
Hope From Latinos
Finally, let me end on a hopeful note. Especially as we now already have begun the next cycle racing toward the Nov. 8, 2022, election.As Larry Elder brought up many times during his campaign, Latinos and blacks are being shafted by the horrible California schools system, which benefits the teachers unions at the expense of students.
He’s hinting at a run next year. I hope he, or whomever the GOP ends up pushing past the senseless, anti-democratic Top Two system, adopts that strategy. Sure, there are so many other things one could address, and Elder did address—most listed above.
But for a Republican to have any chance, there should be one topic: education. Hammer it home.