California Collapse

                California, the formerly Golden State, ranks dead last among all U.S. states in terms of “quality of life,” according to a study by U.S. News. New Jersey came in at 49^th. How can this be? How could this have happened to the erstwhile Land of Milk and Honey, the state to which everyone dreamed of moving?

                As I’ve previously reported, homelessness is rampant. Studies show that the homeless population in Los Angeles increased by a staggering 75% from 2011 thru 2016, and is now approaching 58,000. How could this be? How could this have happened during the reigns of President Barack Obama and Governor Jerry Brown, committed leftists both?

                Residents, while sympathetic to the plight of the homeless, increasingly feel invaded. They are concerned for their physical safety and public health, particularly in light of last year’s hepatitis A outbreak that spread rapidly among the homeless. The homeless seem to be everywhere, and often are reluctant to leave places of business—or citizen’s lawns. Many denizens are experiencing a sense of impending loss and irreversible decline. And a growing number believe that the rights of homeless people have trumped the rights of everyone else.

                Ironically, California’s pathetic quality of life ranking reflects very low marks in the sub-categories of environmental quality and social engagement (a measure of voting participation and “community bonds”). This despite the fact that the state has incredibly stringent environmental regulations—and an unsurpassed record of social-engineering.

                Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles County has increased by 67% in the past few years according to Zillow’s Rent Index, the Los Angeles Times reported recently. One-third of renters in the L.A. area qualify as severely rent burdened, meaning they spend at least half of their income on housing.

                And 50% of the state’s revenue comes from the wealthiest 1% of Californians.

                Rent control. Punitive environmental regulations. Legalized drug use. Clean-needle programs. Anti-family public policy. A runaway LGBTQ agenda. A swelling illegal immigration population. “Sanctuary cities.” (For whom?!). And the list goes on.

                How could “this” happen to the great state of California? Social engineering and “progressive” policies.

Taking advantage of the law it recently passed, California has availed itself of assisted suicide.

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L.A. woman Sunday afternoon
Drive through your suburbs
Into your blues, into your blues, yeah
Into your blue-blue blues
Into your blues, ohh, yeah

Motel money murder madness
Let's change the mood from glad to sadness...

(The Doors; 1971)