by Adam Caslin
Three months ago the country watched as the poorly maintained Oroville dam threatened to collapse, forcing the evacuation of many terrified California citizens. After a period of drought, the rains came causing a surge of water that the aging dam could not hold back.
The poor condition of the dam only highlighted the major problems the state of California has been facing with its infrastructure. One of the largest states in the country, with arguably the highest taxes, cost of living, and wealth, doesn’t seem to be able to maintain the most basic needs of its society.
But why? Shouldn’t a largely liberal state like California have enough cash and cache with their people to fund large projects like rebuilding and maintaining its infrastructure? Apparently not. Because, although the job of leaders is to keep their society humming, the extreme leftism of California’s social justice lawmakers have caused them to entirely ignore these basic needs.
Which begs the question: is California simply the worst?
For over a decade, despite many warnings, the social justice warriors have not only refused to build new water infrastructure to feed a population growing with the immigrants and now refugees they want to protect, they have also refused to spend money to protect the infrastructure they have. (Forbes)
According to reports, California has over $77 billion in deferred road, highway, and bridge maintenance. The state suffers from numerous sinkholes, highway collapses, and other damage caused by the sudden influx of rain.
It seems with or without rain the state is unprepared for what Mother Nature might through at them. No rain? Awesome, the state doesn’t have any kind of infrastructure to provide needed water for its millions of citizens and their agricultural industries (those Napa Valley grapes don’t water themselves).
Even a basic desalinization project, taking water from that big thing nearby called the Pacific Ocean, would have helped. But no, California lawmakers were happy to have people and companies suffer.
But when the rains came in force? I have good news for you! The state’s infrastructure is so poorly maintained, that the rains destroyed roads, bridges, and a 50-year-old dam that has been ignored!
That alone should make conscientious citizens consider a move. But there are even more problems in the works. See more.
Funny how there was plenty of $$ for Moonbeam’s Train to Nowhere and to fund Illegals’ free college tuition – not to mention the University of California hidden slush fund. And now we have Moonbeam’s plan to spend $$$$ on defending Illegals from deportation.
Leaving Taxifornia seems the only solution.
Have heard that Lake Tahoe is full and that they’ve let as much water into the Truckee River as they can without flooding Reno, however the creeks into Tahoe are starting to back up ’cause there’s nowhere for the water to go. Stay tuned for more flooding!
Please also don’t forget there’s plenty of money to give convicted murderers sex change operations. And there will be plenty more where that came from since DemoNRats just passed a 52 billion tax increase on fuels and vehicles which will be used for all sorts of things besides roads.
“A 57-year-old convicted killer serving a life sentence has become the first U.S. inmate to receive state-funded sex-reassignment surgery, the prisoner’s attorneys confirmed Friday.
California prison officials agreed in August 2015 to pay for the surgery for Shiloh Heavenly Quine, who was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery for ransom and has no possibility of parole.
Quine will be moved to a women’s prison after the operation, which was performed at a hospital in San Francisco, her attorneys said.
The daughter of Quine’s victim said she objects to inmates getting taxpayer-funded surgery that is not readily available to non-criminals, regardless of the cost. ”
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-inmate-sex-reassignment-20170106-story.html
Get involved and read the reports stop speculating
CA is one of the Best States out there
The grass is not greener in other places many are worse and more corrupt
I have now worked in 25 states, can not wait to come back home to CA
Move if you think it is so much better elsewhere
Dewey if you are right and there are many other states that are far worse than California, we’re in serious trouble. Now granted new Jersey is bad, really bad and so is New York. But, I don’t see the mismanagement and stupidity coming from many other states on a daily basis as we do here in Taxifornia.
Really … Kansas, anybody?
I thought not.
Kansas is the Tea Party State big fail there dead broke
Crickets guys?
Yes Jack I have lived and worked in 25 states now
the grass is not greener
Ca pays fed taxes and these other state feeds off them.
http://www.breitbart.com/california/2017/05/17/jerry-brown-california-taxpayers-freeloaders/
Kinda like $hrilLIARy’s “deplorables” comment . . . . .
Hey Captain Jack,
Jerry Brownshirt just called you a freeloader.
“The freeloaders — I’ve had enough of them … They have a president that doesn’t tell the truth and they’re following suit,” he said. Brown was speaking in Orange County, defending State Assembly newcomer Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), who is facing a recall effort after voting for Brown’s new transportation taxes in April.
The new tax raises existing gas taxes — already among the highest in the nation — by 12 cents per gallon, with higher taxes on diesel, and slaps car owners with higher annual registration fees. Critics have pointed out that the burden of the tax falls most heavily on middle-class Californians.
http://www.breitbart.com/california/2017/05/17/jerry-brown-california-taxpayers-freeloaders/
Joe, sounds like Jerry Brownshirt is the pot calling the kettle black. He’s spent his whole life as a politician making big bucks off the public and not done much in return.
Taxifornia already has the highest gas tax in the country when you factor in the Cap and Trade tax. And now it is to go up another 12 cents in November than another 7 cents about a year and a half later. And diesel goes up over 20 cents a gallon in November. And these taxes go up every year automatically as they are indexed to inflation.
So in the Old Brown Buzzards world, taxpayers who already pay the highest taxes in the country are some how free loaders if they object to being looted even more.
And you think Brown is bad? Just wait until pretty boy Gavin is crowned dictator. He will make Brown look conservative, guarantee it.
And I guarantee you will be wishing even more than you do now that you lived in the state of Jefferson.
Very dark days are in store for this state. I guarantee it.
You (plainly) wish.
And do you exist entirely in the present, like a sponge? The rest of us remember the $4.50 gasoline. So take your non-existent gloom and doom off to Idaho.
You’ll love it there.
” The rest of us remember the $4.50 gasoline.”
Who doesn’t. But that’s another story entirely.
Joe was discussing gas taxes not gas prices.
Californians pay higher rates for our gas anyway because our gas has to be refined differently to meet the states regulations.
Who is polluting most in California? Well by golly its the SF/Bay Area and the greater LA area. But we all pay for your leftist overkill on regulation.
As we’ve mentioned many times before governments make much more on a gallon of gas than oil companies do…it is government, state and federal, that is the biggest oil robber baron.
Read this eye opener from 2013 in Reason magazine.
And those rising gas taxes in CA? They apply to delivery on everything we buy. Poor folks will pay more for less at the grocery store. Bet that really floats your boat, Libby. Shows how much you care about the little guy.
Such a phony bunch, you liberals.
You are so brainwashed that if the Demorats increase the gas tax another $10 a gallon we wouldn’t hear a peep out of you…or more likely you would be touting this theft.
Joe, I don’t have to worry about that, because the Dems will do no such thing. They will hike the gas tax (as they may not hike the property tax) to raise the money to deal with our crumbling infrastructure, about which you complain so vociferously.
It’s not done with fairy dust, ya know.
It would be nice if we could jail the engineers of the Oroville Dam, and the state regulators that passed on the cheaper rather than safer design. Alas, they is all dead …and were Republican, to a man.
So Libsters,
There’s not enough money to fix the roads so the Demorats tell us and they gotta raise taxes, big time.
Yet there’s plenty of money for a bullet train to nowhere and to provide convicted murderers with sex change operations. Plus to provide all sorts of money for illegal aliens and raises for gooberment employees.
And according to Jerry Brown, taxpayers who have had enough of his tax increases are freeloaders.
And factoring the cap and trade tax, Colliefornia already has the highest fuel taxes in the country, yet it has roads that are among the worst in the country. So let’s allow the gooberment to steal even more of our money. Reward bad behavior and expect changes.
And because you are so brainwashed you believe all this is situation normal.
Only the most brainwashed Demorats believe that.
And of course you are completely wrong about the (H)O(r)ro(r)ville Dam(n).
‘Lethal arrogance’? Oroville Dam crisis sprang from Pat Brown’s towering ambition
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article150278687.html#storylink=cpy
More on the Brown Buzzard and the Demonrats fuel and vehicle tax increase scam…you all should be outraged and work on getting the initiative to over turn this scam on the ballot and also work to recall these Demonrat politicians.
Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. told Fox News only 20 cents of every gas tax dollar goes toward repairing crumbling roads and bridges. The other 80 cents flows down the rathole to pay for California public employee’s pensions.
“You can call it a transportation tax, education tax, or health care tax. At end of day the money will find its way into public employee compensation,” Coupal said.
Parroting the spin from the left, the Sacramento Bee says, “The bulk of the revenue raised will go to various state and local road programs, as well as public transit, goods movement and traffic congestion.”
If you believe that, I’ll bet you believed you could keep your doctor under Obamacare.
There are no guarantees where the money will be spent. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger raised the gas tax by 11 cents in 2008 and wasted the money on a “high speed rail initiative.” If politicians were subject to the same financial laws that Wall Street is, most of them would be under indictment.
http://www.newsmax.com/MichaelReagan/california-gasoline-tax-jerry-brown/2017/05/20/id/791336/