Go California!..... no wait, maybe I should go.

[wyager]

Yeah, no one should get pissed at you for being a californian as long as you've moved LOL. If you were a california who wanted to stay there, on the other hand.... I guess it just depends where you are.

 

[cityevader]

My wife grew up in Montana, and during visit to relatives last summer I sure got an earful quite a few times from the anti-CA locals.

 

[Badbeams3]

Delete! Answer found.

 

[Monocrom]

My wife grew up in Montana, and during visit to relatives last summer I sure got an earful quite a few times from the anti-CA locals.

I'm sure they just meant the Hard-Core hippie freaks. Don't worry about it.

 

[cityevader]

Actually, the problem has been the mostly Silicon Valley type emigrating and/or purchasing vacation properties in other states, which has not only skyrocketed locals' property taxes, but also brought an infusion of bad attitudes.

Example: I read a story of a wealthy bay area resident who purchased a house on a lake with an easement footpath for the neighborhood to walk to the lake. Clearly in the deed, clearly recognized by the new homeowner initially, but who then changed his mind and didn't want people walking through "his yard" even though it had been an existing path forever. He fenced it off and sued all the neighbors. At court the judge called him stupid multiple times and ordered him to pay a large sum of money to his neighbors.

That mentality infuses vast scores of people here, and is not welcome elsewhere. I get it. I'm not offended. I sympathize with the other states.

 

[JB5]

I wish the population would band together and replace EVERY politician on both sides in the state congress and start new. I think it would help since they have been in gridlock for years and spend spend spend on mostly BS and cut cut cut on the things that matter. But I seem to be one of the few that wants to do this. And for god sakes STOP electing movies stars into office. ( Sorry for the Rant)

I have been unemployed but since our income was greatly reduced by it we were fortunate enough to get a refund both fed and state. I just love my tax attorney.

 

[Monocrom]

Politics was never supposed to be a career. Originally, the Founders took a view of average folks holding office for a handful of years, and then returning to their lives. Think of it as a sort of long-term Jury Duty.

However, it soon became something else. I hear about career politicians retiring after decades in office. Everyone seems to make a big deal of it. Actually, it's obscene. You're not supposed to spend decades in office. It's supposed to be serving the public good. It's supposed to be doing one's duty to hold public office. Then you go back to your actual, chosen, career. Easiest way to prevent massive graft and corruption is to prevent individuals from being in office so long that they can be corrupted. A very simple concept.

 

[HarryN]

There are a lot of challenges with living here, including the tax system, but believe it or not, many of the challenges are our own creation.

ONE of the MANY problems is debt financing, which has gotten out of control. It has become far to common for agencies and schools to "pass a debt bond" to generate operating cash, which is then repaid from general funds. (rob future for cash now)

The reason this is done, is that it only takes 50.1 % of the vote to pass a bond, rather than the 60% to pass a tax. Many bonds pass by only 1 - 2 %, so many of these debts would not be passed if bonds required a higher vote % to pass. You can imagine that the firms that sell these bonds make big $s off of these bond sales, so they help keep this skid well greased.

So, keeping this concept in mind, guess what the latest push is for governing CA - you guessed it, lower the % majority needed to pass a budget to 50.1%. I am sorry to say that this concept is backed by people in EDUCATION. :shrug:

 

[Empath]

Though the thread has been limited politics throughout, it has reached the point of controversial political opinion. The only thing left is for the ones that hold other opinions to either jump in to defend their controversial opinions, or stay silent and simmer out of consideration of the laid-back nature of the Cafe.

In other words, the thread has become the perfect candidate for the Underground. Please take the discussion there.

Thread closed.